{"id":7386,"date":"2019-06-14T14:06:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T18:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=7386"},"modified":"2019-06-14T14:06:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T18:06:08","slug":"in-the-fastlane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2019\/06\/14\/in-the-fastlane\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Southern in the Fastlane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Whether it\u2019s behind the scenes or on the track, Georgia Southern students and alumni love the world of racing. What draws them to this fast-paced career path? We found a few people to talk about their need for speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Jordan Feider<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
DIRT TRACK RACER AND NURSING STUDENT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was raised in the racing world\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jordan Feider was the\nfirst female racer in history from her\ndivision to win at Savannah\u2019s Oglethorpe Speedway Park. Racing\nis in her blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was raised in the racing world,\u201d said the senior\nnursing student and dirt track racer who races under the name \u201cDirt Angel.\u201d \u201cAs\na baby I was at the track from the time I was three months old. I\u2019m actually a\nthird-generation female racer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDirt Angel\u201d is an appropriate name for Feider as she\ndrives a car wrapped in a decal that reads \u201cGlory 2 God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy grandmother and I started it a few years ago, because\nyou don\u2019t see the Christian view that much in the racing world, and that\u2019s\nimportant to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it was the family tradition of participating in the\nchurch\u2019s mission trips that first piqued her interest in nursing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the biggest things I love to do is travel on\nmedical mission trips to Haiti with my grandmother and aunt. That\u2019s what truly\nmade me realize that I wanted to be a nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\nstudying nursing at the Armstrong Campus has been a family tradition, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have a lot of family,\nlike my aunt, that went there for nursing. And when\nI looked into it, we have one\nof the best nursing programs around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feider often races against her fianc\u00e9, Brandon Yawn, in\nthe late model division, the highest level in dirt track racing. The two became\nengaged last December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo you know, I want to win and he wants to win. But I don\u2019t want\nto wreck him to win. But things happen. We\u2019ve gotten into it a few\ntimes on the track. But\nit keeps things interesting off the racetrack,\u201d said Feider with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crashing is sometimes par for the course. Feider was\nrunning second at a race last year when she was clipped by another racer, put\ninto the wall and totaled the car. But, surprisingly, she is okay with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already got two more cars that we had built from\nthe bottom up,\u201d said Feider. \u201cThat\u2019s car racing. Everybody beats and bangs on\neach other. It\u2019s a very aggressive sport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feider says juggling racing and her nursing studies has\nbeen a lesson learned in time management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a challenge for me\nat first. But school\u2019s\nmy priority, so racing had\nto slow down a little bit. I went\nfrom running 40 to 50 races\na year to about\n20 to 30. I focus on my studies\nbecause nursing\u2019s the career\nthat I\u2019ll be doing for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graduating in December, she plans to take a year to get\nsome nursing field experience, but will still race on weekends. Then she wants\nto return to earn her master\u2019s degree and become a nurse practitioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the future racing nurse, Feider has a bright outlook.\n\u201cIt\u2019s been very, very busy, but very, very fun so far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ATLANTA MOTOR\nSPEEDWAY GENERAL MANAGER<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to run the\nspeedway one day\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy\nsenior year it was a Georgia Southern requirement to get an internship. So I\ngot an internship at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and never looked back,\u201d said\nBrandon Hutchison, the communication arts alumnus and executive vice president\nand general manager of Atlanta Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hutchison obviously likes his job. He\u2019s been there 24\nyears and the speedway has been his only employer. His internship started in\nthe public relations department, but Hutchison was actually hired in the events\ndepartment. He worked in every facet of the speedway and finally progressed to\nbecome the general manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow I\u2019m blessed to be in charge of the speedway,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cWhen I started my internship, I made up my mind, literally within the\nfirst two weeks of working here, that this was something I wanted to do. When I\nwas done with my internship, I actually told the president and general manager,\nEd Clark, that I wanted to run the speedway one day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Atlanta native, Hutchison\nwas drawn to Georgia Southern because it was close\nto home and he liked the look and the feel\nof the campus setting. As a student, Hutchison worked part time at a local convenience\nstore, spent most of his time\nstudying, and used his free time making friends and exploring the\narea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hutchison thinks his greatest\naccomplishment is his family. But second to that, is his job as general manager\nof Atlanta Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou know, as\na 22-year-old Georgia Southern intern, it was a mighty long shot for me to run\na speedway. If you think about it, there are only 23 NASCAR Cup Series\nsanctioned tracks. I think it\u2019s a tremendous accomplishment for me to set that\ngoal 24 years ago, and now to be the general manager of Atlanta Motor\nSpeedway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hutchison emphatically added this homage\nto his alma mater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, I