POWERGRAMS

3 plunk down $50 to "volunteer." "While that may sound odd, there are many perks that come with that," including a three-day paddock pass and two extra passes for his guests, along with a logo shirt and hat. "I happily pay the money to make it that much easier for my friends to be there with me," Morrison said. "The shirt and hat are just a bonus." The bonus for Whorton and colleague Jimy George – both Distribution engineers at the Gardendale Crew Headquarters – is hoping that high school students catch the engineering bug by building and racing model cars at the track during the Alabama Power-sponsored Junior Clinic the Thursday before the main Sunday race. Each man led 10-student teams from Ramsay High School, who built the small race cars, amidst the roar of the real deal practicing on the track a few feet away. "The practical aspects of building a derby car and the thought process they had to go through to design one that is competitive should spark a lot of interest," said George, whose teams won the previous two years. "I'd wager they'll start thinking of how rewarding a career in engineering will be – with exposure to bigger and fancier toys." "A lot of students don't really know what engineering is until they are exposed to it," Whorton added. "This event shows students so many different career opportunities associated with racing, as well as with Honda and Alabama Power." George talked Whorton into volunteering for the Junior Clinic. Ironically, she dethroned him by leading her team to victory among 23 high schools. "I wasn't expecting so many of the students to get so invested in the competition," Whorton said. "You could barely see the race on the track because the crowd was so large." Whorton and George got their wish, if the reaction of 32 Hewi-Trussville High engineering students was any indication. "The next day in class, we looked more at why the cars stick to the race course beer once rubber from the tires becomes embedded in the track surface, which teaches us friction coefficients," said Tom Moulton, who teaches engineering at Hewi and took his students to the event. "We also reviewed the wind resistance cars are fighting to cut through. We focused on drag coefficients. The subject was selected, as many of the students were fascinated by the BMW i8 that was shown at the track." "That's exactly the kind of discussion we're trying to facilitate," said Robin White, Alabama Power marketing project manager and Junior Clinic master of ceremonies. "If we can get students interested in the practical aspects of engineering, such as what engineers actually do and how they make a difference, we can get more kids to consider engineering and the other (science, technology, engineering and math) STEM-related careers." White was back at the track 10 days later on the same mission; this time coordinating about 20 High school and college students from across the South build and race cars in Electrathon.

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