2012 STLP State Championships

The Kentucky
Student Technology Leadership Program State Championships
Racing to the Future™ Event
March 22, 2012
Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY

Here we are again, in our 4th year of operating Racing to the Future, a part of the Kentucky’s Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP). STLP is a fantastic program that allows students to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through events and programs like Racing to the Future, Digital Videography, Computer System and Network Repair, Gaming and pretty much anything that can be tied to any of the STEM components and into a fun, learning experience. Racing to the Future explores the physics, engineering, technology and math in teaching students how to build a competitive slot car, be judged on their design and then compete against each other in a double elimination bracket-style drag race. Students compete within their own age groups, Elementary, Middle and High School. This year we moved the event up the calendar to March 22nd and what a great move that was! We had a record attendance of over 6300 students and teachers, with even more parents and visitors to add to the total! This year 31 students from all three age groups competed on out 20 foot, 7 inch scale quarter mile, for prizes and bragging rights for the next year!

This year’s Racing to the Future event was the best sponsored supported event we have had in our 4 years of operating the races! Auto World, AFX RaceMasters, Walther’s Life-Like Racing, Buds HO Racing, and Speed Inc all donated prizes and other items to make this event complete and memorable for the students. All of the sponsors went way beyond expectations and the prize purse totaled over $2700.00 in race sets, cars, t-shirts and grab bag goodies for the students!

This year Auto World jumped into Racing to the Future full throttle as a key sponsor! They sent 6 race sets (Bowtie Raceways and Matco Pro Racing Dragstrips) and a
matching Auto World T-shirt for each, as well as all of the goodies in our Grab Bags, some of which included newly released Funny Cars, key chains, flashlights and patches!
First and Second place students in the racing part of the competition of
each age group won a race set and a T-shirt!

Life-Like Racing also jumped in this year with some sponsorship prizes. The Off-Road Set and American Highway set were awarded to students that won a chance to draw one of these sets as part of the Grab Bag Give-a-Way!

Tomy AFX – AFX RaceMasters has been our oldest sponsor and came through again for us this year. Six race sets were donated as prizes for the Design and Engineering portion of the competition. First and second place students from each age group took home one of these sets!

Once again, we would like to thank our most generous sponsors in making this a unique event within the KY STLP State Championship. Racing to the Future has grown faster than any other event in the short 4 years it has been part of this educational opportunity. Having great backers in Auto World, AFX RaceMasters and Life-Like really grabs the interest of the students and giving them wonderful awards for their efforts in this competition. We overheard other event directors asking “how many prizes do those guys have????” And that big prize table was key in getting us even more recruits for next Fall’s regional events, building the entry roles for 2013’s State Championship!

This year we took the learning to new heights by bringing in an actual race car, owner/driver and the crew chief to teach the students how the STEM components work on the real race cars! Dustin Neat, of The Neat Racing Team, brought out his modified racer. They took away some of the body panels to show off the engine, suspension and the driver’s working office behind the wheel. The students were able to see all of the engineering and design required to build a competitive race car, all of the safety and protection that is built in and how it all works together to get around the track that much faster. Dustin and his crew were great and stayed the whole day, answering every question that was brought to them. They had so much fun, they are ready to come back next year! Thanks to Dustin and The Neat Racing Team, we were able to show the relationship between actual 1:1 race cars and the scale speed demons the students were building.

Special Guest: Neat Racing Team

The Racing to the Future™ Crew

Of course the event is being held in Lexington’s Rupp Arena, so we had to go check out the University of Kentucky Wildcats NCAA Champions’ locker room! Oops, here comes the guard, time to get back to the arena floor!

So let’s get back to the Racing to the Future™ event! We arrive at 6:00 AM at Rupp Arena to begin setting up the drag strip, displays, seating and projectors. It takes about 2 hours to get everything set up, tested and working. It was much easier this year with the larger crew!

Banners, displays, prizes…..Hey, where’s the track?

