You normally associate Nascar races with roaring roadsters and spectacular crashes. Math usually isn’t the first thing to come to mind.

But driver Leilani Munter told a group of middle school students last week that physics is a vital part of race-car design and driving. Munter, who was a biology major in college before joining the racing circuit, spoke to 200 students from various schools across Los Angeles at Raytheon Corp.’s El Segundo headquarters. The company brought the kids in for “MathMovesU,” a President’s Day event designed to teach them that engineering was cool.

Also extolling the virtues of math and science at the event was former Raytheon employee Deanne Bell, host of Discovery Channel program “Smash Lab.” Raytheon spokesman John Barksdale said Munter and Bell came to give students an extra push in math.

“Studies show that most middle school students would rather take out the garbage or go to the dentist instead of doing math homework,” he said. “More kids become interested if celebrities or athletes show how they use math in their job.”