FROM: http://www.newsday.com
The last place Albert Rizzi thought he’d be after losing his vision 31/2 years ago was behind the wheel of a car.
But there he was on Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway, guiding a borrowed car through 10 laps on the quarter-mile track. There was a catch.
Everyone was “blind” for this race, as Riverhead held its “Blindfolded Taxicab Race,” in which drivers race with a bag over their head while a co-pilot navigates them through the turns. Rizzi lost the lead in the last lap but still finished second.
“Obviously, I couldn’t tell where I went wrong,” the Bellport resident joked, before adding, “It was the biggest rush I ever had. It was like those roller- coaster rides where you don’t know what’s going to happen until you are bumping off things.
Rizzi, 45, who lost his vision after contracting meningitis, teaches diversity training through the Sayville Learning Center. He got the idea to race from one of his students.
“I asked him to give me his best, so I had to step up and do my best,” Rizzi said.
So what did he think of driving in a race? “It was a trip and a half,” he said. “You’re not normal if you’re not scared.