INDYCAR: KVSH team advances STEM values at Long Beach

The KVSH IndyCar team is racing at Long Beach with a new sponsor in California Baptist University and its college of engineering department. Through the arrangement, 20 CBU students will be exposed to the engineering disciplines used in the Chevy-powered IndyCar program throughout the season, and as they interact with the team that support's Sebastien Bourdais' No. 11 entry, the next generation of IndyCar technicians and engineers could be developed.

"There's the macro piece which is the series side and the lack of an influx of young engineers coming into the sport, and all of us on the ownership side recognize that and want to facilitate more talent coming in," KVSH co-owner James "Sulli" Sullivan told RACER.

"And there's the micro side, which is we've put together a partnership with California Baptist University, and specifically, its college of engineering. That's not just mechanical engineering; it's electrical engineering, aerodynamic interests, and what we're doing it planting them in our organization for the weekend and showing them everything we do from the start of the weekend to the end."

LEFT: CBU educators and a student at Long Beach (Marshall Pruett photo)

Fellow KVSH co-owner Jimmy Vasser sees the relationship with CBU as one that could benefit North American motor racing as a whole.

"It's about getting them interested in racing, and hopefully preparing them to go into the industry; I know we need more of them here, but we need young engineers in every series, not just IndyCar," Vasser said.

Beyond the sponsorship arrangement, Sullivan says some students will take greater roles next month for the series' biggest events and his personal racing team.

"We're going to go one step further and integrate a few of them into full-time positions for the month of May for both the Indy Grand Prix and the Indy 500," he added. "They're also going to cross over to my Global Rallycross team and it's a holistic thing; if they aren't being exposed to racing, to IndyCar, to GRC, then they might not know that's a path for them to pursue in their careers after college. That's what it's about – trying to inspire them to come here. It's upper classmen and women, juniors and seniors, and we like what we've seen so far."

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