Diabates and Motorsports

My uncle is a type 1 diabetic who is 64 years old. He is recently retired and recently purchased a 2005 corvette (6speed non-z51 suspension)

He wants to get back into motorsports, but dosent know what all he would be allowed to do due to the diabetes thing. I am guessing that Autocross wouldnt be a problem (correct me if im wrong), but what about time trials and HPDE type stuff?

what all can a older type 1 diabetic get into? I would guess that W2W wouldn't be as much of an option, but he was asking and i know that some on here are involved with that type of thing.

Would he be able to participate in a Bondurant school?

It is my understanding that the different sanctioning bodies have different health requirements. By type 1, you do mean that he got diabetes when he was a child or teenager, right? Depending on how well he is in control, I would think that most sanctioning bodies wouldn't have a problem, but pick one and DL or ask for their health form. They may have a form for the physician to fill out if a physical is required. I would also guess that the pay to play places like the schools would tend to be more lenient. Really, though, as long as his sugars are well in control and he hasn't had any major problems keeping them there, I don't see an issue. Now if he is like, yeah, I have about 3 comas a year, and my morning FSBG is 230, well, that's different. But if he's been doing this for 50 years and still has all his toes, I'd say he probably has it down.

Dr. Hess wrote: But if he's been doing this for 50 years and still has all his toes, I'd say he probably has it down.

That's a great way to look at it! I'll have to remember that one.

I deal with diabetic emergencies every day at work and we regularly see people at both extremes. Some are incredibly aware of what their bodies are doing and others crash once a week, mainly due to indifference.

Dr Hess, funny story actually.. he fell in the bathtub this spring and broke 5 ribs and tore his rotator cuff. went to the hospital and then they though he had a blood clot in his lung.. THEN, they messed up his sugar (he usually anticipates meals effects and treats more proactively) and put him in a coma for almost 3 months.
hes just getting back ready to drive the vette after all of that (all hes really got left from that mess is PT for the rotator cuff)

despite some skin cancer difficulties on his leg, hes managed not to loose anything.

we are talking next year probably, but hes gotten the attitude that he wants to get back out before he cant anymore.

Good for him. HPDE will most likely be no problem either. Even W2W might be a possibility if the sanctioning body is ok with it, he's got good control of his sugar and he's not too interested in any endurance racing with multi-hours behind the wheel.