Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Building the Future of Motorsports: Belmont Abbey’s Motorsport Management Program (Quinn Beekwilder)

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Building the Future of Motorsports: Belmont Abbey’s Motorsport Management Program (Quinn Beekwilder) · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Break Fix's History of Motorsports Series is brought to you in part
• 0:04
  by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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  Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
• 0:11
  Commerce, and the Argo Singer family.
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  At Belmont Abbey College, the Motorsport Management program has been quietly
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  building something remarkable, a multi-year multidisciplinary approach to
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  understanding the sport we love from its dirt track roots to its global stage.
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  And what began with a focus on the origins of stock car racing has evolved
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  into a curriculum that stretches across continents and categories.
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  Formula One sports cars, drag racing, dirt racing, and beyond.
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  And this year marks a major milestone, the launch of the Nation's first Masters
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  of Arts in Motorsport Management, along with the Accelerate Abbey
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  Summer program that introduces high school students to the sports rich,
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  historical and professional landscape.
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  Presenting today's log book episode is Quinn Bewilder, assistant professor
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  and coordinator of the Motorsport Management degree at Belmont Abbey, a
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  decade at Charlotte Motor Speedway gave him real world insight and being one
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  of the program's first graduates, gives him perspective and his passion for
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  Motorsport history gives him purpose.
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  His students know him as the fast van driver, but today we get to know
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  him as the educator shaping the next generation of Motorsport professionals.
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  Quinn, welcome.
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  Thank you very much.
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  Thank you very much, Kip.
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  Thank you.
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  So like the introduction said, my name is Quinn b Welder.
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  I'm a professor over at Belmont Abbey College.
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  I sort of found my way into this role.
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  I guess quite strangely, I had a political science degree.
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  I found myself in real estate around 2008, and then found out that, well, the
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  market crashed, revamped my whole life and found this program actually in a small
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  Catholic liberal arts college in North Carolina, and they had just launched.
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  And I moved my family out across country, did the program, graduated
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  in 2010, and then went straight to work at Charlotte Motor Speedway, did
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  tickets, and I did digital marketing.
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  And after about 10 years, was looking for a slightly different opportunity.
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  You know, they said, well, you know what?
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  Coordinator the program positions open, why don't you apply?
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  And so I did.
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  I find myself in the last six years teaching college students.
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  Being able to help guide them on the passion project that is their life.
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  Because motorsports isn't just a job, it's a passion.
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  You have to have it.
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  It doesn't really make sense to get into something that you're gonna lose money at.
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  But we all do.
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  I mean, we have 130 plus years of history of motorsports.
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  That shows that you lose money on this.
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  It's not a money making operation, but in the end, we're all here for
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  reasons of our own, but we all have a passion for it, a drive for it.
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  We get really excited when people start talking about motorsports,
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  talking about particular cars, particular drivers, particular tracks,
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  series, and so on and so forth.
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  It's really heartening to be around that every single day.
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  I don't teach English, I don't teach philosophy, which are subjects
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  that might be like pulling teeth for a lot of younger people.
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  And so most of my students are all really excited about motor sports, and
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  they were really engaged in the class and the classes that I teach, and they
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  genuinely have an interest in pursuing it.
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  So for me, it's a dream, you know, a dream job.
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  I kind of want to just give a little recap.
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  When I first came to the symposium several years ago.
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  Thanks to Paul Baxa who pointed out this program to us.
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  We started who was Dan Ave. And as Catholic colleges we kind of talk
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  with each other and he is like, oh, have you heard of the symposium?
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  No, I haven't.
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  What is that?
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  You know, and so I've been coming ever since.
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  So I'm gonna give you a brief history recap about this program
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  and kind of go on from there.
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  Our founding was really with Humpy Wheeler, so Humpy Wheeler
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  kind of instrumental in the sport from a very young age.
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  He was selling tickets to bicycle races, doing promotions for the early
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  Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is originally outside where the airport
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  is currently located before it moved to its new location in 1960 up in Concord.
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  But he was a lifelong resident of Belmont, which is the town where our college is.
