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Colleges with NASCAR, IndyCar Locales Team Up for 2008 Class on Business and Technology of Racing
Posted: 05-13-2008 : WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
WINSTON-SALEM, NC – When Professors Travis Teague and Pete Hylton met earlier this year, they knew that pairing the motorsports programs of their respective universities would be, to borrow from race track lingo, a “checkered flag” for students on both campuses.
Teague is coordinator of the motorsports management program at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) which is located in the heart of NASCAR country.
Hylton is director of the motorsports program in the School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). His campus is just minutes from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500.
On May 14-24, 2008, IUPUI and WSSU will team up to offer “From Indy to the Carolinas,” a two-week summer session course built around the strengths of the motorsports curricula of the two universities: the operations and management of motorsports at WSSU; and the engineering and technology of motorsports at IUPUI.
Open to students from both universities, the summer course begins in Winston-Salem, NC, with a week of management-related classes and activities, along with racing events such as the NASCAR All-Star Race at Lowes Motor Speedway.
The final week of the course features motorsports engineering and technology classes at IUPUI, and trips to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for final car testing and other events associated with the Indianapolis 500.
The curriculum dovetails WSSU’s goal of maximizing resources in order to establish a curriculum that will prepare students to meet the management needs of employers and clients in the fast-paced motorsports industry, Teague said.
“WSSU students will get an opportunity to study the technical aspects of the sport while at the same time gaining exposure to open-wheel venues,” Teague said. “It will prepare students by giving them a better understanding of non-stock car venues, teach them the importance of collaboration by working with IUPUI students, and initiate new contacts for them within the industry.”
Earlier this year WSSU, a historically black university, became the first university in the nation to establish a bachelor of science degree in motorsports management. The curriculum includes concentrations in two specific areas: motorsports operations and motorsports marketing and event planning.
Partnering with WSSU will allow IUPUI students to gain a basic overview of the motorsports industry, similar to what is taught in IUPUI’s MET 272 Intro to Motorsports class, while learning more about the management and marketing side of motorsports, Hylton said.
Motorsports is considered one of the fastest growing industries in the country, according to Hylton, a mechanical engineering technology professor at IUPUI.
“The goal of the IUPUI motorsports program is to train graduates for careers in the motorsports industry,” Hylton said. “Graduates who understand both the technical side and the management side of the business will make better employees.”
Accomplishments of the IUPUI motorsports program include a student-built race car, which is driven in competition by a student who is a licensed race car driver. The program also has placed a number of students in industry internships.
Topics for the collaborative course include historical perspectives of racing; an examination of the different racing venues; the role of marketing and sponsorship in motorsports; driver, vehicle and track safety technology; and performance technology, including aerodynamics, chassis dynamics and data acquisition.
Students enrolled in the course will pay the standard tuition fees for their home campus. Each student will be responsible for the costs of travel, on-campus housing and meals associated with the week away from their home university.
Not everyone who dreams of a career in NASCAR or IndyCar can be race car drivers. Not many of those in NASCAR and IndyCAR careers are people of color
These are only a couple of reasons why Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) became the first university in the nation to offer a motorsport management major. WSSU, a historically black college, has designed a program to prepare minorities and others for management careers in NASCAR and IndyCar. The program was announced about a year ago with a press conference that featured NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Driver Jeff Burton, driver of the #31 AT&T Chevrolet, who was NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Points leader at that time.
Why Motorsport?
According to NASCAR's statistics, NASCAR attracts more than 75 million fans worldwide annually. In 2002, 17 of the 20 highest attended sporting events in the United States were NASCAR events. In 2003, NASCAR generated $2.1 billion in licensed product sales among more than 200 licensees. In addition, more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR events than any other sport. The motorsport industry employs more than 25,000 in the state of North Carolina alone. NASCAR careers can be lucrative.
The objective of the WSSU Motorsport Management Bachelor’s of Science degree program is to teach students the skills, knowledge and technology of managing motorsport racing with emphasis on facility management, risk management, marketing, sponsorships and endorsements, organizational management and legal considerations in the motorsport industry.
Don’t be Fooled.
There are a small number of college programs around the country that offer business degree programs with motorsport concentrations. However, WSSU’s program is more extensive. Academic majors are more intensive than concentrations. By offering Motorsport as a major, WSSU’s program requires students to complete two to three times more courses specifically dedicated to motorsports than other programs.
Visuals
Race team shops, NASCAR and Indy races, classroom instruction and students interacting with each other, instructors and race teams.
contact: Aaron Singleton
Director, News and Media Relations
Winston-Salem State University
336 750-2150
singletona@wssu.edu
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