Iredell in Transition :: Powered by statesville.com and mooresvilletribune.com

NASCAR takes Mooresville from mill town to Race City

Bethany Fuller | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 28, 2008

As Race City USA’s economic engine started to purr in the early 1990s, a new dynamic rolled in that forever changed the way the town looked.

Penske Racing was looking for a new place to park its cars. Former Penske Racing South president Don Miller said they were looking at other locations in North Carolina when they were invited to check out Lakeside Business Park by Bill Simpson.

“That was perfect because it was right off the interstate,” he said. “There wasn’t any real industry here. It was just a gas station, and then they built that old Ramada Inn.”

While many towns seemed a little turned off by the thought of having a greasy race shop, Mooresville took a chance, Miller said.

Over the years, more racing shops followed until more than 60 dotted the landscape, employing more than 6,000 workers in Mooresville alone.

“All of Iredell County has benefited from that industry,” said Travis Carter, owner of Travis Carter Motorsports Inc. “I think there is no question about that.”

The sport has become so important to the economy, Mooresville dubbed itself Race City USA in honor of its racing teams and related businesses, including Dale Earnhardt Inc., and Penske Racing South.

In addition to Gillette Evernham Motorsports, Statesville also has a small contingent of race teams.

Carter said he relocated Travis Carter Motorsports to Statesville from Yadkin County in 1997 to be closer to their sponsor, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. in Winston-Salem.

“Statesville is a small town that welcomes industry,” he said. “It makes Statesville attractive in a lot of ways.”

The N.C. Auto Racing Hall of Fame is in Lakeside Business park, where interstate travelers can easily see Alan Kulwicki’s championship winning 1992 Ford and Curtis Turner’s “Purple Hog,” a 1956 Ford race car.

Talbert Point Business Park is home to a host of NASCAR teams, the NASCAR Technical Institute and Performance Instruction & Training (PIT).

PIT Senior Director of Recruiting and Development Doug Burns said PIT was founded in order to fill a niche in the racing community.

“Pit crews always seem to be the area where there wasn’t a steady stream,” Burns said. “You can find people to do it, but you have to train them yourself.”

Since opening in 2001, the center has trained pit crew workers for a variety of racing circuits, including NASCAR.

“There are a lot of small operations that a lot of people don’t know about that run in Iredell County as well,” Carter said.

Miller said Mooresville is a good place to bring a business because the government officials are receptive to new ideas and the Lake Norman area offers a good quality of life.

Carter said the area also provides a good pool of potential employees.

All of the cottage industries involved with running a motorsports operation, such as safety equipment, wind tunnels, fabricating and welding followed the race teams.

“My God — it’s amazing,” Carter said. “Its hard to determine really how many jobs it brought.”

Racing’s influence hasn’t stopped with life-sized driver cutouts at Wal-Mart or manufactured parts.

“Economically, it made sense for Mooresville,” said Burns, PIT’s director.

Marketing and hospitality, for example, have gone up.

Burns said one of the factors working in Mooresville’s favor is the availability of the drivers and the teams to the fans.

“Racing is the only thing that brings the tourists here,” he said. “I think that opens the door.”

Mooresville Convention and Visitors Bureau chairman Ron Johnson said there are now 886 hotel rooms in Mooresville, and there are plans for more in order to accommodate fans on racing weekends and other peak tourist times.

Mooresville native Alma Moore said one of the big changes in the downtown area was the amount of traffic, especially down Iredell Avenue toward Dale Earnhardt Inc.

“Lord, honey, it’s been crazy since racing came in,” she said.

Photo: At Performance Instruction & Training in Mooresville, members of “Pit Crew U” work against the clock in hopes of making their way onto a NASCAR team. Bruce Matlock photo

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