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  His father was an instrumental coach in our early days of sports at Belmont Abbey.
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  And so the Wheeler center's the gymnasium name, and so he grew up around the campus.
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  He went to the parochial school that was at the campus at the time
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  too, and graduated from it as well.
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  And so he ends up, you know, with Firestone and after that he
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  comes back to Charlotte in 1975.
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  And basically from 1975 to around 2008, he's the president, general manager of
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  Charlotte Motor Speedway and basically kind of revolutionizes the idea of having
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  a pre-show and a pre-game almost for, you know, NASCAR and you know, kind of
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  making it the spectacle that it should be.
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  So when he is coming to the end of his career, he was realizing
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  there are a lot of business savvy people that come into the industry.
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  That don't really have an appreciation or understanding of
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  what they're really getting into.
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  They don't realize the hours.
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  They don't realize the dedication.
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  They don't realize that you can be out there when it's raining, when it's
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  cold, when it's 110 degrees, you're still in pants, you're still in a tie.
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  It's not comfortable.
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  It's long, long hours, long days, and the family and the people who
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  are around you almost become more of a family than your own family.
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  At times.
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  A lot of folks were coming into the industry and they're having to find,
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  they had to kind of educate 'em on this.
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  And they were losing people.
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  The turnover was pretty high.
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  And so he kind of approached Belmont Abbey, which had been closed to his
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  heart and said, we should really offer a bachelor's degree, open up the doors,
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  invite those that are passionate about, uh, motorsports to come here to learn
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  and to earn a degree, and to kind of go right into the industry itself.
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  That worked.
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  2006, he offered the idea.
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  By 2007, we offer our first class.
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  For the first several years, we offer a concentration in motor
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  sports with our business degree.
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  And then by 2012 we offer a full bachelor's degree
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  in Motorsport management.
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  And when I came back to the school after my time away, we had about nine students
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  in the program, like all four years.
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  So wasn't doing the greatest.
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  But over these last six years and through some great initiatives and support
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  from the school, we are now up over 60 students who are across our four years.
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  We've had record numbers of people coming in every August and
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  it's just been a joy to watch.
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  Unfortunately, we did lose Humpy earlier this year, late last year in September.
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  He was actually able to come out to the college and that's the photo
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  you see down there is actually of Humpy and his daughter Patty Wheeler,
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  who came out to the college in all our student body who are just in
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  the Motorsport program themselves.
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  We are really happy that we can make that happen 'cause we did lose
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  him not too long after that photo.
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  He still lives in our mind and kind of is our touchstone.
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  Why we're doing the things we do with the degree.
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  The early intent was really kind of with a very NASCAR centric focus.
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  80% of all NASCAR teams are located in and around the Charlotte region.
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  They all need people to, you know, work the businesses.
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  And so we thought we'd be a pipeline and to kind of go traditionally
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  into that role and to kind of fill that niche, what we have found.
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  Is that kind of brought in a lot more perspective to be more broader in scope.
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  A lot of our students do end up starting out in nascar, but because
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  of the size of the motorsport industry is what we also wanted to
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  spread the gospel of that as well.
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  You know, we have folks that are in parts and pieces from tires
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  to shocks to kind of marketing programs where they're supporting
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  either a driver, a team, a track.
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  So there are so many opportunities and we try to educate students
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  on that as well and not just say.
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  Don't worry if Hendrick doesn't pick up your resume on the first go.
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  There's also the Xfinity Well O'Reilly series now and the Craftsman Truck
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  series, and then there's all sorts of dirt and IMSA and HRA and you
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  know, just open up your eyes, folks.
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  There's a broad world out there.
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  I touched upon it earlier.
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  We also try to teach the students.
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  That it's not just showing up.
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  You show up for a day of work, starts at, could be six in the
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  morning, goes till 10 o'clock at night, so they're not average hours.
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  You know, definitely can stretch you by that means.
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  And our internships that we do require originally started with required
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  three internships that try to broaden their horizons to be able to see
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  what it's like either with a team, a driver, a series, because those are
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  all sorts of different lifestyles that you can have within motorsports.
