Chip Ellis, rider of the Schumacher Electric Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, made a special “V.I.P.” visit to Van Buren Technology Center in Lawrence, Mich., on Tuesday, May 20. Ellis toured the technical facility, met with hundreds of students and enjoyed a luncheon with members of the faculty. The NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car was also on display during the visit.
 
"It was a very interesting day," said Ellis, who is currently third in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle point standings. "It is a technical school for high-school kids who go there half-days. There are a variety of programs available for the students, including everything from welding classes and automobile repair to law enforcement and finance and computer classes. It was a pretty cool day.
 



Chip Ellis, rider of the Schumacher Electric Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, made a special “V.I.P.” visit to Van Buren Technology Center in Lawrence, Mich., on Tuesday, May 20. Ellis toured the technical facility, met with hundreds of students and enjoyed a luncheon with members of the faculty. The NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car was also on display during the visit.
 
"It was a very interesting day," said Ellis, who is currently third in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle point standings. "It is a technical school for high-school kids who go there half-days. There are a variety of programs available for the students, including everything from welding classes and automobile repair to law enforcement and finance and computer classes. It was a pretty cool day.
 
"They had the NAPA show car out back and each class of kids would come out there and I would just hang out and answer questions and sign autographs. It was a lot of fun. Just to have a chance to tour the school was awesome. I wish they would have had stuff like that when I was growing up; I might have been a little smarter," he laughed.
 
"Our school features 33 different programs," explained Ron Bishop, who teaches Finance classes at the school. "One of those programs deals with auto mechanics and body repair.
 
"We had several hundred kids, ages ranging from 16 to 18, who had a chance to look at the car and meet Chip," added Bishop. "We even had one pre-school class. The kids all knew Chip and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge were coming so they had their cameras ready and they thought it was great. The kids from the automotive programs were especially excited. They were amazed with the car and they had a lot of questions. We had a few staff members who are big drag-racing fans who were on Cloud 9.
 
"I think it went fantastic, just wonderful," said Bishop. "We are already trying to see if we can plan something again for next year."