WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (August 3, 2011) - While most students have taken the summer to unwind from the stresses of the classroom, some have continued their education at Dells Raceway Park. Nine students who hope to attend Ohio Technical College have been gaining knowledge and competing for scholarships.

This Saturday, Aug. 6 Dells Raceway Park and Ohio Tech will recognize and honor these students who have been competing in the Educational Racing Scholarship Program with an awards ceremony at intermission.

To become eligible for the ERS program students were required to meet several criteria. All students must be of junior or senior standing in high school. Also, in order to be accepted to the scholarship program, students had to fill out a 300-word essay. Once completed the teams were put onto race teams.

Bandit driver Trent Uselman is part of the program. Uselman is a self-educator and earns his experience through working on his Bandit.

Lucas Morse of Poynette has been working with Shayne Poehnelt through 2011, and has helped Poehnelt become a threat to make the fast dash each week.

DRP racer Davey Pennel of Sparta is in his second year of the program. He gains experience by working on his car during the week and on race day. Also assigned to the Pennel team was Darren Jackson of Wisconsin Rapids.

Two students have traveled the distance with John DeAngelis Jr. this season. Both Justin Knight and Shaun Sudik of Sussex have been helping the young driver who travels from Hubertus each Saturday.

Last year's Late Model Rookie of the Year Mike Lichtfeld also has the aid of two future Ohio Tech students. Tyler Schoepp of Lodi and Justin Schwarz of Sauk City have helped their overseer to a second-place tie with Pennel in Late Model points thus far in 2011.

Evaluations of the students were turned in by the teams last week. Students are judged on three main criteria: the number of hours worked as a team member at the track or the shop, a season-ending essay (by the student) describing his experience, and an evaluation result of the student's performance in the shop or at the track by the team owner.

Whereas most scholarship programs simply put forth an essay, Ohio Tech has made a competition of its program for a specific reason, said Randy Dziadowicz, OTC Representative.

"You'll get caught up in a positive competitive environment, and we like to see that," Dziadowicz said at an introductory meeting with the students in April. "Ohio Tech benefits from that."

Specifically, the High Performance program has seen an uptake. "We're building a reputation (in the High Performance program) because of short-track racing," Dziadowicz said.

The scholarships awarded will be: $20,000 for first place, $15,000 for second place, $10,000 for third place, $7,500 for fourth place, $5,000 for fifth place and $2,500 for all non-placing participants.

The purpose of the ERS program is to involve high school junior and senior students in the auto racing industry and reward them with scholarships to Ohio Technical College based on their performance on and off the track. High School students apply for the program through their local Admission representatives.

Ohio Technical College is an award-winning, accredited private, proprietary, postsecondary technical college specializing in a wide array of technician training programs in automotive, motorcycle, diesel equipment, collision repair and refinishing, classic car restoration, high performance and racing, alternative fuel vehicles, power generator systems, and BMW. For more information visit www.ohiotechnicalcollege.com.

Saturday Aug. 6 brings Pepsi Night #2 - a night which marks the stretch run to the championship. Also, Helping Hands Recycling in Reedsburg will be on hand to recycle used electronic supplies. An old computer or laptop recycled receives $3 off your admission. For more information on the recycling event (which runs from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.) visit http://www.dellsracewaypark.com/stars/pdfs/recycling_01.pdf

Dells Raceway Park is located at N1070 Smith Road, five minutes north of downtown Wisconsin Dells, Wis., off highway 12-16. For more information including the latest news, the 2011 schedule and more visit www.dellsracewaypark.com.