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  So Motorsports history.
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  Is kind of a real big passion of mine.
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  I was really fortunate that I kind of got to mold the program
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  to kind of what I wanted to teach.
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  You know, what I found interesting, what I wanted to kind of put out there.
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  And yes, we do focus on NASCAR because, you know, we are surrounded by so much of
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  NASCAR around us that it kind of speaks to us just historically speaking as well.
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  You know, 'cause we're so into it.
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  But we do try to broaden everyone's horizon on what is out there as
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  well, because with NASCAR we're able to teach about, go down to Florida.
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  And actually go see the streamlined hotel.
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  It still stands to this day.
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  You know, we're able to go see the original Beach Road course area that
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  is down there that so much history was made at, but we're also able
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  to kind of expand their horizons.
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  We talk about LA Mall, we talk about Monaco Milli Meier, from
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  Sena to Schumacher to Fondo.
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  But also garlics and Parks and Foyt and new Valari and more.
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  We definitely try to expand their horizons and show that this is a tapestry.
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  It's not a silo.
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  Motor sports is not just one thing.
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  It covers the entire globe.
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  It spans 130 plus years of history.
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  And there are so many niche areas of it that you can get excited about.
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  A lot of different things, and it really helps expand the minds of our
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  students so that when they approach an NHRA team, they understand what
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  they're talking about there with, they approach a NASCAR team, they get it.
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  If they talk about F1, they talk about, you know, world
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  of Outlaws team and IMSA team.
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  They have an understanding and a background to kind of say, oh, okay,
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  I know where you're coming from.
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  I know where you started.
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  And it's not just like an unappreciation of kind of what has come before you.
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  You know, that's what we believe in, you know, I really believe passionately
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  and sharing that history with them.
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  And then what's also really exciting is that we are able to launch
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  the first in the Nation master's degree in Motorsport management.
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  Recently the school has been able to be accredited to teach
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  master's degree level courses.
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  We did start with an MBA program with concentration in motorsport management,
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  and just this fall we were able to kind of convert that into a full
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  Master's of Arts program in Motorsport.
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  Management courses are a hundred percent online.
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  It's designed for a lot of different folks who are working professionals
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  who may never had the chance to, you know, after their college degree they
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  went straight into work with motor sports and would like to continue their
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  education or who are changing careers.
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  And find themselves at a higher level and can't just drop down to an
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  intern and go sweep floor somewhere and kind of redo their whole career.
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  That's kind of what we're finding are the folks that are approaching our program.
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  We had a target goal in mind of how many students would show up for the first
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  semester, for the first year of a brand new program, and we were pleasantly
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  surprised that now we have over 20 master's degree students in our first
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  semester, so we were kind of shocked.
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  We're definitely dealing with that, taking it on our shoulders,
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  which is fantastic and a lot of responses were is it for real?
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  You know, because there are a lot of programs out there you might find on
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  LinkedIn or if you used to go searching might be a certificate or might be not
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  really a fully accredited master's degree that's uh, you know, SACS approved.
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  We are definitely setting a new benchmark for Motorsports education.
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  You know, many of us who do have our master's degree.
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  Pass in the area.
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  We have to have it in sports, so it's not necessarily focused per se.
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  Uh, we end up, you know, doing our thesis on motor sports and being like
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  the most interesting conversation they've had in a long time because
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  all they hear is stick and ball stuff.
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  So that's kind of nice to hear.
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  With that being said, we're also, you know, we reach out to the little
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  bit, slightly older generation.
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  Yeah, and we were proud of this one.
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  So that was, uh, chase, who was also able to, he was part of the MBA program,
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  receives concentration, so we were able to give him his degree award ceremony
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  at the Rolex this year, in January.
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  He was working with faf Motorsports, so it was kind of nice that we were able to
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  give him his degree while he was on job.
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  So it was one of our early success stories in our master's program.
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  And we also wanted to, to kind of reach a younger generation too.
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  We know that, you know, high schoolers are, can be avid motor sports
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  fanatics and there are not many high school guidance counselors that are
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  saying, Hey, you like motor sports?
