STEM on the Motor Speedway Engineering does not get much faster or thrilling than at the racecar speedway NASCAR teams hire up to forty engineers to build and race a winning car They test designs and engines that can shave milliseconds off a racer's time
IQAH A NASCAR team's lead race engineer is one of the top positions In the car shop they study computer models and past racing results to improve a car's performance They place a car in a wind tunnel to study how the car's shape affects air drag It is like one long science experiment using math physics and mechanical engineering A car's computer can tell the engineer how well it performed during a race NASCAR engineers fine tune each car to perform its best during a race
STEM in Action The Daytona 500 is one of the highlights of the NASCAR season It is a 500 mile race The track is 2 5 miles long How many laps does a NASCAR driver complete to finish the Daytona 500 500 miles 2.5 miles per lap 200 laps In 2013 Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500 in about 3 hours 8 minutes What was the average speed in miles per hour of his winning car Use a calculator to convert 8 minutes into a decimals 8 minutes divided by 60 minutes in an hour 0.14 Add 0 14 to 3 hours His race time was 3.14 hours 500 miles 3.14 hours 159.24 miles per hour
IQAH Ryan Newman Some NASCAR drivers are also scientists Ryan Newman was always good at math and physics and today uses them to win He has combined his engineering degree with his love of racecar driving REO OUTBACK Quicken Loans In his laboratory the car shop Ryan works with other engineers They ready the car for all race situations such as making sure the tires will grip when he is racing at 200 miles per hour 322 kilometers per hour Ryan says Racing is one big huge equation Any variable can turn a perfect race into a disaster S All of Ryan Newman's hard work pays off on the racetrack
