DECATUR - Don't let Todd Macke's charming personality and good looks fool you.

He is a fierce all-terrain vehicle racer on the track, overcoming his cerebral palsy and spinal scoliosis.

Macke, 31, grew up in Decatur and couldn't walk until he was 7. He said that is when his passion for riding four-wheel motorcycles began.

"My brothers rode two-wheeler dirt bikes, and I didn't' have the balance to ride, so my father bought me a three-wheeler bike. It just opened up the world of freedom for me to be able to tag along with my brothers," Macke said.

Macke has turned his love of riding four-wheelers into a hobby, and he is in Fort Dodge, Iowa, today to compete in one of the most challenging races - a 12-hour ATV race with 96 three-person teams competing.

Macke will team up with his friends Jorge Cuartas, who has a prosthetic left leg and Jimmy Osborn, who has only one arm to form team "Media All Stars" in the race today.

This is the first time the three men have competed in a race together. They had already been featured in the June edition of ATV Sport magazine.

"It's something I do to have fun," Macke said. "It's competitive, and you're on a machine like everyone else. The ATV becomes my legs and allows me to do things that my legs can't do."

The 12-hour ATV race will consist of a motocross track, flat track and through the woods, with each grueling lap about five miles long.

"Our goal is to each go for five laps or an hour long before switching riders," Macke said. "This is something that has never been done before with us three competing, and we hope to draw other people with disabilities to try out ATVs."

While Macke might enjoy the sport of racing, he said his wife, Erin and children, Adam, 6, and Max, 20 months, still come first.

He also tries to set an example at work of what people with disabilities can do. He is a technical infrastructure specialist who troubleshoots computer problems at State Farm's corporate office in Bloomington.

"It's amazing what people with disabilities can accomplish when given the chance," he said in the article printed in the company's newsletter.

Sheila Smith can be reached at sheilas@; herald-review.com or 421-7963.