The purpose of this study was to analyze the performance in wheelchair races with respect to the level of impaired functional musculature of the athletes. The data consisted of the world records and 1984 World Wheelchair Games track finalists' performances in the seven competitive classes for males and females. Peak wheelchair record speed, regardless of level of disability, of 6.43 m.s-;1 for males occurs in the 200 m event which decreases to 5.75 m.s-1 at 5000 m. Comparable female speeds are 5.60 and 4.67 m.s-1, which are similar to male-female differences in running records. Analysis of variance of wheelchair finalists' average speeds indicated a significant (P less than 0.05) difference between the sexes, distances, and classes of athletes. Females were slower than males and tetraplegics slower than paraplegics over all distances. Tetraplegics did not show any significant change in speed over distance. Significant linear and quadratic trends over distance were noted for male paraplegics due to a generally decreasing speed with duration of the race and a peak speed at 200 m, respectively. Male paraplegics had a faster speed in the marathon compared to their longest track event, reflecting the greater speeds attainable during downhill wheeling.