Nascar 15 Driver

[Yamila Comejo]

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You don't. Professional NASCAR drivers aren't selected because of their educational background. They're selected based on their talent, knowledge, teamwork, and marketability. Education might play a role in helping to build knowledge (for example getting a mechanical engineering degree could theoretically help expand your knowledge of your vehicle's systems) or improve your teamwork skills (more opportunities to collaborate with others). But strictly speaking education isn't the key to becoming a NASCAR driver. What you really need is a lot of talent and a lot of practice. Pros often start at a young age with Karting at their local track, then move up in vehicle classes (referring to the type of vehicle not the types of classes you see in school) as they gain experience and make a name for themselves. So if you really are determined to do whatever it takes to be a professional driver I'd say you should start writing at your local track, save every penny to spend on racing, learn as much as you can about vehicle systems, get an internship or apprenticeship with a racing team, and start spending time doing teamwork building exercises like joining the scouts or spending tune volunteering at your local YMCA.

HOWEVER, does that bean you should drop out of school and start racing all day every day? I wouldn't recommend it. Here's why: becoming a pro NASCAR driver is a highly risky ambition. Many try. Few will succeed. Just like other entertainment and talent fields like football, singing, ballet, rapping, or becoming a tenured math professor, becoming a pro NASCAR driver results in failure more often than it results in success. So my suggestion is that you marry your ambition and preparation with a reasonable fallback plan. For example my uncle wanted to be a racecar driver but ended up working for a racing company instead managing races after it didn't quite work out in his favor to become the driver. He's loving his job and life, so I think his fallback plan worked. Other fallback plans might involve having some mechanical skills or engineering skills or even just great organizational skills so you can work for a team in another capacity if you don't get to be a professional driver.

A retired NASCAR driver and his son were arrested Wednesday and charged along with two other Pennsylvania men for allegedly assaulting police during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office.

Tighe Scott, 75, and his son Jarret Scott, 48, face two felony offenses each as well as a multiple misdemeanor offenses for a series of alleged assaults prosecutors say they engaged in outside the Capitol among the pro-Trump mob.

Scott competed in dirt racing events before moving into the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While he recorded no career wins in NASCAR, he had multiple top-10 finishes and made several appearances at the Daytona 500, including a sixth place finish in 1979.

The two Scotts were arrested along with another Pennsylvania father and son, Scott Alex Slater Jr. and Scott Slater Sr., all of whom prosecutors say physically and verbally harassed law enforcement trying to protect the Capitol -- using a variety of objects like flagpoles, golf clubs and an \"Area Closed\" sign to throw or strike against a line of police trying to control the mob.

The four men were seen in video footage of the Stop the Steal rally earlier the day of the riot. During the rally, according to a criminal complaint, the men went to the Capitol building and \"began yelling at the line of officers attempting to clear the area.\"

At one point, Tighe Scott allegedly \"attempted to rip the shield\" out of an officer's hands, but was pushed away and fell backward. Jarrett Scott was knocked backward by his father falling, the complaint states, and allegedly jeered at officers, directing several profanities at them.

Theriault had started racing at Spud Speedway in the heart of Aroostook County potato country about 12 years earlier, long before he could even drive himself to the racetrack. But on that July day five years ago, Theriault was behind the wheel of a professional stock car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, waiting for his first start as a NASCAR driver.

I sat in the grandstands as a kid," Theriault said recently. "And to be down there on the pit road with my family and the opportunity. Even though it was sort of a 35th place car, but still, at the end of the day you are in a pretty high-level sport. And that was just the beginning. We were planning years beyond that."

Theriault's hopes for that NASCAR season ended weeks later when he was injured in a chain reaction crash at Florida's famed Talladega Speedway. Now, nearly five years later, Theriault is racing for a very different sort of prize: a seat in Congress.

For Theriault, the door to enter politics opened at about the same time that he decided in 2021 to step out from the driver's seat after several injuries and instead focus on the business side of racing. Republicans approached him about trying to succeed Democratic Rep. John Martin of Eagle Lake, an institution in Maine politics who was termed out of his House seat.

