A jet engine-powered dragster can do 0–60 mph in under a second and may approach 300 mph within a quarter mile, and now  …

Your University Races One!

Introducing Florida Tech’s Jet Dragster Racing Team

Florida Tech announced an affiliation with industry-leading jet dragster company Larsen Motorsports (LMS) and unveiled the beautiful, turbine-powered chariot bearing its name and logo to a crowd of enthusiastic students, faculty and staff on Jan. 29.

“We believe this addition to Florida Tech will pay educational rewards to our students for years to come,” said President Anthony J. Catanese during his opening remarks.

LMS and the Florida Tech Jet Dragster Racing Team are now traveling the country, delighting audiences from Palm Beach, Fla., to Tuscon, Ariz., in the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series.

At the same time, work continues on a new headquarters for the racing company, which is slated to reopen later this spring in the Florida Tech Research and Development Center in Palm Bay, Fla.

The facility—a building donated by Intersil to Florida Tech in 2013—will house Larsen Motorsports’ new state-of-the-art, 30,000-square-foot workshop and design center. It’s where the company will house and maintain its vehicles, as well as design and fabricate new ones.

It’s also where Florida Tech students will gain access to truly unique hands-on research and internship opportunities. LMS has a decade-long history of engaging college students in its business, and CEO Chris Larsen says the company has no plans to slow down in that regard.

[quote]“One of the reasons we approached Florida Tech is its commitment to hands-on, high-tech, real-world education, and that’s what we hope to help provide,” he says. “If anything, our affiliation is giving us the opportunity to involve more students, representing more majors, in more aspects of the company, than ever before.” [/quote]

Elaine Larsen, president of LMS and 2014 IHRA Jet Dragster World Champion, shares Chris’s excitement. “We haven’t been partners for very long, but we’re already Florida Tech’s biggest fans,” she says. “Now what we’re going to do is work hard to become yours.”

[hr]

Meet our Driver: Shea Holbrook

[quote]“I’m proud to represent Florida Tech and for the opportunity to introduce future students to such an awesome university.”[/quote]

Inaugural driver of the Florida Tech Jet Dragster Shea Holbrook has been racing since she was a teenager. In 2011, she became the first woman to win in the Touring Car division of the Long Beach Grand Prix. Shea has been a featured athlete on Yahoo.com, Teen Vogue, NBC Sports Motor Sports Talk, CNN Live and Racer.com.

[hr]

[box size=”large”]Follow the Florida Tech Jet Dragster Racing Team at jetdragster.fit.edu[/box]