The "KING" participates in School Bus Inspection Video

For the past 8 months a committee has been meeting with the charge of developing policy that will eventually become the NC Technician Certification program.  This policy will  provide a framework for school bus technicians in the state who performs 30 day inspections to become state certified.

During the committee meetings it was decided to update the current inspection video which stars David Sluder.  The committee decided to use the current video as a template and, in staying with the same format, needed a notable personality to do the introduction. Several names were discussed but once “The King” was mentioned, it was unanimous that Richard Petty was the perfect choice for the introduction. Enter Al Smith, transportation director from Alamance County who serves on the committee, whose wife works for Southern Classic Seating which performs services for NASCAR. One thing led to another and within weeks Rhonda Fleming, Terry Campbell, Iredell Transportation Supervisor, and a film crew from Forsyth County schools were at Richard Petty Motorsports in Iredell County shooting a 90 second introduction with Richard Petty graciously explaining the importance of school bus inspections. 

According to Fleming, “We were all star struck and in awe of being in his presence. He was the nicest man and very accommodating to us while we set up for shots and angles”

Richard Petty rode a school bus for the shoot with Terry Campbell driving. “He reminisced about riding buses as a youngster” Terry commented about his few minutes spent with Petty, who he described as “very Tall and a gentleman.” In all, Petty donated about 90 minutes  or the shoot. Rhonda commented “another film crew was filming us while we were filming”. Even though Richard Petty is no longer racing, his life is busier than ever making public appearances and helping run day to day operations at Richard Petty Motorsports.

Production began on the inspection part of the new video at the Forsyth County school bus garage on April 29.  Filming & production is being provided by the Forsyth County school system video production department.  “They have a production studio that would rival any small TV station in the USA” states Randy Henson who serves on the committee. “Chris Runge & TJ James are going to produce a high quality DVD that will serve our inspection training needs for the next 5 years or so”.  The committee is planning to produce several videos including one which details inspection of brakes and another which will cover “lift safety”.

WSFCS cameraman TJ James and Richard Petty.

 Tim Speer from Yadkin Co. and current national bus inspector champion is one of the “stars” of the new video.

Chris Runge of WSFCS (left) is the chief editor of the project.

 

(L-R) Rick Jennings (Wilkes Co.) is a co-star in the video.
Keith Wilmot (Transylvania Co.) and Kem Givens (Mecklenburg) are technical advisors for the video.