Last weekend, two Minnesota high schools revealed the results of a year-long project aimed at accelerating the growing interest in business careers among young teenagers.
The project was launched by Burnsville, Minnesota-based Northern Tool + Equipment last June as part of its Tools for the Trades™ program. The program is designed to support schools’ career and technical education (CTE) classes by providing students and instructors with real-world equipment and experiences.
The goal of the project was for students from Minneapolis Public Schools and Lakeville North High School to design, engineer and build rat rod karts from scratch.
In front of thousands of racing and automotive enthusiasts at the Minnesota Street Rod Association’s 50th anniversary Back to the 50’s event in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday, the finished products were revealed.
Growing up, students are often taught the importance of being “real world ready.” Some would say that high school curriculum doesn’t always do the best job of this. But this was one of those cases where it really accelerated that preparation.
“It doesn’t get any more real than this,” Petty told Beyond the Flag. “These kids were given a Northern Tool + Equipment engine and told to make a rat rod kart. That was it. They had to design it, build it, engineer it. They were responsible from start to finish. They created something with their hands, and the People who can work with their hands will never be out of work.”
Petty has been a big proponent of that last line throughout his career, and really his entire life: “people who can work with their hands will never be out of work.”
Photos of the Rat Rod kart being built over the weekend, when the big reveal (featuring two Minnesota high schools) took place in front of thousands of car enthusiasts at the 50th anniversary of Minnesota Street’s Back to the 50’s event Rod Association in San Pablo. pic.twitter.com/Kx3rw4N30h
— Beyond the Flag (@Beyond_The_Flag) June 25, 2024
During his own racing career, the 200-time Cup Series race winner worked on his own race cars, and he did so from a young age. He knew how important it was to be able to use his hands and, while he is best known for the success he had on the race track, the success he had off it was possibly just as important.
“I learned to weld early on and it became a passion of mine,” he continued. “In those early years, I had to be able to help fix my cars if I wanted to compete. Having a marketable skill like that has served me well throughout my life, and I’m excited for these kids to experience the same thing with the skills they’re learning.”
Thad Moffitt, Petty’s grandson and race car driver, also participated in helping the students with this project.
“Being on site and next to these kids as they worked on the karts was a really great experience,” said Moffitt, the 23-year-old who currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series. “I know what it takes to keep a race car running, so it was fun to see these kids show and learn some of those same skills.
“I had a great time connecting with them and it energizes me to see how excited and passionate they are about the project. I’m glad I was able to participate, do my part to help them and motivate them to keep going.” because the finished karts are amazing. These are skills that will serve them well as they graduate into the workforce.”
Greg Steadman, COO of Petty’s Garage, talked about how the idea for the project came about and how it was presented to everyone involved.
“Northern Tool + Equipment brought us this idea and we loved it,” Steadman said. “We know Richard and Kyle are passionate about Tools for the Trades™ and the importance of giving kids a hands-on experience. For me, being able to get involved in this way with Thad was really rewarding. We did virtual meetings with kids and met with them in person in their workshop classes.
Steadman enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the planning process and assist students in executing their projects every step of the way.
“Each time I tried to find out where they were, what problems they were facing, and I tried to give them some things to think about that maybe they didn’t have on their radar,” he continued. “Being involved from the beginning and then seeing the finished karts was fun. The kids and teachers did all the hard work. I’m glad I was able to lend a hand.”
Billy Lane, founder of Choppers Inc. and the Sons of Speed Vintage motorcycle race, found watching and participating in the project extremely rewarding, given his own role as an experienced motorcycle builder.
“It’s very encouraging,” Lane said. “I was inspired by him. I have done several events with Tools for the Trades™, including twice having groups of students at my Sons of Speed Vintage motorcycle race. I was thinking that kids these days just want to be social media influencers, but wow, this group proved me wrong. “They were really passionate about this project.”
Lane found it particularly encouraging that so many young women were involved.
“As a father of three daughters, it was also special to work alongside the young women on the team,” he continued. “I met with both classes virtually and in person, and there were times where I thought they weren’t going to pull this off and meet the deadline. But they continued to work on it, and that’s really encouraging to see.”
Like Petty, he echoed the importance of being able to work with your hands and was very proud of all the young people whose minds were dedicated to making the project a great success.
“This experience is a great way to give them experience of what a career in the trade is like and shows them that there are a lot of interesting things you can do with these types of skills.”
Suresh Krishna, CEO of Northern Tool + Equipment, also spoke about what went into making this project a reality.
“At Northern Tool + Equipment, we work with men and women in the trades every day in our 140 stores nationwide, and we know there is a shortage of skilled labor,” Krishna said. “In 2021, as part of our 40th anniversary, we founded Tools for the Trades™ with the mission to help address the trade workforce shortage and fuel a new desire among students to enter trades-related careers.
“Tools for the Trades™ provides instructors with the proper professional-grade tools and equipment to properly teach the trades and also introduces students to experiences in these industries.”
Krishna spoke specifically about accumulation.
“This build is a one-of-a-kind project, the ultimate goal of which is to provide students with great experiences about how exciting and fun working in the trades can be,” he continued. “We started with the goal of doing something new and different to launch our NorthStar engines and highlight their durability and reliability.
“It became this incredible program. The expansion was incorporated into the schools’ career and technical education (CTE) curriculum. We donated a NorthStar engine and thousands of dollars in professional-grade tools and equipment to both schools.”
The instructors and students involved had nothing but positives to share about their own experiences with construction. We heard from several of them:
Kevin Bass, Lakeville North High School Instructor
“As a teacher, it was amazing to see how much the students progressed throughout the year with teamwork, problem solving, and problem solving.
“This kart was a totally new type of project for us. It required a lot of different machining, welding and fabrication skills that we haven’t used on other projects. The children learned new techniques and that opened many new doors for them. They see that they can make a living working with their hands, doing things like this. The world is ready for them. These skills are necessary. “They are going to be ahead of the curve when it comes to choosing a career and finding something they love, which is what I want for all of them.”
Luis Torres, Minneapolis Public Schools student
“I learned that working in the trade is a career to be proud of. It takes serious skills to do this kind of thing. Building the kart showed us how to apply what we learned practically and how to do it on a tight deadline, just like we would need in a real job.”
Ty Ottum, Minneapolis Public Schools student
“What I learned most was the importance of teamwork. “We all needed to work together to face the biggest challenges and get to the end.”
Ash Rasche, Minneapolis Public Schools Student
“Looking back at the skills we had when we started and where we are today is amazing. Our welding skills are much stronger. “We learned electrical skills and even how to make stripes.”
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Given the immense success of this project and the importance of what students were able to learn and apply over the past 12 months, we look forward to seeing what else Petty’s Garage and Northern Tool + Equipment might have in store for the future.
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