Program gets national press

BELMONT, N.C. -- A small Gaston County college landed on the front page of Thursday’s Wall Street Journal for a class that is believed to be the only one of its kind in the country.

Belmont Abbey launched its motorsports management program in January 2006 and immediately attracted interest from students across the nation.

“I’m surprised at where they have come from,” said Tracy Rishel, the business professor who now instructs about 25 students every semester in topics related to racing management.

Rishel said she had anticipated most of the students to come from the Southeast, largely viewed as the heart of “NASCAR Country.”

Nic Moncher, a junior from Sandusky, Ohio, said he transferred to Belmont Abbey from another college that offered a less-specific degree in sports management.

Moncher said he was surprised when he learned the Wall Street Journal was planning a story about his class.

“That was about the last paper I thought that was going to come interview us,” he said. “It’s a big honor, though.”

The college, which is largely influenced by Benedictine monks, decided to offer courses in motorsports at the urging of Humpy Wheeler, the general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway and a Belmont Abbey trustee.

Wheeler also attended a prep school run by Belmont Abbey in the 1950s.