by Justin Vick
(From left) McKenna Alberse, Sloan Edemann and Lajja Pancholy and other students talked racing with the Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education on Jan. 20.
STATESVILLE – Mooresville students plan to lobby lawmakers to designate stock car racing as North Carolina’s state sport. And they say State Rep. Grey Mills, R-Iredell, supports their proposal.
Tanner Orr says the idea makes sense – dollars and sense – considering the sport contributes more than $6 billion annually to the state’s economy through jobs, fan support and facilities.
Tanner is one of the 13 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders from Lake Norman Elementary and Mt. Mourne IB School working on the project. They were inspired by a similar effort in 1995, when elementary school students in Wilson convinced the General Assembly to make sweet potatoes the state vegetable.
Students have worked on the project twice a week since May, conducting research, writing, rewriting and attending field trips, according to Nettie Gambill, a fourth-grade teacher at Lake Norman Elementary.
“We have really put in hundreds of hours doing this,” Gambill said. “We are so excited because we are ready to go out into the community.”
After students presented their findings Jan. 20 to the Iredell-Statesville Board of Education, Mooresville representative Anna Bonham made a motion supporting the children’s efforts. It passed unanimously.
“As a stock car racing fan, I’m impressed with your research,” school board member Bryan Shoemaker told them. “Not only that, but you are learning about the legislative process, which I think is very important. You have done an excellent job.”
Already, they’ve talked with Mayor Chris Montgomery and an economics professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who in turn, invited them to speak to his sports economics class.
Students research racing’s roots
Daniel Bonomo and Billy Witherell traced the history of stock car racing back to Prohibition in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was illegal to make or sell alcohol.
“But people still wanted it,” Daniel said, mentioning how moonshine made in the Appalachian Mountains was driven to large cities like Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Raleigh. “These cars raced each other for bragging rights and entertainment.”
Beginning in the late 1940s, stock cars began racing on dirt tracks across the state, such as Occoneechee Speedway and Hickory Motor Speedway, according to Derrick Easter and Noah Wolfe.
“The early pioneers in the sport faced economic struggles,” Tanner said. “Many of the racetracks went bankrupt, and it was very hard to make money as a driver, but the fans kept coming to see competition and support their favorite drivers.”
Maria Meyerhoeffer said stock car racing exploded in popularity during the 1980s, as super speedways, like the one at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, were built throughout the United States and television began broadcasting races for a nationwide audience.
“It was at this time many race teams started relocating to North Carolina,” Maria said, noting that about 90 percent of all teams are based here, with many in Charlotte, Concord and Mooresville.
As a result, motorsports helped transform Mooresville’s mill-town image and economy.
“Mooresville is called Race City USA because it has many connections to stock car racing, including museums, race shops and teaching facilities,” Sloan Edemann said.
Such landmarks include the N.C. Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame, N.C. Auto Racing Walk of Fame, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and NASCAR Technical Institute.
The project team also consists of students McKenna Alberse, Sierra Bice, Kaitlin Green, Alexa Koures, Lajja Pancholy and Madison Sommer. Adult advisors included Bethany Orr, Sara Collin and Sharon Gulledge.
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