Plans were unveiled Saturday for a new Virginia Motorsports Technology Center in Henry County [VA]. The $1.2 million facility also has signed its first tenant, North Carolina-based racing team HT Motorsports #59 Truck Team]. The racing package, which came through Gov. Mark Warner’s drive to recruit the motorsports industry to Southside, was announced by State Commerce Secretary Michael Schewel during Saturday’s time trials at the Martinsville Speedway. The 50,000-square-foot facility and HT Motorsports will work in conjunction with Arrington Manufacturing [Engines] and Patrick Henry Community College’s (PHCC) advanced motorsports curriculum, scheduled to be offered beginning in January 2005. Under the deal, HT Motorsports and its Craftsman Truck racing team will employ 75 people over the first 30 months, paying an average salary of $16 per hour. The team, owned by Lynchburg resident Jim Harris and currently based in Harrisburg, N.C., will move to the area by late summer. Upon moving to the area, the team initially will operate within Arrington Manufacturing before becoming a tenant of the Virginia Motorsports Technology Center. The announcement is a major development for PHCC’s motorsports program, which will be able to offer students personal involvement in all facets of a successful NASCAR team. Warner’s Virginia Motorsports Initiative was unveiled last August at Martinsville Speedway with the goal of luring the motorsports industry into Southside Virginia, using statewide incentives ranging from tobacco funds to NASA engineering support to local-level grants. HT motorsports will recieve a $50,000 grant from the Tobacco Regional Opportunity Fund, a $50,000 grant from Henry County, to be paid after the first 20 new jobs are created, and a $100,000 contribution from the Chamber’s Partner in Economic Growth (C-PEG). HT Motorsports trucks currently are driven by rookie Mark McFarland. Both McFarland and crew chief Greg Conner are Virginia residents, as is Harris. HT Motorsports’ arrival will make it the only full-time team from NASCAR’s three most prominent series to be housed in Martinsville, Henry County or Patrick County.(Martinsville Bulletin)(4-19-2004)
