The Holley Performance Products facility will become a classroom for 30 Bowling Green Technical College students, as well as the public, on June 13, for the first Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion Education Day.

Students will start the day at 10 .m. with a tour of Holley’s production facilities and an engineering workshop. They will then be taken out to Beech Bend Raceway for an up-close lesson on vintage drag racing and a Hot Rod Basics workshop led by Ron Hope, driver of the famous Rat Trap fuel altered race car.

“It was the dream of NHRA founder Wally Parks, who recently passed away, to bridge the gap between students and the motorsports industry,” said Tony Thacker, executive director of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, producers of the Reunion (June 13-15, Beech Bend Park, Bowling Green, Ky.). “Education Day is a piece of that bridge and it’s gratifying to see industry leaders come together for this common goal.It’s also another way we can work closely with the Bowling Green community and our title sponsor Holley.”

As part of an ongoing collaboration with Henry Astor, owner of Astor Motor Productions and former American Hot Rod Foundation director, the workshops will focus on speed and safety, which are at the core of NHRA drag racing. Participants will learn about the industry’s evolution, carburetor applications, speed and drivability theories, building horsepower, as well as evaluating fuel, ignition and brake systems.

“This is the first of many in a series of industry-supported education days,” said Astor. “Our goal is to expose high school students to the wealth of possibilities the automotive industry provides, destroy the stigma of shop as a ‘last resort,’ and re-establish auto shop within high schools.”