Jimmie Johnson, teacher? Or maybe even a professor?
Well, not exactly, but the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion and second-year IndyCar driver will be part of a significant academic effort of sorts during this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Johnson and his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda will join forces with TechForce Foundation at Long Beach as part of primary sponsor Carvana’s “Driven To Give Back” campaign this season.
Not only will Johnson host 25 students from TechForce, which helps fund students’ quests to prepare for roles as automotive technicians, Carvana will donate $1 for every email sign-up from fans who want to view photos of Johnson’s special livery paint scheme online at Carvana.com/driven.
“Driven to Give Back” is in collaboration with three charity organizations – including TechForce Foundation – to co-design JJ’s No. 48 at several select races on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule.
The promotion will continue at several other tracks this year, and those fans who sign up at Carvana.com/driven will be the first to see the new paint schemes before they hit the track in subsequent upcoming events.
TechForce officials will also be at the Carvana Racing Fan Zone during the weekend to educate fans about its mission.
“TechForce Foundation champions students in the transportation technician industry, steering them through technical education and careers with scholarships, mentorship and workforce development opportunities,” the Foundation said in a media release.
Johnson is looking forward to speaking and engaging with the more than two dozen TechForce students who will attend this weekend, and will answer many of their questions as they prepare for a future role in the automotive industry.
Who knows, maybe one or more of this weekend’s attendees will eventually go on to work in IndyCar or other racing series.
“Having the TechForce Foundation on the No. 48 this weekend is a big deal for us,” Johnson said. “Having the students at the track is going to be really great to be able to interact with them, answer any questions and hopefully spark a love for racing in many of them.
“They will have the opportunity to see our industry firsthand, interact with our team mechanics and engineers and have a great time. We hope to put on a good show for them.”
And who knows, given that Johnson grew up less than 100 miles away from Long Beach, maybe that “good show” may result in him earning his first career IndyCar win on his “home track.”
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Here’s the official statement from TechForce Foundation explaining this weekend’s special event:
“This partnership with Carvana, Jimmie Johnson and TechForce Foundation is helping raise awareness and resources for this great career path as transportation technicians. We are excited to be able to reach more students and techs around the country with this great fundraising campaign and beautiful livery design.
“As Jimmie says, ‘techs are the backbone of the racing industry’ and TechForce Foundation is here to help students to and through their tech education and into careers as professional technicians including racing and all other types of transportation.
“We do this with scholarships, grants, events, experiences and our social network – jointechforce.org. GenZ is digital native so we make sure our resources in this network are dialed in for the digital lifestyle with games, trivia, events, jobs, scholarships, training and more all on a free digital platform (with zero advertising) by and for working and aspiring techs.
“The 25 students we are taking to the race will have the time of their lives getting to meet Jimmie and his crew and catch the race. We even had one high school student who is pursuing a career on a racing crew who is flying in from New York just for this experience. We are so grateful to Carvana…
Read More: IndyCar: Jimmie Johnson looks to teach some lessons off-track this weekend, too