News & Events
Racing for Clean Air
The car whipping around curves and threading through the hummingbird throng of low-riding speedsters may not be nuclear-powered. As for the driver, perhaps a nuclear-strength determination pushes her over the finish line.
Driving a Newman Wachs Racing car that sports a full-throttle message about nuclear energy’s clean-air benefits, Simona de Silvestro powered through the competition to win the Atlantic Championship season opener race at Long Beach, Calif. The 19-year-old native of Switzerland is only the second woman to win a race in the Atlantic Championship series.
“I was a little nervous,” she said modestly after holding back the pack of challengers after two late-race restarts. “I’ve never started with a full pack behind me that would try to pass me. But it was pretty smooth.”
The Newman of Newman Wachs is Paul Newman, almost as well-known as a racing enthusiast and entrepreneur as he is a purveyor of charity-driven foodstuffs—and, incidentally, an Academy Award winner for Best Actor. Newman supports nuclear energy and reiterated that support after a visit last May to the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y.
“Indian Point is an important source of electricity for millions of New Yorkers today,” Newman noted after the visit. “Because it doesn’t produce any emissions that cause global warming, Indian Point will be even more important in the future.”
The positive outcome of the visit has now merged with Newman’s passion for racing, for encouraging young racers and for promoting issues of interest to him, particularly of a philanthropic and environmental nature, on his racecars.
This fit perfectly with the nuclear energy industry’s desire to attract engineering, health physics and other students to the field during an era of renewed interest in nuclear energy. Simona de Silvestro is more than a winning racecar driver; she is an effective ambassador for the nuclear industry on college campuses.
In April, she met with students at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. While racing is of course her first love, she is enthusiastic about nuclear energy, which she says is one of the best generating sources because it emits no pollution or greenhouse gases. De Silvestro added that the Nuclear Energy Institute has been extremely supportive. “I hope to help promote nuclear energy by doing well on the race track,” she said.
And so far, she is doing very well.
De Silvestro acquired her love of racing at the early age of six. “My Dad loved racing,” she recalled, “and he said as soon as my feet could touch the pedal of a go-kart, he would buy it for me.” Thirteen years later, de Silvestro has burst onto the scene of the revamped Atlantic Championship series, which has spawned several Indy Car champions.
After the win at Long Beach, she’ll travel north to race at Laguna Seca on May 18. In all, de Silvestro will drive in 12 races this year on the Atlantic Championship circut. “It’s wonderful to be driving for Newman Wachs,” said de Silvestro. “I’m grateful that they gave me a chance.”
Driving a Newman Wachs Racing car that sports a full-throttle message about nuclear energy’s clean-air benefits, Simona de Silvestro powered through the competition to win the Atlantic Championship season opener race at Long Beach, Calif. The 19-year-old native of Switzerland is only the second woman to win a race in the Atlantic Championship series.
“I was a little nervous,” she said modestly after holding back the pack of challengers after two late-race restarts. “I’ve never started with a full pack behind me that would try to pass me. But it was pretty smooth.”
The Newman of Newman Wachs is Paul Newman, almost as well-known as a racing enthusiast and entrepreneur as he is a purveyor of charity-driven foodstuffs—and, incidentally, an Academy Award winner for Best Actor. Newman supports nuclear energy and reiterated that support after a visit last May to the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y.
“Indian Point is an important source of electricity for millions of New Yorkers today,” Newman noted after the visit. “Because it doesn’t produce any emissions that cause global warming, Indian Point will be even more important in the future.”
The positive outcome of the visit has now merged with Newman’s passion for racing, for encouraging young racers and for promoting issues of interest to him, particularly of a philanthropic and environmental nature, on his racecars.
This fit perfectly with the nuclear energy industry’s desire to attract engineering, health physics and other students to the field during an era of renewed interest in nuclear energy. Simona de Silvestro is more than a winning racecar driver; she is an effective ambassador for the nuclear industry on college campuses.
In April, she met with students at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. While racing is of course her first love, she is enthusiastic about nuclear energy, which she says is one of the best generating sources because it emits no pollution or greenhouse gases. De Silvestro added that the Nuclear Energy Institute has been extremely supportive. “I hope to help promote nuclear energy by doing well on the race track,” she said.
And so far, she is doing very well.
De Silvestro acquired her love of racing at the early age of six. “My Dad loved racing,” she recalled, “and he said as soon as my feet could touch the pedal of a go-kart, he would buy it for me.” Thirteen years later, de Silvestro has burst onto the scene of the revamped Atlantic Championship series, which has spawned several Indy Car champions.
After the win at Long Beach, she’ll travel north to race at Laguna Seca on May 18. In all, de Silvestro will drive in 12 races this year on the Atlantic Championship circut. “It’s wonderful to be driving for Newman Wachs,” said de Silvestro. “I’m grateful that they gave me a chance.”