Lima Reporter

Written by Contributing Columnist Tom Legeman

University of Northwestern Ohio Motorsports Marketing student Chloe Holman received the Dale Earnhardt Jr., Foundation Scholarship Award at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 17, at Bristol Motor Speedway before the Bass Pro Shops 500 NASCAR Cup event.

Holman, a sophomore in the Motorsports Marketing program, describes her experience in receiving the award on stage before the race as something she will never forget. “What an incredible experience I had this past Friday and Saturday. Earlier in the week, I found out that I was a finalist for the Dale Earnhardt Jr., Foundation Scholarship Award. On Wednesday afternoon, I receved a call from UNOH telling me I was one of the winners of the scholarship," said Holman. "I had to be in Bristol, Tennessee by Friday, so a lot had to happen in order for me to get to the track for the events on Friday and Saturday.”

Holman continued,“Friday night, I was able to get into the garage area and watch the NASCAR Xfinity race. I was able to meet some of the drivers and a couple of team managers including Kevin Cope with Our Motorsports, and Steve DeSouza with Joe Gibbs Racing. Saturday was a whirlwind day. I got to meet NASCAR Cup driver Chris Buescher, who won the race that night, by his transporter. He asked me if I was ready to move to Charlotte, and get to work!

From there I went to the media center and met with Becky Cox, vice president of communications at Bristol Motor Speedway. I never realized how busy the media center is on race day. There was a constant flow of traffic, from drivers, to celebrities, to PR reps, and others who were in and out during that time. The stage always had someone being interviewed on it.

Our BMS PR representative took us to the pre-race stage to watch the Three Doors Down concert. Right after the concert we were backstage before the driver’s introductions, being prepared to receive the scholarship award on stage. We went onto the stage right before the drivers were introduced. Jerry Caldwell, president of BMS, presented us our awards. The stage below was crowded, and when I looked up, I could not believe how many fans were in the stands (over 100,000). It was so cool, what an incredible experience!

We went backstage to hang out with the drivers at pre-race. I got to meet Ryan Blaney, who had a Limaland Motorsports Park sticker on his car for the race. We then went to victory lane, which is on top of the media center, to watch the Air Force fly over, and the start of the race. The jet on the fly over was so low, I thought it was going to hit the top of the grandstands. It was all pretty exciting.

From victory lane we went to the BMS suite to watch the race. I was able to spend some time with the other scholarship winner, Elizabethton High School student John Clavier, and his family. They were great, from the area, and invited me back to Bristol to spend time with them at another race.

When I applied for the scholarship, I had no idea that I might have a chance to receive it. There were over 150 applicants from nine different universities. Becky Cox told me the deciding factor for me winning the scholarship was my work experience program I completed this year for the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway."

For more information about the Motorsports Marketing Program see the UNOH Program Page.

Original source can be found here.