Wheels spun and gravel flew as California rally car driver Mario Bonfante got some one-on-one training at DirtFish April 5 in Snoqualmie. However Bonfante isn’t your average rally driver.

Originally a motorcycle racer, Bonfante broke his neck going over a jump in 2006. Despite now being classified as a c5-c6 paraplegic, Bonfante is still pushing forward with his dream to race.

His desire and passion to get back on the track are what led him to develop his own steering technology to drive a car again. After his accident, Bonfante searched for products and technologies built to help disabled people drive again, but was unable to find anything that allowed him to do what he wanted to.

Once he got a feel for what kind of technology was out there, he created his own control device based on his own strengths and weaknesses. Since he has control of his wrists, his new steering wheel design allows him to drive, brake and shift gears with both hands on the wheel.

“You keep your hands at nine and three and push the right side to give it throttle, down shift and up shift, the left side is the brake,” Bonfante said. “You can still rotate the wheel and apply the brake at the same time.”

The process to develop this system was not easy, but Bonfante knew that if he wanted something he had to work for it. He taught himself how to build and design 3D models using online resources and created the concept for the new wheel.

“I had to teach myself through Google and YouTube and as I was trying to design the controls, I kept going to different machine shops and none of them were able to translate what I was saying properly. So I’ve always been taught to do it myself,” he said. “I designed it 100 percent, there wasn’t anything on the market, it hadn’t been done. No one had taken the time to do it. I had to figure out how it works and luckily, I did the calculations correctly and they ended up working pretty well.”

Bonfante has been racing in the National Auto Sport Association but his new goal is racing in the Red Bull Global Rallycross and with the help of DirtFish Rally School, which OK’d Bonfante installing his controls in their car, he was able to get some practice and training.

“I had a great time,” he said “I learned a lot, got to ride with a couple different instructors, learning the feel of how to use the brakes, sharpen my skills, figure out how to integrate my personal controls in the car.”

This isn’t the first time Bonfante has driven at DirtFish. He was in Snoqualmie last summer for one of the school’s three-day programs. This time Bonfante had private training said Nate Tennis, DirtFish lead instructor.

“We worked with Mario a year ago and that’s when we had him involved with one of our three-day programs. That was the beginning of the relationship.” Last week, Bonfante spent another three days at the school, in private training.

“With the added luxury of one car, we focus on specific techniques and utilize a course that only one car can run on,” Tennis said.

Bonfante and DirtFish staff have also talked about using Bonfante’s steering system to help other disabled drivers; the school has already used his system last year to help another driver, who had muscular dystrophy.

“This is definitely something we have liked to do… we want to help support that and make that happen,” Tennis said.

But for now, Bonfante is focused on what lies ahead of him on the track.

“I’m hoping to get my car on the track next month and get back up here soon,” he said. “I’m just enjoying every day and opportunity I get.”