This is NASCAR Country. AlthoughNASCAR originated on the sand in Day-tona Beach, Florida, this area stretchingfrom Charlotte to Statesville, North Car-

olina, along Interstate 77, is where NASCAR lives.Perhaps that’s due to its central location in the Southeast-

ern area, where stock car racing developed. Or maybe it’s be-cause of the vast influence on the sport by nearby Lowe’s Mo-tor Speedway and Humpy Wheeler, the man who built thetrack and others around the country. It could be because ofthe large number of racing teams and racing families who callthis region home. It could even be due to the friendly climateor the even friendlier people. Most likely, it’s all of the above.

The area has flourished under the rapid growth ofNASCAR and all the peripheral supporting industries it hasspawned. If it has any vague connection to the hugely suc-cessful racing venture, it can be found here. Not only do rac-ing team owners, drivers, team members, shop staff and oth-ers make their homes here, but so do the companies (andtheir employees) who supply the racing industry. Beyond thenormal goods of car parts, engines, tires and fabricating mate-rials, the makers of motor homes, trailers, machinery, luxuryvehicles and more are also found here.

Tourism is huge here. With the racing venues, team shopsand racing museums to visit, people come literally fromaround the globe to make their pilgrimage to this mecca of

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TOURING THE

C A M P U SBY TOM NASH

In 2002, NASCAR and Universal TechnicalInstitute teamed up and created the NASCAR

Technical Institute to address the shortage ofproperly trained automotive technicians and

provide a developmental motorsportstechnology program. The collaboration has

proved to be a monumental success.

Classes at NTI prepare students in all the techniques ofcreating a competitive NASCAR racer, from building theengine to completion of the chassis and body. The largephoto at right shows the Engine & Chassis room.

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21March 2005

automotive speed competition. Hotels,restaurants, shopping malls, gas sta-tions and service businesses havesprung from the ground where onlytrees stood a few years ago. The realestate and construction industries herehave never been better.

The PartnershipIt was only logical that when NASCARbegan looking for a partner to help de-velop the technicians and skilled crafts-men needed to feed the burgeoningsport, it turned to Universal TechnicalInstitute. UTI has been a successfultraining organization for 40 years. Fromits beginning as a one-building school inPhoenix with 11 students, UTI hasgrown to encompass eight campus loca-tions nationwide, offering educationalinstruction for automotive, diesel, colli-sion repair, motorcycle and marinetechnology. More than 80,000 graduateshave passed through UTI’s programs.

Talks between NASCAR and UTIbegan in 1999 and culminated in theopening of the NASCAR Technical In-stitute (NTI) in May 2002. Along theway, a lot of planning went into the pro-ject to ensure success. Two excellentreputations were on the line, so a lotwas at stake for both partners. After al-most three years of operation, we decid-ed to pay a “campus visit” to see howthe school is doing.

You’ll find the NASCAR TechnicalInstitute tucked into the wooded,rolling landscape of a growing industrialpark. Its impressive block-long facade isinterrupted by a large glass-clad en-tranceway that fills the lobby with sun-light from its southern exposure.

Tours for prospective NTI studentsand visitors start in the lobby twice eachday. During our visit to NTI, a largegroup of high school students was anx-iously waiting in the lobby prior to theirtour. They were ogling the race car ondisplay, looking at the NASCAR photosand memorabilia, fingering throughNTI brochures and perusing the nameson the checkered-flag “Wall ofFame”—signed by many of the sport’smost famous people.

More often than not, some of thetour guests are simply NASCAR fansin town to visit local racing shops who

have included NTI on their itinerary.Next door to NTI sits the huge teamshop of Robert Yates Racing, home ofthe popular Nextel Cup No. 38,M&M’s-sponsored car of Elliot Sadlerand the No. 88 United Parcel Servicecar of Dale Jarrett. Visiting both NTIand Yates in one stop is just the logicalthing for NASCAR fans to do.

The ProgramsTo understand the extensive range oftraining available at this school, youneed to think of it as you would a uni-versity, with both an undergraduatecurriculum and a graduate studiesprogram.

Students entering NTI are requiredto first follow a basic course of study in

various automotive service categories.The basic automotive program consistsof three-week courses in AutomotiveEngines & Repair, Electronic Funda-mentals, Automotive Powertrains,Brakes, Fuel & Ignition Systems, Drive-ability and Emissions, AutomotiveTransmissions, Electronic Diagnostics,Advanced Diagnostic Systems and Pro-fessional Service Writing, plus severalother categories. The basic programconsists of 672 lecture hours and 588lab hours over 42 weeks. In itself, thebasic course is an excellent automotiveeducational foundation.

