Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington, DC                         February 16, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1761)

Jerry Berg
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone: 256/544-0034)

Kim Land
Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
(Phone: 757/864-9885)

RELEASE: 01-22

NASA PUTS EDUCATION ON THE FAST TRACK WITH THE HELP OF NASCAR'S JEFF 
GORDON

     NASA has decided to take students out for a spin, riding four-
wide at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, has teamed with 
NASCAR racing champion Jeff Gordon in a unique effort to get young 
minds interested in math and science education.

Gordon, who will start in the 13th position in Sunday's Daytona 500, 
knows it takes more than skilled driving to win races. It takes a team 
with a vast field of knowledge, including technology, engineering, as 
well as math and science.

The three-time Winston Cup Champion agreed to work with the Agency and 
appear in a special education video "Patterns, Functions and Algebra: 
Wired for Space" - an installment of the NASA CONNECT series of 
instructional television programs available to educators and 
classrooms across the country.

"That's why Gordon wanted to do this video, because he appreciates the 
importance of reaching young minds," said Frank C. Owens, Education 
Division Director, Office of Human Resources and Education, NASA 
Headquarters, Washington, DC. "He can use the excitement of auto-
racing to help demonstrate these important subjects, and hopefully 
inspire students to see that the principles of basic math and science 
extend far beyond the classroom."

"NASA CONNECT is an award-winning educational video series which 
enhances the teaching of math, science and technology concepts in 
grades 5 through 8,"  added Jim Pruitt, Manager of Marshall's 
Education Programs Department. "We also help teachers by giving them 
corresponding standards-based lesson plans to create a more 
interesting learning environment."

NASA CONNECT, managed by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, 
VA, provides five instructional videos to classrooms each year. More 
than 141,000 teachers are registered to receive the lesson plans, 
serving more than 7 million students in approximately 7,600 schools 
across the country.

"Patterns, Functions and Algebra: Wired for Space" is the second NASA 
CONNECT episode produced by Marshall.

Additional information about the NASA CONNECT series is available on 
the Internet at:  http://connect.larc.nasa.gov

                                 -end-