During our stay in North Carolina a few weeks ago, we visited the impressive race shop of Penske Racing in Mooresville.
Penske Racing is located on Penske Way, a few miles northeast of Mooresville. The huge complex hides from the road on a vast, 105-acre property. A discreet “Penske Racing” sign on the side of the small, winding road is the only indicator that you have arrived.
Our guide was Gregory Datré, who usually works in the marketing department at Penske Racing.
“Previously, we had Penske Cars located in Poole, UK, the CART race team based in Reading, Pennsylvania, and Penske Racing South, the NASCAR organization, based in North Carolina. Nowadays, everything is housed here with the exception of Penske Racing Engines and our wind tunnel and vehicle dynamics rig sited at Penske Technology Group on Knob Hill Road in Mooresville,” Datré told us.
The two buildings here were once home to the Matsushita Compressor Corp. of America. Matsushita operated the manufacturing plant for a decade, but then vacated it.
After acquiring the property in June 2004, two construction crews were assigned to the project in seven-day-a-week shifts. The main building's interior was gutted and a major facelift began.
Within six months, the race team's administrative department and chassis shop started relocating to the new racing campus. By March 2005, the NASCAR teams' move had been completed. Today, Penske Racing fields cars in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series as well as IndyCar.
Fans have the opportunity to visit the race shop for free. They first enter the gift shop and then step up to the mezzanine that is 331 feet long. From the second floor, visitors see the garage floor where the final steps of the assembly take place. The sub-assemblies, engines, transmissions and brakes are put together in small units that cannot be seen.
We walked toward the end of the garage alley, where the Sprint Cup cars of Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were being prepped for the next race. On the right is the engineering department where the cars and parts are being developed using computer stations.
In the shock absorbers area, the dampers are assembled and tested before they are installed on the race cars.
“The electric and electronic department works for both our NASCAR and IndyCar teams. It also handles the maintenance of the data acquisition systems. The guys do the wiring looms, the updates on the IndyCar steering wheels, and more,” Datré explained. “The machine shop is filled with Mazak CNC machines that are computer driven. They manufacture all the components made of metal, be it aluminum, titanium, magnesium or other.”
“The NASCAR chassis shop is where these are produced. One team builds the chassis from steel tubes while another team handles the front end. There’s a third group that works the steering components, the trailing arms, the spindles, the suspension bits, the brakes and other stuff,” our guide said.
“Superspeedway Department”. Yes, there’s a department entirely devoted to the fabrication of the superspeedway cars. These are the machines that usually run at speeds in excess of 200 mph and for which aerodynamics play a crucial role.
All non-superspeedway cars are manufactured in the other section of the shop. “We can build multiple cars simultaneously since we have six surface plates. Each car is built by a team of three or four fabricators. It takes between eight to ten days to build a car from a tube chassis. As you can see, all metal sheet panels are made by hand. And then, in the final assembly department, the guys install the cooling elements, radiator, electronics, tail pipes, spoiler, windshield and other stuff,” our guide told us.
Afterwards, the cars receive paint in the body shop. “We have six cabins and this place is so busy with the NASCAR and IndyCar programs that we need to have general managers to oversee the planning of the paint shop. We paint not only the cars but also all the pit equipment, tool boxes, golf carts, refuelling tanks and more,” he said.
The NASCAR and IndyCar pit crews can practice pit stops inside the shop, at the front end of the huge storage department. “The guys practice two days a week. They train in the fitness room and they can count on a pit crew coordinator. We do the practices inside so guys can train even when it’s raining.”
We finished off the tour by walking through the executive offices. “We employ about 350 persons here at the race shop plus an additional 50 at Penske Technology Group up the road. It’s a pretty big operation,” is how Datré summed it up.
Although the top three NASCAR series are far less sophisticated than, let's say, Formula 1, the passion, attention to details and amazing craftsmanship are common qualities to succeed in both.
Penske Racing is located on Penske Way, a few miles northeast of Mooresville. The huge complex hides from the road on a vast, 105-acre property. A discreet “Penske Racing” sign on the side of the small, winding road is the only indicator that you have arrived.
Our guide was Gregory Datré, who usually works in the marketing department at Penske Racing.
“Previously, we had Penske Cars located in Poole, UK, the CART race team based in Reading, Pennsylvania, and Penske Racing South, the NASCAR organization, based in North Carolina. Nowadays, everything is housed here with the exception of Penske Racing Engines and our wind tunnel and vehicle dynamics rig sited at Penske Technology Group on Knob Hill Road in Mooresville,” Datré told us.
 |
| Photo: Philippe Champoux/Auto123.com |
The two buildings here were once home to the Matsushita Compressor Corp. of America. Matsushita operated the manufacturing plant for a decade, but then vacated it.
After acquiring the property in June 2004, two construction crews were assigned to the project in seven-day-a-week shifts. The main building's interior was gutted and a major facelift began.
Within six months, the race team's administrative department and chassis shop started relocating to the new racing campus. By March 2005, the NASCAR teams' move had been completed. Today, Penske Racing fields cars in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series as well as IndyCar.
Fans have the opportunity to visit the race shop for free. They first enter the gift shop and then step up to the mezzanine that is 331 feet long. From the second floor, visitors see the garage floor where the final steps of the assembly take place. The sub-assemblies, engines, transmissions and brakes are put together in small units that cannot be seen.
We walked toward the end of the garage alley, where the Sprint Cup cars of Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were being prepped for the next race. On the right is the engineering department where the cars and parts are being developed using computer stations.
In the shock absorbers area, the dampers are assembled and tested before they are installed on the race cars.
“The electric and electronic department works for both our NASCAR and IndyCar teams. It also handles the maintenance of the data acquisition systems. The guys do the wiring looms, the updates on the IndyCar steering wheels, and more,” Datré explained. “The machine shop is filled with Mazak CNC machines that are computer driven. They manufacture all the components made of metal, be it aluminum, titanium, magnesium or other.”
“The NASCAR chassis shop is where these are produced. One team builds the chassis from steel tubes while another team handles the front end. There’s a third group that works the steering components, the trailing arms, the spindles, the suspension bits, the brakes and other stuff,” our guide said.
“Superspeedway Department”. Yes, there’s a department entirely devoted to the fabrication of the superspeedway cars. These are the machines that usually run at speeds in excess of 200 mph and for which aerodynamics play a crucial role.
All non-superspeedway cars are manufactured in the other section of the shop. “We can build multiple cars simultaneously since we have six surface plates. Each car is built by a team of three or four fabricators. It takes between eight to ten days to build a car from a tube chassis. As you can see, all metal sheet panels are made by hand. And then, in the final assembly department, the guys install the cooling elements, radiator, electronics, tail pipes, spoiler, windshield and other stuff,” our guide told us.
Afterwards, the cars receive paint in the body shop. “We have six cabins and this place is so busy with the NASCAR and IndyCar programs that we need to have general managers to oversee the planning of the paint shop. We paint not only the cars but also all the pit equipment, tool boxes, golf carts, refuelling tanks and more,” he said.
The NASCAR and IndyCar pit crews can practice pit stops inside the shop, at the front end of the huge storage department. “The guys practice two days a week. They train in the fitness room and they can count on a pit crew coordinator. We do the practices inside so guys can train even when it’s raining.”
We finished off the tour by walking through the executive offices. “We employ about 350 persons here at the race shop plus an additional 50 at Penske Technology Group up the road. It’s a pretty big operation,” is how Datré summed it up.
Although the top three NASCAR series are far less sophisticated than, let's say, Formula 1, the passion, attention to details and amazing craftsmanship are common qualities to succeed in both.
Article Gallery