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Standing inside his garage in the Villages of Urbana on Wednesday morning, Steve Levow and his stepfather, John Porter, prepared two motorcycles for a special race this weekend.
The two men, who together race under the banner of Patriot Racing, will be hosting 25 disabled veterans from Walter Reed Army Medical Center at a race at Summit Point Motor Sports Park in Summit Point, W.Va., on Sunday.
Levow said that since his return from Iraq in 2003, he has wanted to do something to honor the service of veterans, though only recently did he think of combining this desire with his love of racing. "It's been in my head for about a year," Levow said.
Raising money by raffling off donated racing equipment and paraphernalia, Levow and Porter have managed to raise $2,114 for the Fisher House Foundation, a Rockville-based charity that provides assistance to wounded veterans and their families.
However, coordinating between corporate sponsors, the foundation and the hospital has not been an easy task for him. "Event planners don't get paid enough," he said.
Levow, 38, has known how to ride a motorcycle since Porter taught him at the age of 8.
"My first car was a motorcycle," he said. "My second car was a motorcycle, and my third car was a truck," he said. However, he only began racing competitively in 2007, and he said he wonders why he waited so long.
Porter, 63, of Damascus, has been racing since 1964, although he said he has come in and out of retirement several times. He said he stopped racing in 1993, but when Levow started racing, Porter got back into it. "I wanted to see if I could still race too," he said.
Porter said that he is racing in a special "formula 40" class for those 40 years and older. "The fact that I'm doing it with my son makes all the difference in the world," Porter said.
Porter races a Suzuki SV650, and Levow races a 2007 Yamaha R1. While Levow said his motorcycle is "basically stock," Porter's bike has had some engine work done on it. Even so, Levow said at maximum performance of 180 horsepower, his bike was formidable. "It has more horsepower than my Ford," he said.
Porter was excited that Levow's son, Jake, seems to love motorcycle racing as well. Jake is 3 years old, and will be able to start learning how to race in two years, Porter said. Levow said he recently took Jake out for a ride, and the two had a blast.
Though his wife had expressed some concern, Levow said she was coming around to the idea. Porter insisted that the instructors and precautions taken make learning to ride a motorcycle safer than playing soccer.
E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.
-To learn more about Patriot Racing, visit www.patriotracing.us or e-mail Steve Levow at steve176@patriotracing.us
-To learn about the Fisher House Foundation, visit http://www.fisherhouse.org
