NCM Motorsports Park part of inaugural season as College racing teams compete Sunday
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) – The next generation of motorsports professionals will be behind the wheel Sunday in Bowling Green as the Collegiate Racing Series brings its championship competition to the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park.
Nine universities will compete in the second race of the CRS championship season, with students earning points toward the series’ national championship. The season will conclude in December at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the first national champion of collegiate motorsports will be crowned.
CRS serves as the sanctioning body for collegiate motorsports, giving universities a platform to compete in wheel-to-wheel racing while allowing students to gain experience in and outside the driver’s seat. The organization currently has 84 college teams participating across its system.
The teams represent a variety of academic backgrounds. Students work as drivers, engineers, data analysts, marketers and team managers, among other roles. For many, the racing series provides an opportunity to turn classroom lessons into hands-on experience.
Purdue University junior Anushka Vysyaraju is the vice president and lead race engineer for the school’s team. She said the group has spent about nine months preparing its car and learning from one another along the way.
For Tulane University student Michael Roux, the biggest measure of success isn’t necessarily where the team finishes on the leaderboard. He said the program’s value comes from building something that can continue after current students graduate and helping students earn racing licenses and experience they may not otherwise have had.
The competition also uses similar equipment across teams, helping put the focus on the drivers and students rather than the size of a school’s budget. Roux said that creates a more level playing field and allows teams to showcase their ability to develop and fine-tune their cars.
CRS chose Bowling Green in part because of its central location for teams traveling from around the country and the community’s connection to motorsports and Corvette. Series President and CEO Jack Hobbs said the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park has been an “incredible” host and that CRS hopes to build a long-term relationship with the facility.
Sunday’s event is free and open to the public.
Racing begins at 8:30 a.m. at NCM Motorsports Park, giving spectators the chance to watch college teams compete for championship points while getting a look at the engineering, strategy and teamwork happening behind the scenes.
Full story will be here on WNKY.com on Monday.
