Pillager, MN - Mike Schultz never intended to become an
inventor - at least not beyond tinkering with the motorcycles and snowmobiles
he rides.
Since he was a teenager, Schultz has favored life in the
fast lane. Living in the country near Kimball and Watkins, MN,
he started motocross racing in 1997 and snocross a year later. Devoting himself
primarily to snowmobile racing, he earned six National Pro Snocross podium
finishes from 2004 to 2008. He was earning a living at least part of the year
doing what he loved and even picked up a nickname that stuck: "Monster" Mike
Schultz.
"An announcer in Eagle
River, WI, gave me
that name," said Schultz. "He was calling a race, and he watched me get bumped
off. The sleds we ride are pretty physically demanding. It's a 500-pound
machine, and my style is to wrestle it around - which I had to do during that
race. The name stuck."
At 32, Schultz is still known as Monster. He has his own
website (www.monstermikeschultz.com),
and he's still riding motorcycles and snowmobiles.
Only now he's getting accolades for an innovation after he
had to wrestle something a lot heavier than the Ski-Doo sled on which he earned
his fame.
During a 2008 race, Schultz lost control of his machine and
his left foot hit the ground so hard he hyperextended it nearly all the way in
the wrong direction. His knee was shattered, and, despite efforts to save his
leg, he wound up having it amputated just above the joint a few days later.
Rather than let the injury keep him from the motorsports he
loved, he channeled his experience into a new business. He began to develop
performance prosthetics and adaptive equipment.
His first invention was the Moto Knee, which after multiple
prototypes, hit on a solution that would allow amputees to compete in a variety
of extreme activities.
In 2010, he started Biodapt, Inc. to market the devices and
now has added the Versa Foot. It can be linked with the Moto Knee to form a
complete artificial lower limb that is impact resistant, waterproof and
customizable for many activities. As a result, Schultz, a 2000 Kimball Area
High (MN) School graduate, was one of 10 Americans to receive an Invention
Award from Popular Science Magazine, publishers of Popular Mechanics. The
magazine has recognized inventors with these awards for the past seven years,
most recently unveiling "10 bold creations for a brighter, faster, safer, more
efficient future" in the May issue.
From Trail To A Turning
Point
Schultz grew up on a hog farm. His routine was to ride the
three-wheeler around in the morning while doing his chores. As he got older,
things with wheels and an engine took up more and more of his time. He got his
first dirt bike, a Honda CR-80, for $850 when he was 12.
"All I wanted to do was go fast and race," Schultz said. "We
used a skid-loader to build jumps."
He was 15 when he first raced. That was in Little Falls, MN.
Fifty yards off the starting line, he crashed. But he never looked back. And,
within a couple years, he was intrigued by snocross races at Powder Ridge. His
dad, who also enjoyed snowmobiles, helped him get his first sled at 17. Out of
high school, Schultz found the snocross schedule meshed well with a summer job.
Between the 12-14 winter events from Thanksgiving through March, and working
construction the rest of the year for a company owned by his mother and
stepfather, he developed a steady paycheck. And by 2003, his motorsports career
was blossoming, so he could start stepping away from construction.
Everything went great for several years - until December of 2008 in the Amsoil
Championship at Ironwood, MI.
"We'd had two top-10 finishes already that year," Schultz
said. "But I had a feeling something wasn't right the night before when it took
us until 10 p.m. at practice to get the sled dialed in. Then the next morning,
on Saturday, I had a horrible start. Later, I was running sixth and had to
finish at least fifth in order to get to the main event."
So, as Monster Mike Schultz did, he went all out "110
percent of what the sled could do." And his life changed on a rough downhill
section along the back of the circuit.
He suffered nerve damage, a compound fracture and a
lacerated artery. The severity of the injuries meant the hospital in Ironwood
had to transfer him to Duluth.
Bad weather meant he had to take a two-hour ride by ambulance instead of in a
fraction of the time by helicopter.
After multiple surgeries over several days, it was clear his
leg wasn't responding.
