Not Just A Sponsor:

 University of Northwestern Ohio

 Bringing Army Of UMP Modifieds,

 Students To DIRTcar Nationals

NASCAR Star David Reutimann

Heads List Of UNOH Drivers At Volusia Speedway Park

BARBERVILLE, FL Jan. 29, 2010 The letters UNOH short for University of Northwestern Ohio will be seen all over Volusia Speedway Park from Feb. 2-13.

And that includes speeding around the sprawling half-mile clay oval.

The 39th annual DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH will be teeming with DIRTcar UMP Modifieds that carry the UNOH logo a total of eight cars, to be exact, including one driven by NASCAR star David Reutimann.

A Lima, Ohio-based school that has earned a reputation as the leader in providing a high-performance motorsports education, UNOH is bringing an army of machines and students to Volusia for the eight nights (Feb. 2-9) of UMP Modified competition during the DIRTcar Nationals. The Sunshine State assault is all part of a unique extra-curricular activity that provides UNOH s budding mechanical minds some truly unique real-world training.

Since 1991, UNOH has offered a High Performance/Motorsports degree, making it the only school of higher learning in the world that boasts such a program. Three years ago the university enhanced the curriculum by launching a fully-sponsored UMP Modified team basically, an after-school activity in which students from the Motorsports program combine to build and maintain UMP Modifieds and race them in the weekly action at nearby Limaland Motorsports Park, which is owned and operated by UNOH.

The 36 students on our UMP Modified team are all scholarship athletes, said Steve Farmer, the UNOH Vice President of Corporate Development. Every year students in our High Performance/Motorsports program try out for various positions on the race teams and those that are selected receive scholarships, just like basketball and football players do at other schools.

The dirt-track program has been a phenomenal success for us, he added. A grassroots program like this gives us a great platform to recruit students and show them what the University of Northwestern Ohio has to offer.

The trip to Florida for the DIRTcar Nationals serves as the culmination of the 2009-2010 racing season for the UNOH UMP Modified team, which is housed in a shop on the university s 189-acre campus. Farmer said 36 students will be transported south in vans to spend the week working on the school s UMP Modifieds. (Another 42 students will also be in Florida working as pit crew members and ARCA inspectors during the ARCA Racing Series 200 on Feb. 5-6 at the nearby Daytona International Speedway.)

Seven drivers are set to steer the UNOH cars (an eighth machine will be brought as a backup), led by the high-profile Reutimann. The son of DIRTcar big-block Modified legend Buzzie Reutimann, David learned of the UNOH motorsports program when he drove a UNOH-sponsored Late Model in last year s Prelude to the Dream event at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. When Farmer asked the 2009 Coca-Cola 600 winner if he d be interested in driving one of the school s UMP Modifieds during the 2010 DIRTcar Nationals, he didn t hesitate to respond in the affirmative.

He said, Absolutely, I d love to do it, Farmer said of Reutimann, who spent some time in the 90s competing on the upstate New York DIRTcar 358-Modified circuit. We have him set up to drive a double-zero (UMP Modified) just like his (Sprint) Cup car every night as long as his schedule allows him to be there.

The UNOH driver roster for the DIRTcar Nationals also includes UNOH students Stephen Schnapf of Newburgh, Ind., and Schuyler Nahre of Indianapolis and former Limaland Motorsports Park champions Tony Anderson of Lima, Ohio, Jeff Babcock of Wayne, Ohio, Jon Henry of Ada, Ohio, and Todd Sherman of Churubusco, Ind.

The UNOH team will have little time to catch its breath during the big week of competition, which features $1,000-to-win A-Mains Feb. 2-5; a pair of $700-to-win preliminary events on Feb. 6-7 leading into the headline Gator spectacular paying $5,000 to win on Feb. 8; and a multiple-features-only finale on Feb. 9.

Throughout the DIRTcar Nationals, UNOH representatives will be available in the track s midway area to promote the school s Motorsports programs. And make no mistake the mid-winter racing extravaganza is a great marketing tool for UNOH.

The University draws students from all 50 states and 16 foreign countries, and in the last few years we have had an influx of students interested in our High Performance/Motorsports Programs from the state of Florida, said UNOH President Dr. Jeffrey A. Jarvis. By building and racing vehicles in Florida that will be driven and crewed by UNOH High Performance Motorsports students, the University hopes to continue to encourage both interested prospective students and local Florida high school instructors to check out everything that UNOH has to offer them.

Founded in 1920, UNOH is a private, not-for-profit institution comprised of the College of Business, College of Technologies and College of Distance Learning. UNOH offers over 60 programs in High Performance, Alternate Fuels, Diesel, Automotive, HVAC, Agricultural, Business, Medical, Legal, Travel, IT Computer and Marketing with Associate degrees, Baccalaureate degrees and a Master s Degree in Business Administration.

For more detailed information about the University of Northwestern Ohio, visit www.unoh.edu.

The DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH run nightly from Feb. 2-13. Joining the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on the schedule are the DIRTcar UMP Late Models (Feb. 8, 9, 10 and 12); the the World of Outlaws Late Model Series (Feb. 11 and 13); the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series (Feb. 5-7); the All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series (Feb. 3-4); and the Super DIRTcar Series for big-block Modifieds (Feb. 10-13).

For tickets to the 39th Annual Florida DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, visit www.DIRTcarNationals.com or call Volusia Speedway Park at 386-985-4402. A ticket package for all eight nights of UMP DIRTcar Modified racing is available for $200.

For the first time in DIRTcar Nationals history, all fans will have the chance to see the competitors and their teams up close during each race nightt. A FREE Fan Pit Pass is available to every ticket-buying fan who comes through the main gates every night; fans can show their grandstand and sign in to the pits at a table near the pit entrance.

For more information on UMP DIRTcar Racing, visit www.dirtcar.com.