ATLANTA — As part of the company’s continued commitment to promote diversity in NASCAR, express delivery company UPS is awarding five students with its UPS Racing Technical Edge Scholarship.
To date, UPS has provided more than $230,000 in scholarship funds to minority students pursuing careers in racing and automotive technology. This marks the third year UPS has provided financial assistance to select students enrolled at the NASCAR Technical Institute (NTI) in suburban Charlotte, NC. Designed as the premier training ground for NASCAR hopefuls, NTI is an extension of Arizona-based Universal Technical Institute and combines an automotive technology curriculum with NASCAR-specific coursework.
Administered by Scholarship America in St. Peter, Minn., candidates for the UPS Racing Technical Edge Scholarship must demonstrate automotive-related career goals, automotive work experience and financial need for consideration.
Future minority NASCAR drivers, crew members and technicians awarded this year include:
Darryl Boyles, Columbia, S.C.
Osvaldo Flores, Morganton, N.C.
Jason Gunter, Clayton, N.C.
Chance Hunt, Greensboro, N.C.
Christopher O’Neal, Columbia, S.C.
Two former recipients of the scholarships — Lael McMurry, a woman from Tularosa, N.M., and Reginald “Bradley” Douthit, a North Carolina native from Winston-Salem, currently hold positions in the N.C. motorsports community.
UPS has been the official express delivery company of NASCAR since 2000 and closes its fourth racing season as primary sponsor of the No. 88 UPS Ford Taurus driven by Dale Jarrett for Robert Yates Racing. Building on the sport’s growing popularity and fan loyalty, UPS has been recognized for a strong marketing platform that links its services to the speed, precision and reliability of NASCAR racing. UPS continues to build new business opportunities directly within the racing community, related automotive and supplier industries and with new revenues through licensed product merchandising.
“We are encouraged by the hard work put forth by our recipients and will continue to foster diversity initiatives within the competitive world of motorsports,” said Stu LaRoche, UPS motorsports business development manager and NASCAR Diversity Council member. “Diversity is a key component to building successful teams at UPS, especially during our current peak holiday season, and the UPS Racing Technical Edge Scholarship program has become a vehicle for us to extend our award-winning practices into NASCAR.”
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