Now with the first year of college under their belts, Travis Teague's WSSU motorsports students head out into the NASCAR field

  

  
Dr. Travis Teague's new college motorsports program is all about making NASCAR connections and networking (Photo: Winston-Salem State)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   CONCORD, N.C.
   NASCAR's long-running 'diversity' push may be taking a hit this season because of the sluggish U.S. economy, and sponsors slashing summer internships. But, taking advantage of Winston-Salem's prime location in stock car racing country, Dr. Travis Teague has his first crop of Winston-Salem State NASCAR motorsports students ready to take to market.
   Yes, they've just finished their freshman year, and it will still be another three years before they finish collegiate work for their Bachelor of Science in Motorsports Management. But Teague's 18 students – some under the eye of championship team owner Richard Childress – are looking to land some internships this summer, and do some of that business networking that is so important in this business.
    And Teague hopes the summer of NASCAR networking pays off for him and his fledgling WSSU program -- the only Bachelor of Science in Motorsports Management degree course in the nation – by promoting the still evolving department.
    NASCAR executives certainly hope this project succeeds, because, as an academic program at one of the country's Historically Black Colleges, it's yet another angle to promote diversity in the sport, which has been a hot button item for NASCAR CEO Brian France.
   Considering WSSU is just across the street from Bowman Gray Stadium, home to NASCAR's longest running weekly short-track operation, Teague and his students have easy access to the sport. The program even sponsors a car at Bowman Gray.
   But Teague is looking for more than just some local action.
   After all, NASCAR is a national sport.
   "This program is a good recruiting tool (for WSSU's new NASCAR program), because NASCAR is national…and if you want to get into this field, if you want to do motorsports, this is a good way to get your foot in the door," Teague says.
    "We're just trying to spread the word about what we're doing.
   "We don't have a lot of equity built up in this industry. People don't really know what we're all about.
   "So we try to do the small things right, and build on that. And that's been a pretty good model for us."
     Teague's students are at Lowe's Motor Speedway this All-star weekend, working the crowd; and they worked at Kevin Harvick's Kernersville shop during his 'fan day.'
    "Because the interaction with the public is a key skill," Teague says.
    In March, at the behest of track president Chris Powell, Teague took 10 students to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a five-day 'course,' centered on the Las Vegas 400. "When people ask me 'Well, what do your students do?' I tell them 'Anything they want us to…anything the track need us to do, from a management side,'" Teague says.
   "It helps us build relationships.
   "We've been doing that with NASCAR too, and now we're even doing research projects with NASCAR."
    But job placement?
    "That's our ultimate goal, to place our students, because that will be our best advertisement, when we get our students out there," Teague says.
    "I'd say at least 60 or 70 percent of our students will be doing something in motorsports this summer. Now it may not be full-time work….
    "But six students are working at Ace Speedway, six are working with GMR, which is Lowe's corporate marketing agency, two students are working at Childress' NASCAR shop, and we've got some students going up this weekend to Bristol to work with the NHRA."
   Todd Ervin, the International Speedway Corp.'s senior director of brand strategy and marketing insights, says the ISC provides some 10-week summer internships, fully paid, as part of NASCAR's diversity program. "And we have had some very good interns come through over the years."
    But Ervin concedes the ragged economy has slowed part of that program: "With the corporate cutbacks there are some unpaid internships out three, and while I know a lot of students can't afford to do unpaid internships, I tell them 'Hey, if you can, it's a great way to get your foot in the door. And this sport is all about networking and making contacts. It's a great way to show initiative, and show you want to step up.'"
   Childress, an old Bowman Gray grad himself, says of Teague's project "It's amazing what they've been able to do with this program in such a short time. This is something we're proud to be part of."
   "I'm relying on these guys," Teague says, with a nod to Childress and driver Jeff Burton, "to show us what the entry-level person in this field really needs. And that's how we're building the curriculum."
   Burton, also on the WSSU motorsports advisory council, says the WSSU program is good marketing for NASCAR itself: "Because it gives young men and women the opportunity to learn a lot about our sport. A lot of schools focus on the technical side; this focuses on the business side, and there's a real need for that in our industry.
   "It's neat to see how hard these students work. It's a very hard course.
   "For me, it's just cool to be part of something like this, with people being trained to help take this firm to the next level…and education is truly what's going to do that for us. We see the need for new talent to come in -- with an education."
   The freshmen just finished three racing courses -- an introductory course, a course on the sanctioning body NASCAR itself, and then a spring course on technical aspects of the sport. As sophomores, they'll take a mass media course, and a race shop management course, in addition to the traditional general education requirements.
    And on weekends they work races. "On 11 of the 14 weekends during the semester we were going somewhere doing something," Teague says.
    The final course of the 12-course program will be a full internship somewhere. "Anywhere in the country," Teague says.
   Teague, now three years at WSSU, came from East Tennessee State, in Bristol, Tenn., where he taught a graduate program in motorsports operations. "But I always had the thought there could be a niche for this, from an academic standpoint, because it was an unmet need," he says.
   "We thought why not focus on this and make it specific."
   Who is the typical student here? "I don't think there is a typical student," Teague says.
   The current class includes a variety of students, 60 percent African-American, 60 percent male – which means 40 percent women – and includes some non-traditional students coming back to college after a stint elsewhere.
   "We have some students who have done the technical stuff and now want to learn the management side, which is great, because it makes them more marketable," Teague says.
    One key part of the course is teaching 'professionalism.' "We really, really push professionalism in our program, down to the way you dress, and the professional behavior expected in motorsports," Teague says.
    "It's all exciting for me, because you can see the light in their eyes.
    "We push the academics…but we also push the field work, because we're hoping that the relationships our students build over the four years will eventually pay off in jobs.
   "There are ample opportunities, and we're taking advantage of them."