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NEWS | June 19, 2007

National anti-drug and research programs honor Summit Racing

By Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill National Guard Bureau

Company helps National Guard, NCPRS target youth to Stay on Track

TALLMADGE, Ohio (6/19/2007) – The National Guard Counterdrug Program and the National Center for Prevention and Research Solutions jointly honored Summit Racing Equipment June 16, 2007 during their annual Super Summit XV event. Together, the partners presented a plaque to Ray Tatko, president, Summit Racing Equipment, here at the company's headquarters.

"This award is dedicated to Summit for their 'tire'less efforts to help the youth in their community," said Air Guard Capt. John Glasgow who presented the award on the behalf of the Ohio National Guard Counterdrug Program.

Just last school year the National Guard and NCPRS teamed up to present Stay on Track, a positive educational curriculum, to 11 pilot states across the country. However, Summit Racing has supported NCPRS since 1989. Most recently, the national racing equipment company donated $5,000 to NCPRS to fund the educational materials for Stay on Track for approximately 1,000 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in neighboring communities.

Stay on Track is a program that lasts 12 weeks throughout all three grade levels of middle school to help children make better choices in life. The course is a science based-measurable program designed around motorsports as developed by Ron Steger, chief executive officer, NCPRS.

"I started racing when I was 14; all I needed to hear was the sound of an engine and I headed right toward it," said Steger. "As I got older, I imagined that a lot of other children had an interest in cars like I did."

Ohio National Guard will instruct the program for the first time to schools across the state in the upcoming school year. The state was not one of the pilot states for the program, but it is part of the expansion in the 2007-2008 year.

Over the years, Steger has honed the Stay on Track program and NCPRS designs the materials for the program around its partners. In the case of the National Guard, all new materials taught by National Guardsmen will highlight Casey Mears, driver of the No. 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevy Monte Carlo.

Throughout the courses, the sixth, seventh and eighth graders are taught to stay off drugs and stay on track by ignoring peer pressure and setting and achieving their goals. Students are encouraged to follow the RACER model of decision making:

  • Realize the need for a decision
  • Analyze the possible decision
  • Consider risks and rewards
  • Execute the decision
  • Re-evaluate the decision

Steger wanted to reach children in a positive manner and he's been able to do so successfully through the Stay on Track program. He traveled to the event along with a cut away race car that will soon be painted and decaled like the No. 25 National Guard Chevrolet.

"This car is an educational tool that enables us to talk to adults and kids alike," he explained. "First you teach them things about why a race car broke down or how it operates and then later you slip in more subliminal messages like following your dreams and staying off drugs."

While Stay on Track has been a lifelong achievement for Steger, this is a new beginning for the National Guard. The unique program is one of the initiatives of the Guard's Drug Demand Reduction Program that targets youth. In 2005, the National Guard Counterdrug Program underwent a major transformation that resulted in DDR playing a more central role in the program's overall efforts. This donation from Summit Racing will allow NCPRS to provide materials for about a thousand more students that the Guard will reach with their positive messages.

As the partnership with NCPRS and the National Guard strengthens, awareness increases and funding becomes available, the National Guard hopes to implement Stay on Track in all 54 states and territories.

"We simply cannot win the fight against drugs alone and support from the community is necessary to secure our future and protecting our children," said Air Guard Col. William Carle, chief, National Guard Counterdrug Programs. "It's amazing to see such willing support from an organization like Summit Racing. That money will make a difference for the state of Ohio and this nation."

 

 

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