"I said, 'Well, I am going through a transition myself right now. It may be an interesting time to start considering what's next,'" Theriault said over a plateful of food at Helen's Restaurant, an obligatory pit stop in Machias for any campaign swing through Washington County. "And with John Martin terming out, I threw my hat in the race and didn't know what to expect. I always followed what was happening in Maine."

Theriault won the Maine House seat in November 2022 and, less than a year later after additional encouragement from some Republican leaders, announced plans to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat this year.

"I'm hoping that people turn out and come out in June so that we can go up against Jared Golden so that we can hold him accountable for his failures, failure of leadership and failure to be an aggressive voice in the 2nd District because that's what the district truly needs," Theriault said.

In the Legislature, Theriault has served on the Transportation Committee but, like many freshman lawmakers, had a relatively low-profile first term. Soboleski serves on the Labor and Housing Committee as well as the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

Earlier in the day, Langley and his wife, Linda, had shown up at Helen's Restaurant to meet Theriault wearing matching bright-red "Make America Great Again" sweatshirts. Now in a room full of Republicans, many wearing similar attire, Langley said he is ready to give younger people a chance to fix the nation's problems, most notably the enormous national debt that he said is being left to them by his and other generations.

Theriault often touts his family's Aroostook County roots in logging and farming. He also highlights his own business experience running a racing team and, most recently, in driver-development. And, of course, his campaign has highlighted his NASCAR roots and racing victories, which included a national championship in the 2017 ARCA Racing Series.

"I am proud to have President Trump's endorsement," he said in a television ad. "Together we will secure the border, stop Biden's electric vehicle mandate and bring back American manufacturing. I'll fight to make sure our best days are ahead."

A little later outside Calais City Hall, Theriault said he has supported Trump since 2016 but acknowledged the former president's polarizing nature even among some Republicans. But he also pointed to polls showing more Americans trust Trump than Biden on the economy and border security.

You might be shocked by the number of race fans who want to talk to me about their street cars. And I'm not talking about "I heard you have a Corvette, I have one too. Aren't they awesome?" I mean guys (and some gals) who get me cornered, wanting advice on what aftermarket headers they should get for their Mustangs. At an autograph session last year, I had an old dude who had left work to drive across town -- with his hands still dirty -- just to ask me what kind of spark plugs I thought he should run in his old Dodge pickup. Lucky for those folks, I like to talk about that stuff. However, in the NASCAR garage, I'm part of an increasing minority.

Don't get me wrong: We have plenty of drivers who could take apart their own cars, or yours, and put them back together. But we also have an embarrassingly large group of guys who couldn't change their own oil if they had to. They might not even be able to change the air freshener hanging off the rearview mirror. And I'm talking about guys who have won a lot of races.

How can that be, you ask? Well, there are two reasons. First, being a great mechanic doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot with the race cars we drive every weekend. Those machines are created by engineers, not grease monkeys.

These days the keys to speed have less to do with shocks and springs -- physical stuff I can fix with my hands. Sure, there's still a little room out there for what we refer to as "redneck engineering," but today's NASCAR is more and more about data gathered at the wind tunnel by aerodynamicists or chassis construction based on geometry calculated by a table full of guys at their laptops. We'll go do a midweek test session and I'll run some laps, then walk over to the eggheads (with their PCs plugged up to the car) and go, "Those felt good. What do you guys think?" They don't even look up. And when I try to talk to my engine tuners about motor stuff, it sounds like they're speaking Portuguese, so I just nod and try to act like I know what they're saying.

This disconnect between drivers and their cars is only getting worse. Racing has become more of an engineers' sport, and the newer generations of drivers don't know much about cars and don't really care -- they just get in and drive 'em. If it doesn't work, these guys don't know how to ask for what they need to fix it; they've never been underneath a car on a rollback, and they don't even bother to guess. They just get on the radio and whine like they always have: "I can't drive this piece of crap! Fix it!"

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