Charlotte's Racing to the Top
If the Charlotte region had an official flag, it would be checkered.
Motorsports are central to the economy and the culture of the region, with NASCAR teams, a storied speedway, motorsports research outfits and racing-related media groups fanning out from Charlotte like so many spokes on a wheel.
According to a 2006 North Carolina Motorsports Association study, the economic impact of the motorsports industry in the region is $5 billion and more than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The bread and butter of Charlotte’s motorsports industry is NASCAR racing. More than 90 percent of all NASCAR teams are within a 50-mile radius of downtown Charlotte, and the city hosts three major races each year at the famed Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Charlotte is also home to the NASCAR Research and Development Center and the NASCAR Technical Institute, as well as the brand-new NASCAR Hall of Fame.
NASCAR’s high fan appeal means big business for Charlotte’s racing industry.
“From a tourism perspective, you look at all the major events at Charlotte Motor Speedway and, now, the presence of the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” says Marshall Carlson, general manager of Charlotte-based Hendrick Motorsports. “That’s thousands of plane flights, hotel rooms and rental cars directly tied to racing. You can look at it any number of ways, but studies have shown that racing is a $6 billion industry in North Carolina. It’s difficult to ignore statistics like that.”
The motorsports industry and its ancillary businesses fan throughout the region and create a cultural and economic network built around “anything that goes fast,” according to Ahmed Soliman, director of the North Carolina Motorsports and Automotive Research Center at UNC Charlotte. The state is home to more than 1,000 teams, tracks, businesses and educational institutions related to motorsports.
The area is a hub of racing-related media activity, claiming a roster that includes the NASCAR Media Group, SpeedTV, the Performance Racing Network and the Motor Racing Network.
Three wind-tunnel testing facilities support the engineering side of racing by allowing cars to reach speeds nearing 200 miles an hour on a rolling road that keeps them in place.
Soliman’s Center at UNC Charlotte is currently home to roughly 90 undergraduate and 20 graduate students performing research and seeking motorsports-related degrees.
“It’s a racing region, and we see the students come from all over the country to participate in our program and to graduate from our program,” Soliman says. “They grow up with racing, specifically when they’re from this region, so it’s in their blood.”
The center also works with the racing divisions of automakers such as Toyota, which built a $28 million research and testing facility in Salisbury in 2008.
Belmont Abbey College in Gastonia offers the first-ever business administration degree with a concentration in motorsports management, and the program requires three motorsports-related internships.
“That’s a win-win for everyone because the students get to try their hand at a variety of different aspects of the industry to find out what they like and where they want to go,” says Tracy Rishel, director of the Motorsports Management Program. “And employers get to try out the students to see what their skills are, whether they fit in with the culture of the team or the track or the supplier or whatever kind of organization they’re working with, and everybody benefits.”
