Dear Dalton,

I work for Boeing, I got a degree in IT, 25 years ago and now 25 years later I decided to pursue a Masters degree in Business Management, for survival. Yes, I'm engineer at Boeing building satellites, but I have never taken a engineering class in my life. There are many people at Boeing that are engineers and have no formal education, but they are few and far between. That is not how it is done today. That is not the way to become an engineer, a technician or even a racer today. I think Ryan Newman is an example. Even Mike Spencer, USAC/CRA sprint car champion has a degree in Engineering.

Mark Donahue, Alan Kulwicki and even Roger Penske have/had degrees in Engineering.

Let me vasalate a little bit. A MBA is not about business or making money. If you pursued a degree long enough and most won't even try, an MBA teaches you and it's main reason for existence is to make you a leader, whose choices/decisions in life are based on "SCIENCE and Analysis".

From the numbers, from the math, from a scientific viewpoint your decisions for any problem fall out of the math, the spreadsheets and data. You look at a lot of data/numbers and try to figure out what they mean with a lot of mathematical tools and the answer drops out of the equations. You don't even have to think, the answer lies there right in front of your eyes/pen/pencil calculations.

The computer allows you to run a lot of trial runs on your equations to cut down on the analysis time and pinpoint the numbers you are looking for, but the basic calculations are the ones from your brain from all the ones you were taught in school. You pick the equation you think describes the problem you want to solve.

I'm almost done with the Masters in Business Administration and we were turned onto a very small, very easy program to run/ computer program. It's called "LINGO" or you could use an Excel Spreadsheet, with a "tab" called "problem solver".

My goal in life is not to use these two programs to solve business problems or make money. I will use these two little cute programs that you could use or anybody else. They are simple and cheap. Almost everyone has one on their computer, but they fail to use it or they don't realize the power of that program to help them in thier business or their racing needs.

Every Business and every racers has tons of DATA. If you are not keeping a record of your setups you are not a racer. Every racer, be it Steve Kinser, or Tracy Hines, or Mike Spencer or even your little 1/4 midget racers has a setup book from each and every race. It's basic and everybody has one.

What they can do or fail to do is put all this DATA into a program like "LINGO" or excel spreadsheet, using the "problem solver" tab/ function. What this fuction does is either Maximize or minimize your profits or in the case of a racer, your setups for maximum grip, cornering ability or acceleration.

The trick comes in by saying what do all these setups mean? What am I doing. What setup helps me with cornering, which one for acceleration or which ones help me in "grip". That is the trick. That's where the brains come in or the creativity of looking at some numbers and putting them into simple little equations you learned in HighSchool.

You need no more than Algebra 2. Most kids can learn this by thier Junior year, but you could teach it in the 8th grade. Its basic idea is two equations, two unknowns, so you can make a graph. That is the basic idea of "Lingo" or Excel Spreadsheet using the tab called "problem solver".

I will bet you Chad Kanus uses a spreadsheet, probably designed by one of his engineers and from these spreadsheets for every situation it tells him what is the most likely change to make to solve his problem. You still can overide the computer program and make your own decision but the basic spreadsheet from all his 5 years of winning championships
setups, the spreadsheet will tell him his most basic and desirable change is the one the computer spreadsheet tells him to make.

Most people think Chad was responsible for JJ's 5 championships, but he was with Everham when Jeff Gordon won two and Terry Labonte when he won one. So in reality he was on 8 Championship Sprint Cup racing teams.

If you went to any technical school or racing school and they did not use some kind of spreadsheet or "problem solver" to help you machine something, paint something, control costs in business or maximize your setups in racing I would say you have been cheated. I'm willing to bet all the best use some kind of spreadsheet to maximize their money, tune their engines or maximize thier wins or setups at the racetrack.

Sincerely,

Larry Otani

P.S. You should do fine in life or racing or IT. Half the battle is just saying you will do it and not give up. The great conquerers of the world would burn their ships when they reached the new lands. They were not going back home until they took over the new world. There was no turning back, their ships were burned, they would fight the enemy and win or die, but they were not going back home.!

Larry not to hi-jack or miss-direct the thread, but I worked at Hughes Network Sys for ten years. Worked in the North American Satellite Division doing stuff with VSAT's. May have run stuff off a bird or two you built

Dear DavidM,

Yes this post about Dalton and all the other Daltons in the world.
"As I look into the eyes of these young boys, I know we will win this war". Those were the words of Doolittle has he launched his B25's bombers to strike a blow deep into the hearts and souls of the enemy situated at Toykyo, Japan on April 18th, 1942.

My dad was a member of the 442nd, the most highly decorated fighting unit in US history. 800 Japanese Americans lost thier lives to save 200 lost rangers. The story is call the "Lost Battallion".

I may have misdirected Dalton when I said I was and IT major. In those days IT was not "information technology", it was Industrial Technology.

I took a lot of automotive, welding and machining classes. I was also a physics major, but like I said I never took a engineering class, but I had a lot of math and science behind me.

