Manchester’s Sarah Diener is a wheelchair user, and she ends up observing a lot of things instead of being a part of things. On Sunday, though, she was up top in a pit box to watch her favorite driver, Bubba Wallace, get second place.
Diener, friends and other local fans at New Hampshire Motor Speedway were invited to spend the NASCAR Cup Series Dollar Tree 301 race in the Mobility Pit Box, created by Toyota.
It was designed a few years back to help fans have access to pit road, when usually they would be limited by the chaos and scale of it. The box looks like any other for the most part, but it has a lift that allows guests with mobility challenges to be elevated to a top deck.
Lauren Diener, one of Sarah’s family members, explained that when Sarah first started coming to the speedway, her dad would have to haul her over his shoulders and pick up her chair to get here up against the fence for the race. Accessibility has improved massively since then.
“It’s an entirely different twist,” Lauren Diener said.
Sarah Diener looked out at her view of the speedway from a new vantage point in the mobility pit box. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Lifelong NASCAR fan and Manchester native Sarah Diener was lifted up into the top deck so she could have the best view possible of turn 4 and the entry to pit lane at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor
Up on the deck, overlooking turn four and the entry to pit road, the view was perfect to catch much of the action on Sunday.
The area has modular seating, allowing maximum flexibility for guests in ECVs, or wheelchairs. It also has screens through which to watch the video broadcast and listen through Racing Electronics scanners. It’s as immersive as it can get.
Antrim’s Jennifer Cole grew up around the NHMS world, too, as her father has worked there for many years. Although not the biggest racing fan in the world, she was excited to experience it from a new angle. The box made for much better viewing than having her sight obstructed by people standing.
The cool weather was a big boost, she said, because she doesn’t sweat due to her paralysis and her body can’t regulate temperature as much. Just in case she needed it, climate assistance tubes were available built into the box.
As the drivers started their engines, the group put on their headsets and prepared for the rumbling of the track to shake them to their core.
A smile crept onto Sarah Diener’s face as she watched it all unfold. A lifetime of watching NASCAR and now she got to experience it like the pros.