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  Guess what?
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  There's a motorsport degree program.
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  You know, that doesn't happen too often.
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  We're about one of only three in the country.
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  You know, we're still pretty niche field that we're the best in the
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  country, but you know, still.
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  And so our high school program called Accelerate Abby.
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  It was a week long summer camp that we held this past July.
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  We were able to bring around about 10 students, kind of applied and kinda showed
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  up for the first session that we ran.
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  And we had a blast.
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  We took, we kind of did a mini professional development class that we do.
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  We met with a lot of alumni who opened up their doors that, uh, Steve, who works
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  with actually Jeff Gordon incorporated.
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  So he was able to give us a tour around the Hendrick facility, went
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  out to Millbridge Speedway, did the summer shootout, saw a lot of
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  the garages with the legends cars.
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  We went to RFK and we did Ford Performance Racing School with a couple other
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  alum, uh, who were working out there.
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  And it was just really gratifying to see all, a lot of alumni taking their time
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  outta their summer and saying, yeah, sure.
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  Go ahead and bring 10 or 12 high school students here and we'll talk 'em.
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  It was nice to see that, you know, we could offer this opportunity
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  to have 'em live on campus.
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  Experience what it's like to kind of begin their motor sports journey,
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  and then hopefully choose us as their college of choice moving forward.
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  We're excited about, you know, the master's program, our high school
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  program that we're now starting all within the last few years here.
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  And what's also really exciting and we'll speak to more is the gifts that
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  we have been receiving along the way.
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  Dawn, this might look familiar to you.
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  These used to all sit in your house and so, you know, through a very generous
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  donation and through our meeting here at the Oregon Series Symposium,
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  Colonel Donald Kas was able to donate his personal motor sports collection.
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  To our school, so our fantastic library and Alexis Lynn.
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  Was able to take down a 20 foot box truck, spend a day or two packing
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  up his collection, taking out the bookcases and hauling it all to our own
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  library, which it's now being cared for.
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  It is, you know, made it out of the truck.
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  It is, you know, up on shelves and waiting to be cataloged and processed
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  into, you know, the Don Kas collection that we'll be featuring at our library.
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  So.
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  Thank you, Don, for your generous offer.
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  We appreciate that and that's what we're excited about.
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  You know, we have now even more to offer students a chance to actually touch a
• 14:10
  lot of material that is out of print.
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  May have only been printed once or twice, can be quite expensive to purchase on it
• 14:15
  on your own if you can find a copy of it.
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  And so to have this as our collection and to be able to kind of point
• 14:20
  students to toward it and say, Hey, you have a lot of first source
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  material that you can now utilize to write papers and to explore with.
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  And so, you know, looking forward to what comes outta that here in the future.
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  Moving on was also a very pleasant surprise, is that since my time at
• 14:35
  the Abbey, I've kept in contact with some other fellow alumnus over the
• 14:38
  years who have had some great careers, uh, in motor sports themselves.
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  And so in talking with them and over the last six years, having students
• 14:47
  graduate, enter the industry and start working themselves, I'm able to actually
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  reach out to 'em just this past semester.
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  I was able to kind of take a day off teaching, and both classes I was
• 14:57
  teaching that day that our social media class and also our Introduction to
• 15:00
  Motorsport class were taught by alumni.
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  They came back from their jobs and said, yeah, sure, you know, I'll do it.
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  Made their own presentations.
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  They spoke, they were nervous, you know, they were like, did do all right.
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  And I was like, you did just fine.
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  They were able to interact, share stories, and it's a real pivotal
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  touch point to be able to show that.
• 15:19
  It works if you stick with it, if you do the program, if you work hard, if you keep
• 15:23
  your nose to the grindstone, you know the opportunities are put out in front of you.
• 15:26
  I never promised a student a job.
• 15:28
  I always say, I'll put every opportunity I can in front of you and it's up to
• 15:32
  you to go ahead and make it happen.
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  But we're probably your best shot at getting into motor sports.
• 15:36
  Yeah.
