Burke Motorsports

‘Graduate Degree track’ offered in Motorsports!

Modified Press Release

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University and Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) are partnering again, this time by designing a unique “graduate track” in Motorsport Operations within the Sport Management concentration in the Department of Kinesiology, Leisure and Sport Sciences.

The department in ETSU’s Claudius G. Clemmer College of Education is offering four new motorsport-specific graduate courses in what may be the only program of its kind in the United States, according to department chair Dr. Kevin L. Burke.

“We are very pleased to partner with our neighbor, Bristol Motor Speedway, in offering these new graduate courses to better prepare our students to enter the business end of motorsports,” Dr. Burke said.

Specifically, the new graduate courses are Motorsport Operations, Applied Motorsport Marketing, Public Relations and Mass Media in Motorsport, and Financial Management and Sponsorship in Motorsport.

In addition, guest speakers will be invited from Bristol Motor Speedway and Dragway, and field experience options will be offered at BMS as well as other motorsport locations.

The university and BMS initially forged an academic Motorsport Operations Partnership in the spring of 2004 and the public announcement of that initiative featured the special ETSU motorsport operations logo showcased on the hood and side panels of a bright yellow official BMS pace car.

As part of the endeavor, a March 2005 symposium on “Careers in NASCAR” was held at the famous track in Bristol and included an opportunity for student participants from 15 colleges and universities in five states to observe an afternoon Busch practice session with all of the BMS operations in full swing for the upcoming race.

This latest collaboration of these two major entities promises to offer even more benefits to the participating ETSU graduate students as they join a growing number of ETSU alumni who are already working in the motorsport field. ETSU alums hold a variety of positions with Motor Racing Network Inc., BMS, Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR, Morgan-McClure Motorsports, MRN Radio, Penske Racing South, ESPN, Roush Racing, NASCAR Scene magazine and others.

For more information on the new ETSU graduate track in Motorsport Operations, contact Dr. Burke at (423) 439-4362 or burkek@etsu.edu. Other information is available on the departmental Web site : Motorsport Graduate Program