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Kids learn about racing, science at Five Flags

Editor's Note: This story first appeared in June 15 editions of the Pensacola News Journal.
Chuck Corder
News Journal correspondent

Cups and short-track racing — it seems the only connection those two have is when championships are mentioned.

Linda VanderLey, though, described how closely-linked cups — drinking cups, that is — and asphalt are for nearly 300 children Tuesday at Five Flags Speedway.

The famed half-mile asphalt oval mixed thrills and education when it hosted several local day care centers.

The kids, ages 5 to 11, enjoyed rides around the track in the speedway's pacecar while also learning how racing related to math and science.

"What I think I'd like to do is be one of the pit-stop people," 7-year-old Nathan Stevens said.

Older sister Cassidy Stevens, 10, quickly interjected: "I wanna be the person with the flags."

VanderLey, whose son D.J. is a familiar Friday-night face for late model racing, explained to her attentive audience what each flag means.

Her show stopper, though, was the cup demonstration.

Linda VanderLey nudged forward the first cup, which was equally round on each end, and it remained straight while bouncing along the asphalt. She rolled the second cup, in which the mouth was wider than the bottom, and it took a sharp left turn.

It was a perfect illustration for how outside tires, which sit taller than the inside pair, guide stock cars in the corners of the racetrack.

"I'm an old kindergarten teacher, so I love it," Linda VanderLey said. "To watch their faces and eyebrows go up with something as simple as a big circle and a little circle makes the difference.

"Who knows? Each of these children may end up good in math and recognize triangles and something might trigger in them where they get interested in this."

The VanderLeys continued to pique the children's curiosity by jacking up their No. 2 pro late model and allowing the kids to slide underneath to see how everything worked together.

"I just do what she asks," D.J. VanderLey said jokingly after taking instructions from his mother. "This is her passion. She gets a real enjoyment out of teaching."

Santa Rosa County Sheriff Wendell Hall was excited to share his "Just Say No" message with the youngsters.

The third-term sheriff, who has participated in some of the celebrity races at Five Flags, took a few laps in Cleo Heath's sportsman car that had the anti-drug message emblazoned on it.

"Anytime you can talk to kids and get their attention and have an impression on 'em, that's what it's all about," Hall said.

Arguably, the biggest impression left came from Master Mudder, the monster truck from Butler U-Pull-It.

"They want us to crank it for 'em so they can hear the awesome rumbling," said Cheryl Butler, who handed out goodie bags of candy and offered up prizes for a Plinko-like game.

They got to hear D.J. VanderLey fire up the No. 2 at the end of the morning.

Making trips to Victory Lane at Five Flags is nothing new for the 19-year-old driver. The cheers D.J. VanderLey heard Tuesday, though, as he coasted down pit row, were much higher-pitched than he is used to.

"When I was younger, I was always around racing, so I took it for granted," D.J. VanderLey said. "I hope some of these kids keep coming back to watch the races, and maybe one day they'll get a chance to get into one themselves."

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