T Creech
07-30-2010, 05:14 PM
I have been kind of busy lately working on something on a project that seemed kind of cool... maybe interesting to some of you maybe not.
If you are in California you may benefit, and one of the only things besides discussion forums and facebook that are free for riders.
I used to do quite a bit with the nationals, ATV, and a lot of other stuff... now I do other things... but always I have been a teacher, Math (I know - ewww).
So, I have this kid who started cutting pictures out of motorcycle and atv magazines when he was old enough to talk me into buying them and taping them all over his bedroom. He advanced into putting all kinds of stickers on things, and yes he rode too. We did encourage him to beleive in himself. He did. And we live in the weirdest part of the country to try to do this sport - you thought your area was wierd - try Northern California - even LA has more places to ride - legally... Anyway, in the olden days, back in 1996 or so, there was some racing up this way... and we had a lot of fast guys up here, still do. This child of mine decided that he wanted to race nationals, yet he was in 9th grade. This didn't work well together. You can't be gone for weeks during the school year, so we stuck to local races for a couple of years.
Right about this time of the year, in 1998 he talked his Dad and I (actually he and a friend buddied up against the parents... we were out-voted) - into making the trek to Loretta's, all the way from extremely Northern California. It took almost 4 days to get there. He won the race. In the 250 A Class. His first time at a National. Some of you may know the rest of his story...
But this leads me into the reason for why I'm bothering with all of this 'STUFF' now. Prince Charming, was still in high-school, and in NorCal, and contracted to race the nationals. Wow. For our family this was a pretty big deal, since we didn't grow up around all this (other than the pictures taped to the wall in his room), and he still had to go to school and we had to figure out how to afford all of this, even with sponsors.
So, the school thing worked out because I'm a teacher. Turns out a lot of the racers are doing home-school or charter school now. Also turns out that's what I'm teaching. But, most schools don't teach what a student who is into motorsports really is interested in, and they don't offer classes filled with kids that also race, and also want classes that count toward a diploma, or college, or tech school, that have something to do with the 'life' they intend to lead.
So, I designed one. With a lot of input from a LOT of industry people, Pros, Factory people, and people who have made a business out of the 'business', we came up with a cool curriculum and even cooler teachers, and it's virtual, but live, so students don't have to do things all by themselves. But they can be anywhere if they race a competetive season.
We are a free public school, in California, so you have to be a resident of California. And I know a lot of you don't live here.
Thanks for reading about this. I hope a school like this goes nationwide someday so riders everywhere can be involved.
If you want more information you can see the website at www.pacwestacademy.com
Ride safe.
If you are in California you may benefit, and one of the only things besides discussion forums and facebook that are free for riders.
I used to do quite a bit with the nationals, ATV, and a lot of other stuff... now I do other things... but always I have been a teacher, Math (I know - ewww).
So, I have this kid who started cutting pictures out of motorcycle and atv magazines when he was old enough to talk me into buying them and taping them all over his bedroom. He advanced into putting all kinds of stickers on things, and yes he rode too. We did encourage him to beleive in himself. He did. And we live in the weirdest part of the country to try to do this sport - you thought your area was wierd - try Northern California - even LA has more places to ride - legally... Anyway, in the olden days, back in 1996 or so, there was some racing up this way... and we had a lot of fast guys up here, still do. This child of mine decided that he wanted to race nationals, yet he was in 9th grade. This didn't work well together. You can't be gone for weeks during the school year, so we stuck to local races for a couple of years.
Right about this time of the year, in 1998 he talked his Dad and I (actually he and a friend buddied up against the parents... we were out-voted) - into making the trek to Loretta's, all the way from extremely Northern California. It took almost 4 days to get there. He won the race. In the 250 A Class. His first time at a National. Some of you may know the rest of his story...
But this leads me into the reason for why I'm bothering with all of this 'STUFF' now. Prince Charming, was still in high-school, and in NorCal, and contracted to race the nationals. Wow. For our family this was a pretty big deal, since we didn't grow up around all this (other than the pictures taped to the wall in his room), and he still had to go to school and we had to figure out how to afford all of this, even with sponsors.
So, the school thing worked out because I'm a teacher. Turns out a lot of the racers are doing home-school or charter school now. Also turns out that's what I'm teaching. But, most schools don't teach what a student who is into motorsports really is interested in, and they don't offer classes filled with kids that also race, and also want classes that count toward a diploma, or college, or tech school, that have something to do with the 'life' they intend to lead.
So, I designed one. With a lot of input from a LOT of industry people, Pros, Factory people, and people who have made a business out of the 'business', we came up with a cool curriculum and even cooler teachers, and it's virtual, but live, so students don't have to do things all by themselves. But they can be anywhere if they race a competetive season.
We are a free public school, in California, so you have to be a resident of California. And I know a lot of you don't live here.
Thanks for reading about this. I hope a school like this goes nationwide someday so riders everywhere can be involved.
If you want more information you can see the website at www.pacwestacademy.com
Ride safe.