Recognition of Alan Kulwicki’s contributions to motorsports will extend to new facilities and scholarship programs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

UNCC Chancellor Philip L. Dubois hosted a media session this morning at the Lowes Motor Speedway and announced that the late drivers stepmother, Thelma H. Kulwicki, created a trust fund that will benefit the Motorsports Engineering program in the William States Lee College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Sciences.  This is the program that has produced highly specialized motorsports engineers, responsible for roughly 10 percent of the engineers in the NASCAR realm and many programs outside of it.  The gift commitment is considered the largest individual gift ever received by the engineering school, at $1.9 million.

The existing motorsports research laboratory at the campus will be renamed the Alan D. Kulwicki Motorsports Laboratory in honor of the 1992 champion, and a new motorsports engineering facility will be added, while student scholarships will also be supported by the fund.

Michael Lovell, dean of UWM’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, was proud to receive an additional $630,000 gift to Kulwicki’s alma mater that would also aid scholarships and allow the creation of the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Student Center at that university’s engineering building.

Lovell credited Kulwicki’s success and status as a role model to his entrepreneurial, technical and leadership skills.  "At UWM, we strive to impart those same qualities in our students today. Alan’s legacy and his connection to UWM still resonate deeply with our students."

Paul Andrews was on hand at the UNCC announcement to relate his feelings about earning a championship with Kulwicki.  Until Kulwicki’s championship, no premier NASCAR series champion had been a college graduate.

Thelma Kulwicki related that Alan was very proud of this accomplishment and for him it ranked up there with all his victories.  She also noted how much current motorsports engineering students have in common with her son, whose degree was awarded in 1977 from UWM.

Lee College of Engineering Dean Bob Johnson received credit from Dubois for creating the UNCC’s program in 1998.  Currently we have nearly 100 students enrolled in the program, Johnson said, touching on the experience student’s gain in various levels of racing, from drag racing to design-and-build teams such as Formula SAE and Mini Baja, along with the management, scheduling, fabrication and teamwork disciplines each student benefits from.

Each of the two schools is the largest in their metropolitan region.

“Alan was a firm believer in the inherent value of education, and his academic experiences helped him to overcome some big odds and achieve great things,” said Thelma Kulwicki.

MORE NASCAR NEWS