One of the highlights of the annual Urban Youth Racing School dinner Tuesday night was the presentation of a $2,500 NASCAR scholarship to Jason Simmons, who plans to major in mechanical engineering at Drexel. Jason’s older brother, Leon, is a freshman engineering student at North Carolina-Charlotte. Among those attending the dinner at the Sheraton Society Hill were Cup driver Brian Vickers and Craftstman Truck Series driver Rick Crawford. Several UYRS students have interned with NASCAR teams. “If someone becomes an engineer, or gets in a driver’s seat or is a crew member, that would be wonderful,” said Tish Sheets, NASCAR’s director of diversity and special projects. “But the fact that children’s lives are changing, that’s what the program is about. They’re using the experience of NASCAR as an award at the end of the year. [It’s] for hard work and being good in school.”(Philadelphia Daily News)(3-24-2005)