Once students complete the basiccurriculum, they go to advanced pro-grams, which consist of eitherNASCAR courses or the Ford-spon-

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TOURING THE NASCAR TECH CAMPUS

Students work inteams in the Auto-motive Engines &Repair class. Here,a team inspects avalve and discussesthe importance ofproper valve seating.

Adjusting valve lash isserious business in

the NASCAR Engines Iclass. Improperly setvalves can cause en-

gine failure. Result:The driver finishes

out of the money, thenext-to-last thing he

wants to happen ina NASCAR race.

sored Ford Accelerated CredentialTraining (FACT) program, which pre-pares them for working in a Ford deal-ership. Among the NASCAR-specificcourses is an optional Pit Crew course.If a student opts for the NASCAR pro-gram, he or she may be accepted in aNASCAR team shop or other racingestablishment after graduation. Thebasic automotive curriculum, followedby the NASCAR courses, with the op-tional Pit Crew class, means a studentwill have logged 1890 clock hours be-tween lectures and labs over 63 weeks.That’s quite a training regimen!

After the basic automotive curricu-lum, a student wishing to enter theFACT program spends up to an addi-tional 450 hours working on Ford vehi-

cles, learning the intricacies of Ford sys-tems, diagnostics and service tools.Placement with a Ford or Lincoln/Mer-cury dealer is the reward.

Because the demand for NTI gradu-ates is high, many of the manufacturersinvolved with the school via support orendorsements participate in the TuitionReimbursement Incentive Program(TRIP), whereby the company pays aportion or all of the employee’s studentloans. It helps them attract and retainthe best of NTI’s graduates.

Visiting NTIJohn Dodson, NTI’s Community/NASCAR Team Relations Director, wasour personal tour guide. A member of awell-known family of NASCAR racers,

crew chiefs and car builders, Dodsonhas spent his whole life in the industry,so he’s uniquely qualified to identify andrelate the needs of NASCAR to theschool and represent the school to theindustry and community.

One of our first stops in the146,000-sq.-ft. facility was the Stu-dent Services Office. Here, all mat-ters pertaining to the students arehandled—guidance, counseling, fi-nancial aid, housing, placement upongraduation, etc. Like any good school,NTI supports its students in a myriadof ways. However, students are ex-pected to maintain good grades andlive up to the policies, rules and regu-lations of the institution. Each stu-dent is given a copy of the StudentSUCCESS Guide, which outlineseverything he or she needs to knowto ensure a positive educational expe-rience.

“NASCAR Technical Institutetakes pride in the knowledge andavailability of our Support ServicesStaff,” said Jennifer Waber, Directorof Student Services. “Our supportranges from financial aid and ac-counting to employment and studentservices. With an open-door policy,students are encouraged to visit witha student advisor or counselor forguidance whenever needed. We be-gin educating the students long be-fore they arrive on campus of thesteps to complete for a successfultransition to their new community,Mooresville, North Carolina, and alifestyle away from home,” she added.

“We organize monthly student ac-tivities to promote the socializationand networking of our students withone another and their NTI StaffTeam,” Waber pointed out. “Everythree weeks, NTI solicits feedbackfrom our students on their experienceand consequently follow up with aone-on-one meeting to discuss anysuggestions or concerns.

“Whether it be a small caring ges-ture, such as cards delivered to stu-dents on their birthday, or monthlyStudent Council/LINC [Leaders inthe Community] meetings to listen tothoughts from our student body, NTIis committed to offer a high level of

23March 2005

In the AutomotiveDriveability &

Emissions shop,students work on

fully operationalfront-drive clips. Allneeded diagnosticsand testing can be

performed onthese units.

The instructor in aNASCAR Engines Iclass points outcritical assemblyfactors to a teamof students.

support and effective service that isdelivered with care in an environ-ment where all students are able tosucceed.”

During lunchtime, I noticed a largenumber of students outside, enjoyingtheir meals in the fresh air, conversingor studying at picnic tables. Of course,many were checking out each others’“rides”—peering under hoods, point-ing out brakes, suspensions and tiresand generally doing the things “carguys” and “car gals” do when they gettogether.

