Belmont Abbey College

Belmont Abbey College Motorsports Management press conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway (video, photos, and event information.

Belmont Abbey Takes Leap Into National Spotlight

NBC’s TODAY SHOW and Business Week Magazine to Take Closer Look At The Abbey’s New Motorsports Program of Study

BELMONT , NC --- All eyes are focused on Belmont Abbey College after a recent announcement of a new course of study in motorsports made its way into the national spotlight in both broadcast and print media outlets.

Belmont Abbey College was featured in an NBC TODAY SHOW segment, Saturday, March 4, 2006 . A television crew visited campus to interview some of the Abbey’s current students who plan to apply to the motorsports program, which will begin this fall. Dr. Phillip Bayster, chair of the Business Department, was also interviewed about goals and the structure planned for the new program. In addition, Belmont Abbey Board of Trustee member and Lowe’s Motor Speedway President H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler discussed the Abbey’s plans and its potentially dramatic impact on NASCAR and the motorsports industry overall.  

Business Week Magazine plans to highlight Belmont Abbey College with an article on motorsports and education that will make its way to news stands on Friday, March 10, 2006. An abbreviated online version will be available to subscribers at www.businessweek.com.

Locally, Belmont Abbey College President Dr. William K. Thierfelder will be a featured guest of WFAE’s “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins” at 9:00 AM Friday, March 10, 2006 on WFAE, 90.7 FM. Thierfelder will be joined by guests from UNC-Charlotte and the NASCAR Technical Institute as they discuss education and motorsports. Audiences can listen to the program live online by visiting their website at www.wfae.org.

Belmont Abbey College gained recognition as the first in the country to offer a four-year degree designed with a specific focus on the business and management side of the industry. College officials unveiled details of the new bachelor’s degree in Business Management with a concentration in Motorsports Management during a press conference in Charlotte on January 25, 2006.

The new area of study will require 120 credit hours. In addition to a traditional liberal arts core of study, students at the Abbey will also focus on a “body of knowledge” required by all undergraduate Business majors, which will include subjects such as accounting, economics, marketing, and communications. The Motorsports Management Concentration will include four specific courses in sports marketing, racing management, team management and motorsports fundamentals.

Completion of an intensive internship program will also be mandatory of all students in the program. Students will complete a total of three internships, one in each main area of the motorsports industry – track operations, race teams and support operations. Students, who have successfully fulfilled the 360 internship hours, will receive a total of nine credits.

“One of the goals the Abbey has for this new program is to develop strong, future leaders in the workplace,” says Bayster, who plans to consult with educators and leading motorsports professionals in continuing to make the program competitive and a premier area of study. “The other goal we have is to provide a quality business and internship experience for students who have expressed a passionate interest in a motorsports-related career.”

“This program is greatly needed in our booming industry,” said Speedway Motorsports, Inc. president H. A. “Humpy” Wheeler. “We have several institutions offering motorsports engineering and technical degrees and one community college with a two-year motorsports management degree but this four-year degree at the Abbey will help us meet the great need to feed new management people into racing where there are over 7,000 jobs in North Carolina and probably 20,000 across America .”

With more than 300 professional racing teams, super speedway giant - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a total of 50 other racetracks, a number of motorsports museums and racing schools, various support industries, from marketing firms to automotive equipment suppliers and NASCAR’s corporate branch offices all calling North Carolina “home” – it should come as no surprise that racing is becoming big business in the Tar Heel State.

In fact, according to a 2003 study, the motorsports industry is credited with generating over 24,400 jobs for North Carolina ’s economy.

And as its fan base continues to rival those of other professional sports, experts predict motorsports will experience an even bigger boom in business.