| Using
Motorcycle races to teach kids about business and technology at the Lamoine
Ramblers Motorcycle Club
From left to right: Tabby, Jennifer, Josh, Stephanie, Steven.
Two weeks have gone by and we're back at the races. Stephanie
bangs hands with Tabby saying let's do it, we're ready.
Taking kids to the races is a very exciting time in their lives.
The noise, the activity, the technology. Racing is full of technology
and somewhere near just about every town in America there is a racetrack
booming with the latest technology ready for people to see.
Most of the kids from the housing project never get to see races,
they never get to see airplanes and I have even talked to two kids from
this housing project that have never even been to the country. It's
hard to believe it because Bushnell is a small town located in the middle
of America's corn belt. The point is that we want our kids
to grow up like ladies and gentleman with professional attitudes but we
don't want them to make any noise or do anything in the process.
They are told to go get a stick and hit a ball or to go bounce a ball and
throw it through a little basket. Our high tech world is much more
complex than that. We need people who understand mechanics and physics,
who understand personal communication and fair dealing in business.
Racing can provide a lot of the technical skills that our country
needs. It's not just going fast around the track, racing means night
after night working in the garage rebuilding your engine, experimenting
with new suspension and carefully studying your machine to see if you can
improve engine performance, reduce weight or reduce drag. Yes, just
like airplanes, racing requires a knowledge of aerodynamics too.
Bouncing a ball doesn't provide our country with much more than just something
to do when you're bored.
I believe that taking kids to the race track as part of the Y-I-BET
program is essential. Since there are very few airshows in the region,
usually only two a year, racing fills the void with a fun, educational
activity that helps build dreams. |