The school has its own NAPA AutoParts store, which offers parts, tools andsupplies to the students and staff at rea-

sonable prices. The store also carriesthe NTI shirts required by the school’sdress code, as well as other NTI apparel.

Automotive CoursesWalking along the bright, wide halls ofthe Automotive Technology section, westopped into several classrooms, shopsand laboratories to observe the classes.

In the Automotive Engines & Re-pair classroom, students were work-ing together in teams disassemblingor reassembling engines, followingcourse directives. The instructormoved from area to area checking onthe progress of the teams and offer-ing suggestions and advice.

Most classrooms at NTI are spon-sored by companies that donated ma-terials. In return, the company’s nameand logo are emblazoned on the wall.It was evident that Jasper Engines &Transmissions was one of the mainsponsors of this classroom.

We entered the huge repair shop,where students can work on their ownvehicles. The cavernous multibay areais as well-equipped and well-laid-out asany dealership service area I’ve seen.

At one end of the shop, studentsworked on several front clips of front-drive cars mounted on dolly wheels.These units, from both domestic andimport manufacturers, provide stu-dents with the opportunity to trou-bleshoot and diagnose driveability andemissions problems using scan tools,scopes, gas analyzers and other testequipment, then to perform the re-quired repairs.

Back along the corridor, westopped to observe an AutomotiveElectronic Fundamentals class.Teams of students were working withbreadboard models containing the cir-cuitry for a designated system of a car.These models help students under-stand the individual system as a stand-alone entity, without the confusion ofother related systems. They learn tofocus on one system at a time, in theoverall context of the entire vehicle.

NASCAR CoursesContinuing our tour, we moved intothe area of the school where theNASCAR classes are taught. Westopped into the NASCAR transmis-sion lab, where student teams were get-ting their first good look at the JericoWC4 top-loading four-speed transmis-sions used so widely in NASCAR. Stu-dents who wish to become drivetrainspecialists on a NASCAR team willcome to know every part of these gear-boxes by heart.

Moving along to the NASCAR En-gines I lab, we observed students inone large room disassembling Dodgeracing engines, then cleaning and in-specting the components. In the nextroom, teams were busy assembling theengines according to checklists, underthe watchful eyes of instructors. All of

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TOURING THE NASCAR TECH CAMPUS

In an Automotive Electronic Fundamentals classroom, teams of studentswork with breadboards—models that contain all the electrical and electroniccomponents found in a particular system of a vehicle.

The huge repair area where students and instructors may perform repairs totheir private vehicles rivals that of most major automobile dealer service areas.

the instructors in the NASCAR classeshave a minimum of five years of expe-rience on NASCAR racing teams.During the next session, NASCAREngines II, these students will hangon the fuel, cooling, ignition and ex-haust systems, then test their engineson dynamometers and prepare themfor race conditions.

In a large area outside the Engineslabs, the NASCAR Chassis Applicationsclass convenes. Here, students learn toapply all the needed systems on thechassis—drivetrain, brakes, suspension,steering and tires/wheels. They learnthe techniques of weight distribution,adjustment and modifying the setupsfor qualifying or race conditions.

Body and chassis fabricating is taughtin a very large shop. At one end sits areinforced engine dyno room and themultistation welding lab, where the var-ious types and forms of welding andcutting are instructed. The other end ofthe shop is laid out with racks andshelves of fabricating materials and sup-plies. In one area sit the fixtures uponwhich the students build a chassis fortheir NASCAR Fabrication I - Chassiscourse. Starting with blueprints, theycut and bend tubing, weld it in place us-ing jigs and install the mounting platesfor the body panels, suspension anddrivetrain components.

Another area of the shop holds thefloor plates upon which the chassis is fit-

ted with body panels for the NASCARFabrication II - Body course. The thicksteel plates provide a precise flat andlevel surface to ensure proper fittingand height of the panels and compo-nents. If the components are too low, acar might not pass the minimum heightrequirements during a NASCAR in-spection, thus disqualifying the car orrequiring correction.

We made a quick trip to the dy-namometer shop, which sits apart fromthe main building. It houses a com-plete dyno system that’s available forstudent and staff use. On our way backinside, we stopped by the NASCAR PitCrew workshop. Here, students cantake the optional course to developskills needed for working on a pit crew,in hopes of adding that experience totheir credentials. Although most pitcrew teams are made up of people al-ready on staff, some new hires gettheir foot into the door of a race teamby starting out as a pit crew member.Either way, it’s a good skill to have ifyou want to be part of a racing organi-zation. The students at NTI hold anannual school-wide pit crew competi-tion for fun and bragging rights.

