Lima Reporter

Written by Contributing Columnist Tom Legeman

University of Northwestern Ohio students Kevin Theile and Teegan Clarkson participated in a motorsports marketing and management class exercise at Martinsville Speedway this past October. The students, as well as their instructor Tom Legeman, were invited to the event by Our Motorsports Team Manager Kevin Cope.

Both Thiele and Clarkson, current students in the PR and Event Management class at UNOH, got to use their headsets and listen in on the Our Motorsports No. 23 NASCAR Xfinity Chevrolet driven be Anthony Alfredo.

This was a simulation exercise designed to give the students a real-world taste of what it’s like to take pit notes and find their “Pit Reporter” Instructor Tom Legeman somewhere on pit road to transfer the information they had seen and heard.

“Martinsville Speedway is one of the loudest environments in racing to deal with,” said Legeman. “You have to deal with a ton of outside noise, while attempting to decipher the voices of the driver, crew chief, and spotter on the radio.”

“Both Teegan and Kevin did a great job of interpreting what the race team was communicating and finding me on pit road to pass along this information.”

“It was a great experience for me wanting to go into PR. We really got to see the chaos of a NASCAR race day, and what you have to do to accomplish your assignment in a fast-paced environment,” said Clarkson.

“It was really a fun and a cool experience. We were able to learn more about what goes into the PR aspect of Motorsports by doing a pit note simulation,” said Theile.

Additionally, Clarkson and Theile were able to experience one of Martinsville’s longest standing traditions, the Martinsville Hot Dog.

“Each experience the students engage in provides confidence, exposure to the industry, and understanding of the knowledge needed for the job that they hope to have in the very near future,” said College of Business Dean Tim Fitzpatrick.

For more information about the UNOH Motorsports Marketing program, visit 

https://www.unoh.edu/academics/college-of-occupational-professions/motorsports-marketing.html

Original source can be found here.