Ryan Beatty-USA TODAY
Audio By Carbonatix
When Matt Stutzman won the gold medal in the Men’s Individual Archery Competition during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Summer Games, it was hailed as one of the most amazing sports feats many people had ever seen. Why? Because Matt Stutzman has no arms.
In January of this year, the 43-year-old Stutzman, AKA “The Armless Archer,” was named the best archer at the 2024 World Archery Awards. Not the best para archer, the best archer, period. He beat out five-time Olympic gold medalist Kim Woojin in the vote.
No challenge is too big
Following his win at the 2024 Paralympic Summer Games, he announced his retirement from the sport. Little did anyone know that over the next year he would go on to accomplish a perhaps even more amazing sporting feat: competing in NHRA drag racing events.
Not only has Matt Stutzman gone of to drive a Pro Mod Camaro in NHRA events, he has been chronicling his journey to achieving another goal: going over 200 miles per hour.
Stutzman has been posting his “Quest For 200” videos, showing the steps in his journey to 200 miles per hour, for a little more than two months. On Friday, racing at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series West Central Division event in Brainerd, Minnesota, he went 214.69 miles per hour, earning him his first NHRA round win.
“I’ve been chasing the dream for 200 miles per hour for a very long time,” Drag Illustrated reports Stutzman said after his winning pass. “We went 214 – and we’re just getting started.”
Now, Matt Stutzman has his sights set on two more things: winning an NHRA event and going 300 miles per hour.
“Maybe 10 years from now, I don’t know,” he said. “We are progressing at a rate that we know we can handle it, and we’re just going to keep going until we get there.”
So… why drag racing?
Stutzman recently explained to Drag Coverage, “I always wanted to race. I’ve loved it since I was a kid,” adding, “If you want to play basketball, people tell you you need to be tall. But with cars? Cars don’t care that I have no arms. The people didn’t care either. That drew me in.”
Much like in archery, he takes pride in competing just like people with arms do.
“When I set a goal, I want to do it the right way,” Drag Illustrated quotes Stutzman as saying. “No shortcuts, no special treatment. Hitting 200 mph was about proving to myself – and everyone else – that I could compete on the same terms as the best in the class.”