Contributed byMidlands TechnicalCollege

Midlands Technical College students tour Hendrick Motorsports Complex

The Hendrick Motorsports Complex in Charlotte, NC, gives NASCAR fans the opportunity to experience the race shops, cars, victory trophies, and legacy of the sport first hand. Recently, Machine Tool Technology high school and college students, along with their instructors and selected staff, got an even closer look into the Hendrick Motorsports Complex.

More than 40 students and staff from Fairfield, Lexington, and Spring Valley High Schools’ career and technology centers and Midlands Technical College toured the 15,000–square foot Hendrick Motorsports museum, machine and chassis shops, and race shops including those of second and third place 2004 NEXTEL Cup Series champions Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Participants enjoyed a behind–the–scenes look into the work and preparation required to maintain a professional race team.

One of the highlights included a visit inside the machine shop where staff shared demonstrations and career information with students. The Hendrick Motorsports engine program uses numerous Haas CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining centers, digital coordinate measuring machines, and technologically advanced prototyping equipment to design and create engines for the Hendrick race teams. In the machine shop, students observed familiar tools and equipment as well as Haas CNC machining centers similar to those found at Midlands Technical College’s Center of Excellence for Technology.

Midlands Technical College’s Office of Career Programs organizes the annual field trip for selected machine tool students. Leslie Blackwell, Career Programs Project Coordinator explained, “We plan events like this to introduce students to the variety of careers available for industrial technology graduates. Students who do well in a secondary machine tool technology program and continue their training at the post–secondary level can look forward to interesting, challenging, and lucrative career options across the state or right here in the Midlands.”

For more information about Hendrick Motorsports, visit their website at www.hendrickmotorsports.com. For more information about Midlands Technical College’s Center of Excellence for Technology, visit www.midlandstech.edu/technologycenter.