Engineering students take to the racetrack
RACING from page 1
was acquired by the engineering department
last spring, said Tom Spilker, director of
Engineering Extension in the College of
Engineering and Technology.
Spilker and the interns had an engine
builder from Omaha do some work on the car
rather than trying to do all of the initial engine
work themselves.
“These cars are very sensitive,” Spilker
said, “so you don’t just buy this stuff.”
After the work on the car was complete,
UNL staff member Dennis Smith was appoint
ed to drive the car, and the racing season got
under way.
Spilker said the university car - No. 7 - was
raced mainly at two racetracks: Eagle Raceway
and 1-80 Speedway.
Competition in race-car driving differs
from most university sports, Spilker said.
“We don’t race against other institutions;
we race against actual race-car drivers,”
Spilker said.
That difference eventually led to a major
opportunity for the new program.
During one race this summer at Eagle
Raceway, the university crew was pitting
beside Ed Kosiski, the 1998 National
Champion of the Nashville Winston Racing
Series. After the first race, Kosiski’s engine
went out.
Spilker said the university crew offered
Kosiski the use of their car. Kosiski accepted.
Kosiski continued to drive the university
car from time to time - once in a State Fair race.
Spilker said Kosiski won the race and
became the Nebraska State Champion in the
Grand National Class.
With a successful season completed,
Spilker said he was optimistic about the pro
gram’s future.
Spilker said several goals were outlined as
the program was developed with the goal of
making engineering fun and educational.
Realizing that a race-car program was the
ticket, the department researched race-car dri
ving in Nebraska, and the program combining
the two elements was developed.
“People in our state love our university
sports,” Spilker said. “We’ve also found that
motor sports are prominent in our communi
ties.”
Some of the program’s goals have already
66
Right now we are still young, still learning. We want to
have seminars and different types of cars. We re in the
early stages right now
David Astuto
mechanical engineering major
been met, he said, such as participating in a
race, developing student internship positions
and testing acceptance with the general public.
“The racing community and general public
like us. Vendors and other competitors have
been very friendly to us,” Spilker said.
Other goals have yet to be realized.
The program currently has no corporate
sponsors, which are a necessity, Spilker said.
Expansion of the program is also a goal.
“We want to get a few more cars. Right now
we are still young, still learning.” Astuto said.
“We want to have seminars and different types
of cars. We’re in the early stages right now.”
Another intern, Chad Seymour, a UNL
mechanical engineering senior, said he would
like to see improvements in technology.
“One thing we’d like to do is design some
kind of cooling device. It gets pretty hot in the
car for the driver,” Seymour said.
Seymour would also like to see a sleeker
body design and a computer system capable of
monitoring certain things such as acceleration
and suspension while the car is being driven.
Astuto said he considers his involvement
with the program a valuable experience, and he
will be back on the crew next year.
“I love it to death. This is my field. This is
what I want to go into when I graduate,” Astuto
said.
uenter gets food careers cooking
■ Potential entrepreneurs
receive assistance and
advice about processing
business.
By Derek Lippincott
Staff writer
Selling barbecue sauce requires
more than just a good recipe and some
spare ribs.
Cooking aside, the technical
aspects of marketing and selling a
product can often be the hardest part.
But thanks to the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Food Processing
Center, potential entrepreneurs in the
food business have been getting help
for years.
Donna Satterthwaite, founder of
Heartland s Finest Barbecue Sauce, is
just one of numerous entrepreneurs
who said the center has helped their
businesses succeed.
The center helps potential entre
preneurs handle the everyday prob
lems of the food-processing business.
Since 1989, the Food Processing
Center has helped nearly 100 entrepre
neurs from Nebraska and across the
nation. Seventy-one percent of those
businesses are still operating today,
said Arlis Burney, the center’s market
ing manager.
Burney said the program helped
new businesses avoid problems that
might cause them to fail.
