NASCAR and the Academic World — Coming Together?
Academic interest in NASCAR continues to grow.
When Mike and I started teaching our “Business of NASCAR” Honors module, we couldn’t find anyone doing anything similar, although the “techies” were offering courses. Now a program has been developed at Belmont Abbey College in Charlotte, North Carolina, that has some support from Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The program is a business concentration in Motor Sports Management (check it out here).
In addition, Keith Green, director of public relations at Richmond International Raceway, is teaching a course on the “Business and Marketing of NASCAR” at Virginia State University, located between Richmond and Petersburg. Keith has spoken to our class on several occasions and told me that the course Mike and I teach was the inspiration for his course.
Clearly, academia has begun to recognize that motorsports, especially NASCAR, is not just “sports” but big business as well. Maybe Mike and I really did know what we were doing!
See you next week — and again we welcome your comments.
Jon