Watching Tessa and Caleb Daniells in their karts circling the track at PGP Motorsports Park, Dennis Ladd feels more than a grandfather's pride. There is also the desire of a parent to care for an ill child, and the hope that someday no parents will be faced with the challenges that a terminal disease like Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) bring to a family.The Ladd's oldest child, 32-year-old Nathaniel "Nate" Ladd, has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a disorder that causes degeneration throughout the brain and spinal cord. To help raise awareness of what families affected by ALS go through, the Ladds will make a donation to the Evergreen Chapter of the ALS Association for each lap completed by 13-year-old Tessa and 8-year-old Caleb while racing at PGP through the end of this year."We're trying to shine a light a little bit on ALS, the trials and tribulations of it," Dennis Ladd said. "It's a pretty devastating disease. Those affected typically live three to five years after diagnosis, and Nate is three-and-a-half years in."Tessa and Caleb's next race is the Stars of PGP Series season finale on Oct. 2, which is also the same day the Evergreen Chapter of the ALS Foundation will hold a Walk to Defeat ALS fundraiser at Seward Park in Seattle.About 30,000 Americans are affected by ALS at any given time. There is no cure and doctors have limited treatment options, but more significant advances in ALS research have occurred in the last decade than in all of the years before that back to 1869, the year French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot first identified the disease.Nate's diagnosis came at an atypical age for average Americans -- most contract ALS between 40 and 60 -- but not for Navy veterans. As a jet airplane hydraulic specialist, a third of his nine years in uniform was spent in the Persian Gulf, an area several Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Administration (VA) studies have identified as having a higher than average incidence of ALS for those who served there."DoD and the Navy have stepped up and accepted responsibility, and consequently they're picking up a lot of the tab for Nate's care," Dennis Ladd said. "However, there is no money going to research for a cure, to figure it out and how to beat it."And that's where the idea came from to count the laps Nate's niece and nephew complete in their karts. The Evergreen Chapter of the ALS Association holds several Walk to Defeat ALS fundraisers each year, Ladd said, "So we're going to start Racing to Defeat ALS."Details on the Evergreen Chapter's events -- including the Bellingham Walk and Yakima Walk on Sept. 11, the Spokane Valley Walk on Sept. 18, Tacoma Walk and Tri-Cities Walk on Sept. 25, and the Seattle Walk on Oct. 2 -- can be found at the organization's website, www.alsa-ec.org.Dennis Ladd did a little racing of his own before moving from Wisconsin to Washington state 16 years ago for a job opportunity that didn't pan out. Born and raised in Middleton, Wis., Dennis Ladd raced a car on frozen lakes in the winter and a motorcycle on Friday nights in the college town of Madison for cases of beer.Today, Dennis Ladd is an independent auto damage appraiser who lives in Enumclaw, Wash., with his wife Julie, son Nate and his wife Amanda Belle "Mandy" Ladd and daughter Amanda Daniells, 31, and her children Tessa and Caleb.Nate also has two boys from an earlier marriage, Jonathan, 6, and Gidian, 4, and Dennis Ladd said his donation pledge to fight ALS includes them once they start turning laps in kid karts.How did an old ice-racer end up as the "team owner, crew chief, chief cook and bottle washer as well as the custodian who sweeps out the trailer," as Ladd described his role in the family group that is known as Ladd Motorsports?"Three or four years ago my wife told me I needed a hobby," said Dennis Ladd. "I saw an ad online for a broken down go-kart, so I figured I could buy it, fix it up and sell it. That would be my hobby and I'd make some money at it."The only problem with the plan was Caleb. Once his grandson saw the kart, he wanted to sit in it. That led to Dennis Ladd pushing his Caleb around the yard, which in turn led to a trip to the local karting club in Spanaway, Wash. "The next thing I knew we owned a kid kart and a junior kart, and Tessa and Caleb are racing," Dennis Ladd said.When PGP Motorsports Park opened in June 2009, the Ladds paid a visit to check out the .82-mile multi-purpose motorsports facility. Dennis Ladd said after five laps on the state-of-the-art 14-turn asphalt track, Tessa and Caleb didn't want to go back to Spanaway and instead declared PGP to be their home track.And with their grandparents and mother on hand rooting them on, it often seems like home to Tessa, who attends Thunder Mountain Middle School and races in the TaG Junior class, and Caleb, who goes to Kibler Elementary and races in the Rotax Micro/Max class. With so many living in the Enumclaw house, Dennis Ladd admits at times there isn't enough room for everyone, but having the family together has made taking care of Nate much easier."The VA takes care of a lot, but he's at the stage where he needs 24/7 care," Dennis Ladd said. "Our daughter Amanda, Nate's wife Mandy, my wife, the kids -- we all help out. Caleb and Tessa have been unbelievable; when Nate needs something they jump up and do it, no questions asked."In fact, Caleb has already raised some money to fight ALS. The Ladds live close the King County Fairground, and Caleb set up a lemonade stand in their yard to take advantage of the high pedestrian traffic going past. He raised $50 by giving away cups of lemonade in exchange for a donation to ALS.Although Oct. 2 marks the end of the season for the Stars of PGP series, Dennis Ladd hopes PGP will offer a winter series so the donation amount can grow. He may bring a kart of his own out to PGP on Oct. 2, and that's when Dennis Ladd hopes Nate's sons Jonathan and Gidian make their racing debut. Regardless of how many of the Ladd clan end up racing, Dennis Ladd will be counting the number of times they pass PGP's start-finish line."This is something we want to do, to shine a light on ALS and the plight," Dennis Ladd said. "We're just trying to raise awareness at this point. So, I'm counting laps and donating the money to ALS Evergreen Chapter."
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