Okay, we found the track! Hey this is looking pretty good!
The track is a combination of Tomy AFX and Auto World and we use the Auto World Drag Strip Xmas Tree and finish line sensor systems. The Xmas tree counts down from red through yellow and green and is equipped with a foul light, so you can’t jump the light!

Each lane is independently wired with 22 volts and 1 Amp per lane and the power is connected equally, 3 times across the track, for the 20 foot 7 inch distance. There is a 12 foot braking area just after the finish line.

So here’s the quick run-down of the Racing to the Future™ event and the basic rules. The event is broken into 2 main competitions. The first is the Design and Engineering Competition, the second is the Racing Competition. Both competitions are broken down into 3 age groups, Elementary School, Middle School and High School. All three age groups follow the same rule sets for the competitions.

Design and Engineering Competition gives the students an opportunity to show off their building, engineering, graphic design and decoration skills. Their entry must be raced and follow the size and safety guidelines in the Racing to the Future™ rule book. The entries are judged twice. First by a group of judges from the Racing to the Future Team along with 2 volunteer teachers. Cars are judges on their appearance, the design of their chassis and how well the student documented what they did to make the car go faster. The documentation is required to enter the event. The judges award points in 6 categories and are tallied for each part of the score. The public attending the event, then get to vote for their favorite cars. Each person gets one vote. The entry with the most votes get 10 bonus points added to their judge’s scores. The 1st and 2nd highest scores for each age group are awarded prizes for their design of the body, engineering of the chassis and documentation of the work done to that entry.

Elementary School Design/Engineering Winners

Middle School Design/Engineering Winners

High School Design/Engineering Winners

The Drag Racing Competition is where the rubber meets the road….Literally! Students race against each other in a double elimination style format until only one winner is left to claim the top spot. Students compete in the same age groups as the Design and Engineering segment. Brackets are computer generated. Students are then called to the starting line, line up, and watch the Xmas tree turn red-yellow-yellow-yellow-green. As soon as they get the green, they can charge full bore to the finish line. However, if they jump the light and go before green, a sensor lights up the foul light and that racer is disqualified from that run. Racers that lose their match or are disqualified are moved to the secondary bracket where they must continue to win to stay in the competition and move back into the primary bracket for a shot at the finals. This year’s racing competition was very close and the student racers showed great sportsmanship, shaking hands after races or congratulating the winners. First and second place winners from each age group took home the prizes.

Elementary School Racing Competition Winners

Middle School Racing Competition Winners

High School Racing Competition Winners

Congratulations to all of our winners this year! Now let’s take a look at everyone that participated and get a good look at their entries too. These students put a lot of wrench time in to their cars and turned out some excellent, competitive entries.

Elementary School Entries

Middle School Entries

High School Entries

Judging the Design Competition

The judges had some tough decisions to make. All of the students put a lot of time and effort into their entries this year.

Speed Inc. displayed some customized cars to give students, parents and teachers some ideas for next years competition.

Some of the Racing Competition

The racing was pretty intense! Lots of concentration on that green light!

After the competition was over, we opened up the track to recruit new Student Racers for next year’s Racing to the Future™ event! We will also visit all 8 school districts in the Fall of 2012 and run demo races to drum up even more participants for the state championship events in March 2013!

I would like to thank everyone that helps make Racing to the Future™ possible. From the volunteers on the RttF team, to the Kentucky Student Technology Leadership Program, Elaine Harrison-Lane and David Couch, the Rupp Arena staff and all the teachers, parents and students that go above and beyond to make this a unique event.

I would also like to send a special thanks to our sponsors, Auto World, AFX RaceMasters, Walther’s Life-Like Racing, Buds HO Racing, and Speed Inc. Their generosity in prizes and participation really give the students motivation to achieve.

We are already planning for the Fall Regionals and next years state championship event. We are looking forward to seeing new Student Racers and returning competitors, new schools and all their imaginations can put together in building their next new speed machine!

-Paul Shoemaker