Written in Partnership with Mark Hoffman
There is no debate that accidents can significantly affect life both immediately and in the long run, especially a car accident. It can bring along a wide range of impacts on health and finances. The most immediate concerns after a car accident are related to the physical pain that can sometimes lead to a career-threatening injury. If an accident results in temporary or permanent injuries, the dreams of paving the way to the top are affected and are sometimes crumbled down. One may never be able to return to the work they were once known as an expert in.
The life of a racer on the road is never easy; it is challenging, takes hard work, and requires a lot of sacrifices. With such a demanding profession and spending a reasonable amount of time, it is a tough decision to drop the curtain on a career due to an accident. The life of the author of “Choices as Fate Would Have It,” Art DiNick, also changed after his accident in 1977 when he was only 35. His left rear tire blew at over 140 MPH, causing a drastic crash. Following the accident, he was hospitalized for six months, recovering from 3rd-degree burns and other injuries.
DiNick was born on May 21st, 1941, in Atlanta City, New Jersey. Since he was a kid, DiNick was always fascinated by how things worked and constantly tried to improve their performance. At the very young age of 15, he started racing boats he modified for more speed which sometimes failed. As he grew older, his interest in racing shifted from boat racing to modifying cars for drag racing. He started Go Kart racing while on a two-year assignment for Exxon in Aruba. A rival team from Venezuela assaulted DiNick during his first international race and severely injured him, but the following year he won the championship.
He resumed drag racing and won the majority of the drag races when he returned to the USA
After His race car accident and near-death experience, his life changed and made him the person he is today. His book, “Choices as Fate Would Have It,” is based on his near-death experience and life transformation. The past and present merged at that point between life and death, and time stopped still for the author. He relived his entire life in a matter of seconds. His story describes his life’s events and actions from childhood through adulthood.
He resumed his role as an engineer at Exxon Oil company and choose between traveling for the company on emergency troubleshooting trips or staying home to spend time with his family. He had a clear understanding that sometimes the decisions he made he thought were a mistake and that some were made with free will and some by fate. DiNick realized he couldn’t see the end aim set for him and that a higher power determined that these decisions were required for him to attain goals known only to his creator.
During his time working for Exxon, DiNick earned over 20 patents and received Exxon’s most valuable award two times due to his contributions to engineering innovation. He also received the Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award for engineering excellence. In his book, he shared his journey to let the readers know that everyone can make what they think are bad choices and wrong decisions. His book encourages readers to move on in life despite facing challenges like marital issues and the unsettling behavior of some of his corporate managers, who threatened him with losing his job if his original solutions to the problems they were experiencing in their plants were made too quickly and were incorrect; fortunately, they were never erroneous. He also learned that people should pursue their dreams even when others tell them they will fail.
In a nutshell, Art DiNick had an evolving career before his terrible race car accident that changed the landscape of his life. As of today, DiNick is an aspiring author. His book and life set a good example of what it is like to witness a change in life following a major accident and how to look at that change through the lens of positivity and reshape life.
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