“The seminar ‘From Product to
Profit’ helps the entrepreneurs decide
what steps to take to start their busi
ness,” Burney said. “Then they can
use our technical assistance to help
them weed out problems.”
Starting a food business with the
center’s help is a three-step process.
Fees for assistance can cost several
hundred dollars.
The program offers a seminar cov
ering marketing, business and techni
cal issues as well as labeling, promo
tional, advertising and pricing strate
gies.
After that, potential entrepreneurs
can receive personal assistance in
product and business development.
Entrepreneurs also can get techni
cal assistance, which aims to improve
efficiency, productivity and profitabil
ity of the new business.
Satterthwaite said she was most
appreciative of the program’s techni
cal assistance and marketing skills.
“The technical assistance that the
program offered has helped me under
stand food safety to make it a safe
product for the consumer,”
Satterthwaite said.
“In the marketing aspect, they’ve
given me numerous names of stores
for contacts and taught me how to
advertise.”
Although Satterthwaite works
only part time on her barbecue sauce
business, she said the center has
helped her sell 400 cases of sauce per
year.
Joyce Stoll, founder of Oriental
Secrets, which makes sauces, was also
appreciative of the technical assis
tance.
“We wanted to market our sauces,
so we went to the seminar ‘From
Product to Profit,’” Stoll said. “We
had the dream; we just needed help
getting over the wall of the technical
department.
“(The center) helped us find jars,
boxes and even a graphic design.”
Stoll, who also owns a Chinese
restaurant, said the assistance program
helped her sell about 1,800 jars of
sauce per year.
“We couldn’t have done it without
them,” Stoll said. “UNL had the staff
to hold our hand all the way through,
and we wanted them to hold our hand
all the way through.”
RHA topics
include
homecoming
By John Hejkal
Staff writer
The Residence Hall Association
discussed homecoming events and
improvements to RHA administration
at its meeting Sunday night.
Much of the meeting’s focus was
on homecoming activities.
“We want to promote homecoming
throughout the residence halls and get
the residence halls involved,” said Liz
Ormsby, RHA vice president.
RHA is in charge of the homecom
ing banner competition, said Jadd
Stevens, RHA president.
Two senate resolutions also were
passed Sunday.
A bill to allocate $200 to voice
mail for hall government presidents
was approved. A bill was also passed
requiring anyone receiving funds to
submit a report detailing how funds
were spent within a week of the spon
sored event.
RHA also addressed the issue of
getting regular office hours. It plans on
having someone available to answer
csalls at its office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
during the week, Ormsby said.
MDS Harris
Together, We're Making Lives Better
, 621 Rose Street, Lincoln
www.mdsharris.com/rcrt/recruit.htm
Suspect sought after shots
fired into Lincoln trailer
Several shots were fired into a
Lincoln trailer early Sunday morning
after one of the trailer’s residents fin
ished a conversation with another
man.
The residents of the trailer in the
200 block of Countryside Lane
reported the shots around 4 a.m.,
Lincoln police Capt. David Beggs
said.
Beggs said the shots were fired
between five and 15 minutes after the
suspect and the victim concluded an
antagonistic phone conversation.
Police were unable to find bullet
holes until daylight, Beggs said. He
did not know the caliber of the gun
used but said the holes caused by the
weapon were small.
Beggs said police are looking for
a suspect and did not release a name
or description.
Man allegedly burglarizes
two cars at Lincoln nightclub
Police arrested a Lincoln man at
Guitars and Cadillacs, 5400 O St.,
after a security guard reported seeing
him break into two cars in the night
club’s parking lot Thursday night. •
Devon Helmstadter, 25, apparent
ly returned to the nightclub where
police arrested him for vandalism and
larceny from a mother vehicle.
Officer Katherine Finnell said the
security guard saw Helmstadter run
ning from a car after the car’s alarm
went off.
Compiled by senior staff writer
Jake Bleed
man
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