Nascar Comes to the Service Bay

by Steve Finlay
Ward's Dealer Business, September 1, 2002

MOORESVILLE, NC - A new and novel school for auto service technicians is a big place that's teamed up with a big name. It's the NASCAR Technical Institute, a $12 million, 146,000-sq.-ft. facility near Charlotte.

The tech school is the first to teach traditional auto technology combined with advanced training for motor sports. It's also the first auto tech school to sport the NASCAR name.

The unique facility is the brainchild of NASCAR and UTI (Universal Technical Institute), the nation's leading tech trainer. It's UTI's seventh US campus.

"In my 25 years in vocational education, I don't think I've been more excited," says UTI Chairman John White. The inaugural class of 120 students started its learning laps in July.

The school can accommodate up to 1,900 students at a time. That enrollment level is expected next year.

Graduates complete a 57-week program. That's 39 weeks of regular auto tech schooling and 18 of NASCAR-specific training. MASCAR crew chiefs helped develop the coursework. Even more advanced learning - through special programs such as FACT (Ford Accelerated Credential Training) - runs 69 weeks.

It's not cheap. Tuition starts at $24,350 and runs as high as $28,350. Sponsorships, scholarships and special loans will bankroll most students.

Some of the graduates will fulfill dreams of servicing race cars on the NASCAR circuit. Most will find less glamorous jobs at dealerships.

Still, those dealership jobs offer solid work at good pay. And NASCAR Tech putting out nearly 2,000 graduates annually should ease the shortage of new auto technicians entering the industry. About 15,000 veterans leave annually. Overall, the industry needs 25,000 new service techs a year through 2010, according to forecasts.

Even though it's called NASCAR Tech, the school focuses mainly on training students for the general automotive industry, says admissions director Jerry Ellner.

He adds, "Like a professional athlete who went to college on a sports scholarship, 10% to 15% of our graduates will end up with full-time NASCAR jobs.

"The great majority of students will go to our industry partners - who want them badly. Several auto companies have programs here in which graduates end up at dealerships with an average starting salary of more than $16 an hour. And the dealerships will pay back their student loans."

NASCAR Tech is appropriately named and placed. It's on 19 acres in Mooresville, NC - a.k.a. Race City, USA. Many NASCAR crew teams reside there, and many of the teams' workshop headquarters are clustered a mile from the school, which employs about 150 people.

Although the main players are UTI and NASCAR, several corporations are backers. Those include Ford Motor Co., Dodge, Snap On Tools, Federal-Mogul and Jasper Engines and Transmissions.

"Such support lends credibility to a career in the industry, and shows the industry's desire to make auto technology a long-term honorable career," says White.

Roger Penske, A UTI board member, racing sponsor and head of the 84-store UAG dealership group, says the new school fills a need at both racing and dealership levels.

He says, "We employ 7,000 auto mechanics, and when I saw this opportunity, I knew it deserved a checkered flag. It's going to be important at local dealerships, auto companies and NASCAR for graduates to say, 'I'm certified here.' This place will leave an impact for years."

The facility includes more than 40 classrooms and nearly 50,000 sq. ft. of hands-on learning space as well as labs for engines, transmissions, chassis work and welding.

Ellner says many people envision NASCAR Tech as the "Harvard" of auto tech schools.

"The students here receive 1,900 hours of training," he says. "That's more than twice what most automotive schools offer."

The school's location in "NASCAR Country" will give students "an opportunity to knock on a lot of doors" says Penske, whose firm invested in the facility.

He adds, "We give them an education. But remember, getting a job is not because the school told you to get a job, but about the individual who's motivated to go out and get one."

NASCAR President Mike Helton says that in today's auto industry "you can't be smart enough," no matter what career paths graduates take.

He explains, "The curriculum applies to folks who work at dealerships and garages, if they choose to go in that direction, and maybe complement that with a high-performance element at the same time for their own benefit or interest.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that people who graduate here have to become a NASCAR crew member one day. This gives them a broad opportunity."

What's it mean for dealers?

As the head of a major dealership group, Roger Penske knows of dealers' critical need for trained auto techs. That's why he's a financial backer of [the school].

Penske says his UAG Phoenix-area stores alone will need more than 100 new auto technicians over the next three years.

"Many other people in our business have the same requirements," says Penske. "So this school is a great catalyst."

Hometown dealer Randy Marion foresees an immediate benefit to his dealership and an ultimate benefit to Mooresville, population 20,000, about 30 miles north of Charlotte. "

We'll have mechanically inclined young students that will need employment while going to school," says Marion, whose Randy Marion Chevrolet Buick and Pontiac dealership is just down the street from NTI. "It will allow us to be open evening hours and such." Moreover, the 1,900-student body will boost the local economy, Marion predicts.

He adds, "We're excited. I've been to the institute. It's a great place. It and the entire NASCAR presence are very viable to the Mooresville area."

NASCAR Tech students come from across the country

NTI students will come from across the country, recruited by UTI's 100 field scouts who are on the lookout for their kind.

Admissions director Jerry Ellner says, "We go to almost every high school in the US, trying to identify people interested in the transportation industry.

"When we do identify them, we meet with their instructors to see if they've shown an aptitude for hands-on learning in the automotive industry.

"If we get that step done, we meet with their parents. We try to find the very best students."

How hard are they to find?

"It isn't easy. Even when we identify students, sometimes there's parental pressure and peer pressure," he says.

It's that stubborn old "grease monkey" stereotype at work again. UTI's field representatives must counteract that, according to Ellner. They present a convincing case.

The NASCAR name is a powerful recruiting tool. It can leverage young prospects' career decisions. But UTI's pitch goes deeper than name-recognition.

Says Ellner, "We try to explain to high school students and their parents that today's auto technician is involved with computers, sophisticated diagnostic equipment and the like.

"A factory-trained technician earns more than a college graduate, and, in fact, has the same earning potential as someone with a master's degree."

© 2002, PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc.