Both Clemson University and the University of North Carolina Charlotte are trying to partner with the motorsports industry, including the cluster of NASCAR teams just north of Charlotte, but their efforts shouldn’t conflict, says Jim Woodward, UNCC’s chancellor. In Greenville [SC], Clemson is developing the International Center for Automotive Research, which will focus on the automotive and motorsports industries and include a new graduate school of automotive engineering. Clemson also plans a full-scale wind tunnel at ICAR that it would make available to motorsports teams, although it has yet to secure an estimated $50 million needed to build it. Most NASCAR teams are based in Mooresville, NC, just north of Charlotte a fact not lost on Clemson officials as they made plans for ICAR. Proximity to the NASCAR cluster is the reason that UNCC offers an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering with a focus on motorsports. Recently, Woodward told North Carolina lawmakers they should pay more attention to motorsports as a means of economic development. Separately, a committee of UNCC trustees heard a presentation on motorsports, he said. “There’s a lot of different discussions about motorsports in part because of what’s been done in South Carolina,” Woodward said. Still, he doesn’t see the two universities competing. “Neither Clemson nor UNC Charlotte is now, or will be able, to fully support this growing industry,” Woodward said. “I think what’s happening in South Carolina is good for UNC Charlotte and for the Charlotte region. “It’s not a zero-sum game.”( Greensville News ), see links to other college motorsports programs on my Racing Schools/Jobs page .(12-21-2003)