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  Some students embrace that and others dont.
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  So it really kind of touched on my heart when the alumnus come back and
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  go ahead and offer their time and their knowledge and their experience and
• 15:48
  want to give to that next generation.
• 15:50
  And it also really kind of builds this network.
• 15:52
  You know, we always talk about motor sports being a very small world, like
• 15:55
  once you get into it, you're gonna be bumping into the same people year
• 15:58
  after year, after year, maybe in different positions, different roles.
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  But usually it's the same group of folks that you'll be
• 16:04
  spending time with over the next.
• 16:06
  10 to 20 years.
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  You know, we want to build, start that off early so that even when they're a freshman
• 16:11
  or a junior, they're talking to fresh, you know, newly graduated students a year or
• 16:16
  two out, and are able to kind of have that soft touch point to be able to say, Hey,
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  you know, you were just in the program.
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  I'm in the program now.
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  What's it like?
• 16:24
  Can I talk to you?
• 16:25
  Can I take you out for coffee?
• 16:26
  What was your secret?
• 16:27
  How'd you succeed?
• 16:29
  We're really fortunate in that, uh, regard.
• 16:32
  You know, that was a big shift in mentality too.
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  I really want to bring more students back to the Abbey to kind of as
• 16:38
  alumnus to teach about their positions and what they do for a living.
• 16:42
  Now, prior to my coming, the program had attended events sporadically.
• 16:48
  It wasn't purposeful, it was opportunity occurred.
• 16:51
  Let's bring students out to it.
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  Let's show 'em off and let's you know, kind of ahead and do the program.
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  And so I made it my goal to really take students from the classroom and
• 17:01
  actually go into the world of motor sports through the trips that we do now.
• 17:05
  You know, volunteering at events through internships and just purposefully
• 17:09
  taking 'em out for very long days and kind of giving mini working days
• 17:13
  so that they can get used to it.
• 17:15
  So they can see what it will take to actually be on your feet all day,
• 17:19
  walking multiple miles, just 'cause you're at a racetrack and you have
• 17:21
  to go from one garage to another.
• 17:23
  You know, it doesn't sound like much, but when you have to go from parking lots
• 17:26
  to garages, to infields to outfields, and if you don't have a shuttle,
• 17:29
  you have to have good shoe support.
• 17:31
  It's a lot of miles.
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  Uh, you know, you trek up and down a lot, you know, kind of expose
• 17:35
  'em to that early on to say that this is what it's gonna be like.
• 17:39
  Do you still want to do this?
• 17:40
  You know, we give 'em every chance to kind of experience that.
• 17:43
  But it gives 'em a confidence, it gives 'em that sense of professionalism.
• 17:45
  It gives 'em an opportunity that they can go up to an individual
• 17:48
  who is working an event or working at a racetrack and introduce
• 17:52
  themselves and talk to themselves.
• 17:53
  You know, learn more about their experiences in motor sports and take
• 17:56
  that back with them and hopefully gain some insight out of that.
• 18:00
  This, uh, this is just a shot of some of the trips that we've taken, some of the
• 18:04
  places we've gone, some of the internships and opportunities that students have
• 18:08
  had over the last several years.
• 18:10
  You know, we had a student participate in the Sparks Program
• 18:12
  down with the Motorsport Hall of Fame of America down in Daytona.
• 18:15
  He interviewed Ken Clap, and then Ken said, you did such a phenomenal job.
• 18:19
  Why don't you come out to the Indy 500 with me?
• 18:21
  You know, that's a hell of an offer.
• 18:22
  I wish I could, could've done that.
• 18:24
  So, yeah, so Ken Clap, brought him out and showed 'em all around.
• 18:26
  So he got to experience that.
• 18:27
  And the nice part is kind of the middle left picture is also Severn who graduated
• 18:31
  and got a job with the world of Outlaws.
• 18:33
  And so just this past, earlier this November, he actually called me up
• 18:37
  and said, Hey, can I lead a group of students around the world of outlaws and
• 18:40
  kind of teach you about that and show the students, uh, around the paddock.
