Ridin' in the Fast Lane - North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 26, 2001 by Craig T. Greenlee

North Carolina A&T's motorsports program offers another training ground for engineers

GREENSBORO, N.C.

Historically, African Americans have been virtually nonexistent in auto racing. But it's a new day with North Carolina A&T State University's race team setting the pace as a history-making program.

Drivers get most of the attention in auto racing. But A&T's motorsports program is not designed to produce Black pioneer drivers like Wendell Scott or Willie T. Ribbs.

Instead, the emphasis centers on cultivating a breeding ground for engineers. For years, engineers have played key roles in Formula I and Indy car racing. But now many of NASCAR's premier teams are following suit, routinely hiring engineers to help enhance their chances of winning.

"Racing is of inherent interest to many engineering students because of its glamour and excitement," says Dr. David Klett, a mechanical engineering professor at A&T who serves as adviser for the school's race team. "Auto racing is the fastest growing sport in the country, and opportunities for engineering jobs with race teams are increasing rapidly."

For senior Josh Dawson, being a member of the A&T crew meshes well with his goal of becoming a design engineer for a race team. "Designing and building cars from the ground up is what I've always wanted to do," says Dawson, who will graduate in May. "Now I'm getting my chance and I'm still in school. Things don't happen that way for most people."

The Aggies' race team, a component of the school's mechanical engineering program, is aimed at engineering students who desire a career in motorsports. Greg Jones, a '98 graduate, says the real-world experiences of being part of a race team gives A&T students an edge in the job market.

"You get the chance to apply what you learn, and that's key," says Jones, now in his third year as a motorsports engineer for Richard Childress Racing, one of NASCAR's top outfits. "For anybody who wants to have a career in competitive racing, the training at A&T is very beneficial."

The Aggies' team consists of 11 members who contribute in all phases of the design, construction, testing and performance of the team's race cars.

It's a small program compared to its counterparts, which typically have 70 to 80 students. Even so, the low numbers have worked in A&T's favor.

"The team has been very successful, but is still developing and expanding," Klett says. "We're ahead of where I thought we'd be at this time."

It hasn't taken the Aggies long to make their college counterparts sit up and take notice in competitions sanctioned by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Intercollegiate Auto Racing Association (ICAR). A&T is the only historically Black institution competing in these collegiate contests.

Dawson attributes much of the program's success to its adviser and the students' work ethic. "Dr. Klett does all he can to help us succeed," Dawson says. "When we're preparing a car, he's seen enough to know what works and what doesn't work.

"We don't have as many people as the larger programs, so we get a lot of personal attention. We do the best we can with what we have."

The SAE competition presents formidable challenges for race teams in two divisions. The Mini-Baja is for single-seat, all-terrain vehicles; the Formula SAE is for mini-Indy cars.

In competition, students design and build cars to meet a rigid set of safety standards. Judging covers a wide range of categories, including cost and design quality, auto crossing and order of finish in endurance races.

A&T finished third overall in the Australian Formula SAE event held last December and placed 11th out of 105 schools in its first trip to the national Formula SAE competition held last May. The team missed making the top 10 by five points, but posted the highest finish for a first-year entry.

The Aggies haven't taken a back seat in ICAR either. In ICAR, which started three years ago, schools compete against each other just like race teams in stock car and sportscar racing.

It's a stem test of each team's skills in preparing and driving race cars. Association members A&T, North Carolina State, Duke University, University of South Carolina, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and University of Virginia compete each semester in a series of races.

The Aggies won the fall semester 2000 series after finishing second in spring '99 and third in fall '99. The ICAR teams race in scaled-down replicas of NASCAR's classic cars used in the 1930s and 1940s.

ICAR races stirred Chris Bristol's competitive juices when he attended A&T. Bristol, a '99 graduate, is in the process of acquiring his own car which he plans to race in short-track stock car races. Bristol drove two years with the Black-owned Miller Racing Group, and he was an intern with the Busch series race team owned by former pro athletes Joe Washington and Julius Erving.

"When ICAR came along, it put a college sports spin on things, which made it very competitive," says Bristol, a motorsports engineer for Roehrig Engineering of High Point, N.C. "Because of that, you want to do well for yourself and for your school.