If you love to watch racing and have a child or grandchild who enjoys it with you, you probably have given thought to, “What if my child, who already loves to watch racing, decides to race on the road when he is old enough to drive?” With this fear in mind, I had the opportunity to ask Jeff Gordon, who is also a father, what he will advise his children. He replied, “First, real fans know that racing is only for the race track in race cars built for safety and in proper fireproof gear made safe for the sport. Anyone would be crazy to race on a street or highway. Secondly, never drink and drive or smoke and drive. And always wear your seatbelt.” Other drivers and crew members we talked to added, “Mobile phones must never be used when driving as they distract, and a good driver thinks only of what he is doing each moment, for himself and for other cars around him.” “Speeding on a highway or street just invites disaster. Regular cars are not built for that.” “We have trained all our lives for this sport, and we know we are safe because we are in the correct gear and cars built to protect us. On the road in our normal cars it is completely different. No one should race except on the racetrack.” So if you are a race fan, be sure to teach those youngsters what the famous drivers and crew members advise.
There are many careers available for those interested in racing, instead of becoming a driver, which starts at a very very young age. At the NASCAR Hall of Fame your kids can try their hand at several potential career opportunities. We found it fun to try the sports announcer spot. We wore earphones to hear ourselves as we recorded into a mike while watching a video of the race. Wow! You have to know your facts and think fast!
Being part of a pit crew is what many little mechanically inclined minds dream of and there is no better way to prepare than to go to the tech school right here in Mooresville, NC, just outside of Charlotte. It is a 10 month course that gives hands-on experience of working on the cars in every conceivable way:Nascar Training Institute (877 201 2597 )
For those who want the best careers in NASCAR building the perfect place to get an engineering degree is found at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A beautiful campus with several buildings, including a new one under construction now, devoted specifically to learning the engineering involved to build motorsports cars. It takes engineers and scientists of all kinds to keep racing safe and make it increasingly more exciting and safer.
These young men and women get superb training and education here and can often have jobs or internships working with the official NASCAR facilities in the area, such as Hendricks, Roush Fenway and Earnhardt Ganassi and many more plants in the area.
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