The most important thing for Dalton is to have a plan and work the plan. Chart your progress and make decisions accordingly. I would write it down. It sticks in your brain when you can write down your plan on how you expect to get where you want in life. If you can't write down a clear and consise plan, I would say your chances for success are marred and questionable. If you can give a direct course with options and time constraints I think at least you have a road map and a well thought out process and at least you can tell if you are on schedule or faultering. If you can't write it down, I would say your chances are questionable. So Dalton, write down your plan on paper and follow it and make changes as things get in your way or when things start to change.

That's what every business does and that is what I have been taught at work. In fact, that is the most important thing I do everyday. I figure out what I want to do and then go do it. I might not make it, but I have a plan first before I set out on any journey.

And yes, I have built a lot of stuff. XM Radio, Direct TV, Goes and GPS satellites. The government stuff is the most exciting. We have a lot of amazing stuff watching our neighbors...lol! And if wanted we could wipe out a country with one small guided missle friget. We have enough arms to destroy the world many times over. Hopefully we will never use it, but you just never know. We have used the nuclear bomb once, we could do it again, if the right circumstance arose. I don't underestimate the power of any country to use nuclear arms. It keeps you humble and honest.

God Bless and hope you enjoy the races. It's America's pass time.

Sincerely,

Larry Otani

Wow!!!

After reading what Tim Clauson posted it got me thinking...Will Brad Sweet or Justin Grant (or any young, good aspiring driver) be driving his midgets this year @ the chili bowl due to their driving abilities for free? I'm guessing the driver's that do put up a chunk of change to get in those seats! No offense to Tim but that post just seems like the "pot calling the kettle black"

Larry, Ive got plans in the works. As I said before, I did get an offer. Honestly it did come a bit unexpected but Im glad it did. As of now, I am looking at graduating early for more than the reason to get to Indiana quicker. But....if everything works out i will come to IN for the summer and do what Im ask. If more comes about it does. If not...oh well. I know ill enjoy anything I do in racing. While I get some degree. I have about 4 months of welding experience and Im already being told that I should get certified. Again....all opportunities worth taking.

And yes i am talking Information Technology. I know more about computers than maybe I should, but.... it comes natural. Ive already build two from scratch

"Whoseyourdaddy"...just kidding, but I thought it was interesting that Kyle Larson got into a really good car last year and made it into the "A" main at the Chillibowl. I think it was last year. But that might be one example?

For Dalton,

I hope you have fun. They say you must go back East to be a good racer or get recognized. I know in the World of IT, many of the people who fix computers are overseas from India. I pay for a service when my computer crashes. Many of the people are from India who can fix my computer over the phone. We have the same service at Boeing.

Boeing don't have thier own IT people or very, very few. Those services are farmed out and they come offsite/another non-Boeing company with their people to physically service our computers, if something physically goes wrong with the hardware. My computer at work hasn't broken in 5 years. They won't give me a new one, because at the time I was one of the few people who wanted a laptop. They won't give me a new laptop. But if I wanted a Desktop, I could have one tomorrow. I just like the flexiability of a laptop. Figure that one out? It's all about the costs of a laptop and service to a laptop compared to a desk top and cost of a desktop computer??????

As far as getting certified at my Jr College where I took three semesters of welding, they wouldn't allow you to get certified until you finished the three semesters of welding technology first. The last/4th semester was certification and at that time it was for "PIPE" Welding with "Stick" Welding. We were building a lot of nuclear reactors at the time and you use a lot of "pipe" and you had to be certified before welding those pipes at the reactor. You only weld pipe/certified with a stick welder, at least that is how it was done 28 years ago. I'm willing to bet for pipe welding the certifying process is the same. I can bet you must be certified for pipe welding in the Gas Industry, Nuclear Industry, which I think will make a comeback and oil wells on the derricks out in the ocean. Those guys make a lot of money.

Anyways hope you have fun, but remember if you are not rich the sure way to success is through an education, no matter which way you choose to get it or learn it..i.e..certificate, AA, Trade School or if you really wanted a good piece of paper, a 4 year technology program graduating with a BS in any field, be it electronics, computers, welding, refigeration or even automotive would be an incredible choice.

You can't really tell a young person to much, but remember if you start messing around with girls and get one pregnant, it could hamper your racing dreams.

Sincerely,

Larry Otani and I'm sure you will have fun in Indiana and do well in life if you use your head. You make the decisions and you take the responsibility for all your actions and successes and failures in life.

Good luck, I'm sure you will do fine.

Let me put my own opinion in here.Bud your whole thread started about racing and moving to Indiana to see what your chances would be correct?Not worried about the school part or anything else but there are plenty of race teams around here looking for help working on sprinters for the majority of the time.You obviously are aware of IOW and so you can meet several good people on her that can and are willing to send you in the right direction.I say go for it buddy.You will never kow if you dont find out and give it a shot.Dont set in PA 10 years from now wondering what if so give it a shot and see what happens.You just may find A MIDGET OR SPRINT CAR RIDE AFTER GETTIN IN AND HELPING OUT SOME TEAMS AND WORKING YOUR WAY UP.gOOD LUCK BUDDY AND I HOPE TP SEE YOU AROUND THE DIRT TRACKS OF INDIANA.

Thanks Micro!

I know alot of people who work hard with just the use of their hands and brain. They are as happy as the next guy. Come to Indiana and follow the corn.