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Scott Lockwood
Florida Short Track Report
Racing and technology have always gone hand-in-hand with one another. In
fact, a lot of the technology you see in today’s passenger cars came as a
result as innovations on the race track.
Last week, students in the technology and engineering programs at Haile
Middle and Freedom Elementary Schools got an up close look at some of the
technology in sprint car racing, as Bradenton sprint car driver Paulie Milum
brought his race car, transporter, and other various items for a presentation.
Fellow sprint car driver Curtis Carter also brought his race car and equipment,
and East Bay Raceway Park Vice President Todd Hutto and Easy Bay safety
crew member Rick Wood were also on hand to give presentations on safety
innovations.
“Of course, technology plays a big part in racing, be it to make the cars go
faster, as well as in safety,” Milum said. “We thought it would be a good
example for the children, to come out and show them exactly what we do and
how technology effects us in everyday racing.”
Milum’s presentation was geared at helping students in the school’s TSA
program that are working on designing futuristic concept automobiles. The
program’s graphics class was also on hand, with the two groups working
together on the car as well as a mock marketing strategy on the finished
product, which will include flyers and advertising models.
“This is great - it’s real hands on and they can see where all the things are
coming from,” said Haile Technology Education teacher Justin Erickson. “They’
re taking this right from the classroom to right outside of the school where the
cars are for a close look.”
Milum began the presentation inside the classroom with a brief lecture about
the history of racing. He then moved on to the technicalities of his own race
car, explaining that the wing on top of his race car is actually a reverse
airplane wing that creates more down force - allowing the car to stick to the
race track and carry more speed in the corners. Milum also spoke of the 500-
plus horsepower difference between one of the fastest, most powerful race
cars on the planet and the student’s family cars - which drew a huge reaction
from the young audience.
From there, the kids moved outside to where the cars and equipment were
setup. The design students paid close attention to Milum’s presentation about
the car’s shock system and hovered over the exposed engine on the car.
Students toured Milum’s transporter, and some were even fortunate to climb
behind the wheel of Milum’s no.42 American Drilling/Florida Short Track
Report.com race car.
Some of the students were able to ask some real technical questions to Milum
and Miller. For one student in particular, the presentation proved to be a big
help in developing his own racing career as well as his class project.
“This definitely gives me a whole new perspective on racing,” said 8th grader
Matt Morgan, who races motocross. “These cars and the bikes are the same
in how they slide in the corners. This also helps me with the design of my
cars, especially with the aerodynamic type stuff.”
As the presentation came to an end, Hutto presented the students with free
passes to East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa. Each time he attends a similar
type program, he comes away more impressed and is hopeful that the next
generation of racers come out of some of these local schools.
“I just want to help promote racing to the schools, and if we can touch one kid’
s life, and they find the heart and desire to stay motivated and keep going to
school…then that makes it all worth it to me,” Hutto said. “I had a teacher in
the fifth grade that helped get me through school, with the way she taught me
and the way she talked about racing - and I’ve always wanted to do the same
things.”
For Milum, the real goal was to not only show the kids what he does, but teach
them an even bigger lesson that will help them as they grow.
“If these guys get anything out of this, I hope it’s that they will learn how to do
something meticulously, and not kind of rush and slap something together,” he
said. “They’ll actually take their time and put some thought into anything they
build or put together, because a lot of thought went into this and if anything, it’
ll teach them to use the thought process to build things properly and as they
build something, they may come up with a new idea or a new way of doing
something that may actually be beneficial to them or somebody else.”
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