It's not every day students get to see race cars up close. But on this day, students at Middleburg Elementary School learned firsthand what it's like to be a sprint car driver.
"I liked how the steering wheel and different parts can come off to get inside the sprint car," said fourth grader Nevin Hornberger.
Jake Karklin and Kruz Kepner both drive sprint cars, and they both live in Snyder County. Kepner even went to this school as a child.
"I was once them, so I know what it is to dream big. Sitting with them is bittersweet, I guess you could say," Kepner said.
The two drivers spoke to students about racing.
"What we're showing and telling them is what we've done to get here, so when did we start, and when did we get involved in it," Karklin said.
The assembly was part of National Red Ribbon Week, the nation's largest drug prevention program.
Karklin and Kepner encouraged the children to get involved in programs or sports to help them make good decisions later in life.
"Racing to us has always been something that you gain a lot of friends and family. It teaches you teamwork, personable skills, and to talk with others. It also helped me to get my team and turn it into the business I have today," Karklin said.
"It's important that they know about safety but also how close the racing community is as a whole. There's many people I wouldn't know today, many good friends and family if it wasn't for the racing world," Kepner added.
The kids seemed to enjoy seeing the cars.
The drivers say they hope to come back again next year and talk to even more kids.