Racing to school

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Inside Panther Racing's mobile command center at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Mike Sheridan reads reams of data from 75 sensors mounted to the team's race cars.

The 27-year-old junior at IUPUI, who is studying mechanical engineering technology with an emphasis on motorsports, hopes his specialized degree and 50-hour-a-week internship will help him become an engineer for a racing team.

"It helps that I won't have to work for three years taking out trash," he said. "Hopefully, I'll have my foot in the door."

But he'll have competition. Dozens of colleges and universities are responding to the racing industry's growing popularity by creating motorsports programs designed to give students degrees in mechanics, engineering and management.

Motorsports programs began cropping up in the mid-1990s as NASCAR's popularity soared. Clemson and Charlotte, schools deep in the heart of NASCAR country, were among those leading the way. In 2002, NASCAR joined forces with Universal Technical Institute to open the $12-million NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C., to train automotive technicians.

Now, schools from Indiana to California to China are jumping into the fray. Industry experts and educators say the surge in motorsports degrees shows an acceptance of the industry in academic circles.

"I think that higher education is starting to realize that there are careers out there in significant numbers and we should develop programs to target them," said Joe Harder, a professor of management information systems at Indiana State, which will offer a motorsports minor starting this fall.

That recognition stems from changes in the industry itself.

"It's evolved from just a group of guys racing cars on an oval to an enormously large business that's generating billions of dollars in revenue," said Philip Bayster, chairman of the business department at Belmont Abbey College near Charlotte, N.C., which will launch a bachelor's degree in business management focused on motorsports this fall.

"It's become so sophisticated that there has to be an upgrade in the talent levels of people that are part of the industry."