Want a career in NASCAR racing? Study hard.

PIT's founder, Breon Klopp, estimates that 55 to 60 percent of his graduates find jobs with racing teams, and many alumni will be changing tires and refueling at races this weekend. Some of those alumni come back to teach at PIT during the week.

"We like that," Klopp said. "It inspires the new kids."

In NASCAR, speed is money. Every second that a race car spends in the pits translates to roughly a half mile lost on the race track, so that a pit crew performing one second faster than a competing crew can give its driver a half-mile advantage. A few fast pit stops can make the difference between first place and fifth. In terms of dollars earned, that's a million-dollar difference at some of NASCAR's larger races.

But until recently, says Klopp, there was a lack of training and physical and mental conditioning among pit crews. So the former football trainer transferred practices from the football field to the racing world, and he frequently uses football analogies. "We're trying to develop players," he says.

The school offers a basic eight-week program, Pit Crew U, followed by an optional advanced-level course, called "5 Off 5 On: Race Team Performance." The term "5 off 5 on" refers to a tire-changer's duty: Five lug nuts come off, five go on.

In a testament to the school's success, PIT now has a contract to train the pit crew of NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, and the pit crews of other NASCAR racing teams visit regularly to cherry pick the best students.

On a recent afternoon, Petty's crew leaped off a two-foot concrete wall as a 3,400-pound car screeched to a halt. In a flurry of whirring wrenches and flying lug nuts, the seven-man crew changed four tires and simulated a fuel refill in 14 seconds.

At NASCAR Institute of Technology (NIT), which opened in 2002 and resides in the same business park as PIT, students can study for anywhere from 48 to 78 weeks, with tuition ranging between $23,550 and $34,600. They learn how to build and maintain race cars and engines from instructors who are required to have worked for NASCAR.

The growth of NASCAR training facilities isn't limited to Charlotte.

Other Southern schools are adding new courses in mechanical engineering, aerodynamics, and even tire and rubber technology. Old Dominion University in Hampton, Va., recently began offering a motorsports-technology degree. And in January, the Virginia Motorsports Technology Center opened in Henry County, with a 50,000-square-foot, $1.2 million facility funded by Gov. Mark Warner's Motorsports Initiative, designed to boost the motorsports industry in his state. The center, which is near Martinsville Speedway, will house companies that build race cars and engines and will link with a new advanced motorsports curriculum at Patrick Henry Community College.

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