"I've broken collarbones, ankles, wrists, ribs ... I've been
through a ton of injuries, and I was convinced they could bolt anything
together and get me back out there," Schultz said. "But my kidneys started
shutting down, and it got to the point where I might have two days to survive
if I didn't (have the amputation)."
Out Of Necessity
After two weeks in the hospital, Schultz was released on
Christmas Eve. His wife, Sara, a nurse, understood what he was going through.
"I looked at the amputation as a typical injury," Schultz
said. "My first focus was to recover physically, because my body was beat up
pretty good. I did that and was walking on a leg five and a half weeks after it
happened."
And he climbed right back on the snowmobile, spending his
time coaching teammates and grooming tracks.
"My leg was flopping around, but you've got to do
something," he said.
Luke Becker, a longtime childhood friend, had joined Schultz
as a mechanic who also had an interest in racing.
"We went into event mode," Becker said. "I knew he needed
things to take his mind off what was going on, so I brought this go-kart up to
his garage. I left him with it and, about 17 hours later, it was totally
rebuilt. That's when I knew this wasn't going to get the best of him."
Schultz constructed several prototypes of his Moto Knee,
which mimics quadricep action and has a microprocessor that controls
resistance. He had much greater range of motion and ability to create toe
pressure and ankle tension with his artificial limb.
"I was always tuning my own suspension, so I understood
shock absorbers," Schultz said. "When it came to fabrication, I'd done a lot of
metal work in high school. And I knew something about body mechanics and
physical training from being an athlete and racing."
One of his sponsors also loaned him a machining mill and
lathe to help tool his own parts for the prosthetics. And Sportech, an Elk River, MN, maker of thermoformed plastic products,
helped Schultz computerize his designs with 3D models of each device. Becker
also helps with machining and assembly and shoots video of Schultz in action to
help market the products.
What really fired Schultz's enthusiasm, though, was a return
to competition. He learned about an Adaptive Motocross event in conjunction
with the 2009 Summer X Games. Five months after the accident, he'd finished
second in a qualifier for the Games.
"It was when I met people there that I realized I wanted to
start this business," Schultz said of Biodapt. "At that point, I just hoped I
might be able to sell something someday."
Mechanical Models
The Versa Foot, which has six parts and weighs about a pound
and a half, went into production this spring. Each model costs about $2,500,
and Schultz estimates it cost him about $15,000 to develop. The Moto Knee,
which has 15 parts and weighs about four pounds, costs around $6,000.
Matthew Justin Major, a bioengineer at Northwestern University,
was among the evaluators of Schultz's Versa Foot for Popular Science Magazine. He says Schultz's prosthetics could have
a special appeal to injured military personnel.
"Soldiers are coming home with amputations similar to
Mike's," Major told the magazine. "These individuals are physically fit and
looking to get back into recreational activities. Some even want to be
redeployed."
The Versa Foot might not achieve that, but it will make it
more possible for an amputee to enjoy horseback riding, running and
wakeboarding, among other pursuits. Schultz does all that and more. Some of his
sales are to injured military, and he tours with the America 300 Foundation to
encourage vets who have suffered such loss.
He estimates he's already sold devices to more than 80
people - and at a fraction of the cost of the everyday prosthetic he and others
wear, which can cost between $50,000 and $90,000. He's been featured by CBS
News, Huffington Post and Last Call with Carson Daly.
"I don't have much overhead," said Schultz, whose two-stall
detached garage opens onto a workshop and office in the woods near Pillager. "I
do all my own (research and development) and my marketing plan is basically to
go to events and do well and let the news travel."
He said his ultimate goal is to continue developing products
for more activities, produce them with more natural movement and incorporate
more electronics. Perhaps best of all, though, he's been a two-time Winter X
Games gold medalist in Adaptive SnoCross since 2010. He also earned a gold
medal on his motorcycle in an adaptive event at the Summer X Games. He's the
only person to win gold in Summer and Winter X Games in the same year.
"I don't go crazy like I used to," Schultz said of his
outlook for a recent motocross race in Michigan.
"I go 100 percent instead of 110 percent anymore. But hopefully I can keep
competing and doing well and the people who need my help will say `I want that
foot.' "