• 18:43
  And so, you know, it's, it's great that he's only a few months out
• 18:47
  from graduating or already kind of contributing back to the program.
• 18:50
  Like I said, you know, we go, we have a class that goes to the Rolex 24.
• 18:54
  We also do the St. Petersburg race and with Indy cars, and we do the
• 18:57
  four wide nationals up in Charlotte.
• 18:59
  Um, we expose 'em to all different types of motor sports and people
• 19:02
  and jobs that they can work in.
• 19:04
  And, you know, we're really thankful that, you know, we're able to do this
• 19:07
  on shoestring budget, but it works.
• 19:10
  And.
• 19:10
  The whole package with Motorsport history, it's really the foundation.
• 19:14
  You know, they have this kind of understanding of where the sport has been,
• 19:19
  where it's going currently, where it can go in the future, is still kind of the
• 19:23
  big question, but at least they have that.
• 19:26
  They have that foundation.
• 19:27
  They have the understanding.
• 19:28
  The experiential learning that incorporate going out, volunteering,
• 19:32
  meeting these folks early on in their kind of motorsport careers is
• 19:36
  also definitely foundation moving.
• 19:37
  We also have to take a class out to PRI convention up in Indiana and
• 19:43
  involving alumni back with the program.
• 19:45
  It's creating this just whole ecosystem of kind of support from the day they get
• 19:49
  on campus throughout their four years on campus to the alumni support post, you
• 19:54
  know, through mentoring programs as well.
• 19:56
  That, you know, we just really try to set everyone up for the best chance in
• 19:59
  getting into motorsports that they can.
• 20:01
  Moving on.
• 20:02
  What is next for us?
• 20:04
  What would we like to do?
• 20:05
  Definitely digitizing and expanding our archives, taking what we have from the
• 20:09
  Don Kas collection, you know, trying to.
• 20:12
  Make it an open resource and you know, definitely be reaching out to the
• 20:15
  Revs Institute more and more to try to work on this same process as well.
• 20:19
  Continue to invite alumni back, seek additional donations and partnerships,
• 20:23
  kind of what we were speaking to earlier.
• 20:25
  Doesn't matter where it goes, as long as where it ends up.
• 20:28
  Kept safe and as used and kind of broadening the knowledge base
• 20:31
  for everyone moving forward.
• 20:33
  And you know, definitely seeking partnerships.
• 20:36
  If you have a passion and you want to give back.
• 20:40
  Come talk to me and finally I'd just love to keep the conversation going.
• 20:44
  I show great gratitude and appreciation for the Argen Singer community that
• 20:48
  has, you know, inspired me over these last four years of attending.
• 20:52
  You know, the friends that I've made here and the conversations I've had and
• 20:55
  the support and the ability to kind of share back with my students and to kind
• 21:00
  of build from this foundation and to keep moving forward is extremely exciting and
• 21:05
  I can't wait for the future years to come.
• 21:07
  Thank you.
• 21:16
  This episode is brought to you in part by the International
• 21:20
  Motor Racing Research Center.
• 21:22
  Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history
• 21:26
  of motor sports spanning continents, eras, and race series.
• 21:32
  The Center's collection embodies the speed, drama and camaraderie
• 21:36
  of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world.
• 21:41
  The Center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike to share stories of
• 21:46
  race drivers race series, and race cars captured on their shelves and walls, and
• 21:53
  brought to life through a regular calendar of public lectures and special events.
• 21:58
  To learn more about the center, visit www.racing archives.org.
• 22:04
  This episode is also brought to you by the Society of Automotive Historians.
• 22:10
  They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history.
• 22:15
  The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers,
• 22:20
  organizational records, print ephemera, and images to safeguard, as well as to
• 22:26
  broaden and deepen the understanding.
• 22:28
  Of motorized wheeled land transportation through the
• 22:31
  modern age and into the future.
• 22:34
  For more information about the SAH, visit www.auto history.org.
• 22:44
  We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
• 22:48
  to you by Grand Tour Motorsports.
• 22:50
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• 22:53
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