WELCOME, N.C. (WFMY) – When watching race cars zoom across their screens, many fans don’t know how much science and engineering goes into racing.
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) join NASCAR’s efforts of getting kids involved with the sport by highlighting all of the ways the race team uses science, technology, engineering and math on a daily basis.
“We’re known for the product on the racetrack, but there’s so much more that goes into getting to the racetrack from the evolution of the car being built from the ground up, all the way to it being unloaded to the racetrack and actually racing,” said Jeremy Burleson, Vice President of Partnership, Marketing and Communications for RCR.
“They’re watching the race, they may not understand what goes into it, so if we can give them a little piece of that,” Burleson added.
Some of the activities included explaining safety on and off the racetrack and the technology used in protecting drivers and engineers, like fire retardant materials.
The kids also enjoyed some play time while learning about the physics behind racing by using Hot Wheel cars and tracks.
“[We] learned about the momentum that makes them go faster and further,” said 11-year-old Ryley Murphy.
Burleson explained that, “to be able to put it on terms of a 5-year-old all the way up to a 15-year-old, and for them to understand truly what goes into it, that’s what we’re trying to accomplish today.”
Other activities included having the kids work in teams to complete a pit stop on our pit stop simulator, learning the importance of tire stagger and how to measure it, and low friction and weight in racecars.
One of the participants, 9-year-old Cassidy Keitt, was ahead of the game, showing off her knowledge by working on her dirt cart in the shop.
“Carts like this you have to know science to build them, to fix them if you get in a wreck or something,” Cassidy said.
“It’s important for us to be able to instill kind of that knowledge into the young folks that are coming up,” Burleson said.
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