have this job\nbecause of my time spent at Georgia Southern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[We are] able to leave an impact behind\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNASCAR races 38 weeks a year, and we look for\nopportunities to partner with groups in our local race communities to enhance\nthe medical care, health care and lifestyle needs for kids,\u201d said Nichole\nKrieger, executive director of The NASCAR Foundation, the charitable arm of\nNASCAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a business marketing major at Georgia Southern, the Atlanta area native kept busy with school work, waiting tables at the former Archibald\u2019s in Statesboro, and as fundraising chair of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. It was the experience of sorority fundraising and its mission of giving back to others, combined with her business studies that led Krieger to the nonprofit world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I got out of college I moved to Washington, D.C.,\nand I started working for Paralyzed Veterans of America,\u201d said Krieger. \u201cIt was\nkind of like running your own business, but paired up with the desire to help\nothers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working for\nNonprofits Led to NASCAR<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Krieger worked\nfor Paralyzed Veterans of America for almost 17 years, and while there she met\nher husband, Andy. She also met NASCAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paralyzed Veterans was supported by a number of NASCAR drivers including Richard Petty, Martin Truex and the Penske organization. From then on, Krieger was bitten by the NASCAR bug, and jumped at the chance to work for The NASCAR Foundation. She\u2019s been with them for six years and executive director the last two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Krieger is a big fan of the Daytona-based sport, watching\nracing every weekend and being actively involved with NASCAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that we can help children in our racing\ncommunities is really what makes my job so great. So when we roll on to the\nnext city, The NASCAR Foundation is able to leave an impact behind. That\u2019s what\nI think is so important about what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Krieger\nfeels the lessons learned at Georgia Southern have helped her throughout her\ncareer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the experiences at school definitely prepared me\nfor this. Maybe you don\u2019t always know it\u2019s preparing you for what lies ahead.\nBut I think being able to take what I learned in school and give back to the\nrace communities is probably something that I\u2019m most proud of.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Krieger is proud of Georgia Southern too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI love it when people say, \u2018Georgia Southern, I know\nwhere that is\u2019. I\u2019m certainly proud of being a Georgia Southern Eagle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Liz Walker<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Mike Davis (\u201901)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGive Me That Chance\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Georgia\nSouthern alumnus Mike Davis became involved with NASCAR by agreeing to do a job\nno one else wanted. The journalism graduate worked in public relations for a\ndriver who was notoriously difficult. He parlayed that job into an opportunity\nto work with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who later offered him a similar position at\nhis own company, JR Motorsports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working at JR Motorsports since 2007, Davis oversees\nEarnhardt\u2019s brand and co- founded the production company Dirty Mo Media with\nEarnhardt as a way to feed content to fans. Earnhardt retired from full-time\nracing in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five years ago, Davis started and co-hosted a podcast\ncalled the \u201cDale Jr. Download,\u201d a recap of Earnhardt\u2019s races. While the\n\u201cDownload\u201d is just one of several projects produced by Dirty Mo Media, it\u2019s the\none that got NBC\u2019s attention, where Earnhardt is a NASCAR color commentator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith NBC\u2019s involvement, we took \u2018the Download\u2019 to another level,\u201d Davis said. Earnhardt\u2019s and Davis\u2019 television show airs each Tuesday evening on NBC Sports Network. They\u2019ve also released a short film chronicling Earnhardt\u2019s return to NASCAR for a one-off race last October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dale Earnhardt\nJr. Brand<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Davis also oversees Earnhardt\u2019s brand,\nwhich includes working with sponsors and influencing the brand\u2019s portrayal through\nmedia engagements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere,\nwhen and how you see Earnhardt all\nsort of falls into my lap,\u201d Davis\nsaid. \u201cThis includes\nmedia partnerships, business\nentities and various\nprojects, including his recent New York Times best-selling book Racing to the Finish<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Davis credits\nGeorgia Southern with giving him the experience in public relations, marketing\nand brand management that has been so useful in his career. He also added that\nhe sent out the resume that got him his first NASCAR job from his old student\noffice in Hanner Fieldhouse, where sports information was located at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Davis, who\nspeaks to communication and journalism students at universities around the\ncountry, said they often ask him how they can get to his level of success in\nNASCAR. Davis said he tells them to volunteer and take jobs that others don\u2019t\nwant, like he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was willing to do anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI told them to give me that chance.\u201d Obviously they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether it\u2019s behind the scenes or on the track, Georgia Southern students and alumni love the world of racing. What draws them to this fast-paced career path? We found a few people to talk about their need for speed. Jordan Feider DIRT TRACK RACER AND NURSING STUDENT \u201cI was raised in the racing world\u201d Jordan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":7400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-7386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-spring-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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