Making our way back to the lobby toend the tour, I couldn’t help but be in-spired by NTI, its students and staff. Itmade me feel that the uphill battle todraw the youth of our time into auto-motive technical careers is being wonon at least some fronts.

Not only is this union between atraining school and a racing organiza-tion unique, it’s thorough, efficient andcomplete. The curriculum, the facilityand the career preparation experienceare as good as any arts- and/or science-based school, plus the graduation level(over 90%) and job-placement numbersare far higher.

Other UTI ProgramsUniversal Technical Institute also of-fers the Ford FACT and similar basicand post-basic training at its othercampuses in conjunction with severalother vehicle manufacturers to providetechnicians for their dealerships.Among these are the Audi AcademyTraining Program (AATP), BMW’sService Technician Education Program

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TOURING THE NASCAR TECH CAMPUS

Students in the NASCAR transmission lab learn disassembly, repair and as-sembly techniques on the same Jerico gearboxes found in NASCAR racers.

Students learn to install brakes, shocks, suspension and drivetrain componentsand all other parts to the chassis in the NASCAR Chassis Applications class.

(STEP), Jaguar’s Professional Automo-tive Career Education (PACE), Mer-cedes-Benz’s Enhanced Level OneTechnician Education (ELITE),Porsche’s Technology Apprentice Pro-gram (PTAP), Toyota’s Professional Au-tomotive Technician (TPAT) and Pro-fessional Collision Training (TPCT),Volkswagen’s Service Technical Training(VSTT) and Volvo’s Service AutomotiveFactory Education (SAFE).

In addition, UTI developed theNavistar International Dealer Techni-cian Education & Recruitment Planand the Collision Repair and Refin-

ishing Technology (CRRT) curricu-lum in partnership with DuPont Per-formance Coatings.

For those who prefer two wheels,UTI’s Motorcycle Mechanics Instituteprovides motorcycle training that’ssupported and equipped by Harley-Davidson, Honda, Suzuki, Yamahaand Kawasaki.

It’s the cooperative relationshipwith manufacturers that spells successfor UTI and its operations. The manu-facturer provides product and supportand UTI teaches students how to re-pair it. It’s a win-win situation for all.

Chris McWaters, UTI’s Director of In-dustry Relations, states, “With MSAT(Manufacturer Specific AdvancedTraining Programs) our graduates canachieve master level status with thesebrands in a much shorter period oftime—and, of course, that equates togreater earning potential.”

The Measure of SuccessI asked John Dodson if UniversalTechnical Institute was pleased withthe level of success NTI has achieved.His response was, “We are over-whelmed. Of course, we can’t forgetthat our mission is to first be a success-ful automotive training facility. But,with regard to NTI, where else can youget this kind of training—learning tobuild and prepare a race car from topto bottom?

“When I started in the business,”Dodson added, “you had to begin atthe bottom, sweeping floors andcleaning out bathrooms, in order toget a chance to work around the cars.Well, those days are over. With a limit-ed number of NASCAR shops, thereare a finite number of positions. To-day, you must have experience or skillsto work in a race shop. NASCARTechnical Institute provides our stu-dents with both.”

And how does NASCAR feel aboutthe joint venture after three years? “Theschool has been an unbelievable suc-cess,” said Odis Lloyd, NASCAR Man-aging Director for the Automotive Af-termarket. “More than 1400 studentswere enrolled prior to the first class.The first classes have already graduated,with students joining the aftermarketindustry every three weeks. Most im-portantly, though,” Lloyd noted, “NTIhas become an integral part ofNASCAR’s overall automotive program,which strives to meet the goal of bettercar care for our fans. We couldn’t bemore pleased.”

Further information regarding theNASCAR Technical Institute and otherUTI schools and programs can befound at www.uticorp.com.

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TOURING THE NASCAR TECH CAMPUS

During their session in NASCAR Chassis Fabrication, student teams actuallydesign and build a chassis, including all the brackets for hanging the drive-train and suspension and mounting of the body and engine components.

Students who sign up for the optional NASCAR Pit Crew class learn the jobs,rules, safety concerns, equipment and race-day preparations for performingas a member of a pit crew. The school has both indoor (shown here) and out-door practice areas to help students perfect their skills.

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