Camping World Truck Series drivers visit middle school with '3 D's of Speed'
RELATED: Join NASCAR Acceleration Nation
Seventh graders at Kansas City's Argentine Middle School were treated to a lesson in NASCAR on Thursday as part of a special visit from The NASCAR Foundation and NASCAR Acceleration Nation. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers Ben Kennedy, Scott Lagasse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek joined Kansas Speedway President Pat Warren and other industry professionals to talk to students about the "3 D's of Speed" -- drafting, downforce and drag.
NASCAR Acceleration Nation, launched in February as the sport's first national youth platform, was created to make learning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fun and engaging for kids by bringing the science behind NASCAR into the classroom. Through a partnership with Scholastic, more than 12,000 elementary and middle school classrooms across the country are integrating the program's NASCAR-themed learning materials into teacher lesson plans.
At Argentine Middle, drivers took questions from students and explained how principles of aerodynamics make their race cars go faster. Dion Williams, front tire carrier for Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet SS team, served as the event's master of ceremonies.
The school visit was the next stop in a national classroom initiative started by The NASCAR Foundation. Argentine Middle School and several other schools in the Kansas City area were the recipients of technology equipment donations, provided by the Foundation, including 3D printers, tablets and scientific calculators.
The NASCAR Acceleration Nation interactive experience will be open to fans and their children this weekend leading up to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.