Forget The Great Books, Now You Can Study The Motorsports Business At This College

Homer and Shakespeare can ride within the back seat at Northwood University in Michigan, a university that is already heavily invested in an auto-industry curriculum. This fall, the college is adding a motorsports-focused workshop to its catalog, and in fall 2026, a whole class on “Fundamentals of Motorsports” will go live. From the university’s press release (hat tip to The Drive for first reporting on this):

“Spanning Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar, World Rally, MotoGP, World Superbike, AMA Motocross and Supercross, in addition to a bunch of other racing organizations, the motorsports industry is a world business that blends innovation, sponsorship, media, and technology — and Northwood is uniquely positioned to arrange students for business roles inside this exciting sector,” explained Dr. David Oventhal, Subaru of Recent England Professor of Automotive Strategy at Northwood University.

These truthfully sound like pretty fun classes. Northwood is a college that concentrates on preparing students for business careers and, being in Michigan, is all-in on automotive. The university already has a Center for Automotive and Mobility Studies, and the brand new motorsports curriculum will join several established undergraduate programs.

Before you complain that this sort of academic training is much too specific, consider that the auto industry is, well, not like other businesses. And by “not like,” I mean utterly and completely unique. The role of motorsports inside it’s just another aspect of that utter and complete uniqueness. It is going to definitely profit, say, firms involved with IndyCar racing if recent graduates can come to roles with some rudimentary understanding of how the business works.

After I was first exposed to the auto industry’s business side within the early 2000s, it took me several years simply to determine product cycles and the way dealerships were structured in relation to the massive carmakers. When the financial crisis hit and the complete industry was upended, it will have been nice if as a journalist I had possessed higher technical knowledge of how credit fuels the business. There isn’t a Khan Academy for these items, so if I were an aspiring automotive scrivener today, I’d perhaps take a take a look at Northwood’s offerings. But I might also note that Northwood is amazingly dedicated to free enterprise, going thus far as to embed the concept in its overall identity and pitch to students, and the college has a conservative/libertarian bent.

Northwood is not an enormous name in business education outside the Midwest, but that may be a bonus here. Detroit stays the middle of the U.S. auto industry. And even if you happen to wind up pursuing a profession in some far-flung corner of the globe — perhaps as a part of the roving Formula 1 circus — if as a collegian you already know that the automobile business is the correct business for you, Northwood’s embrace of practical education is smart.

I’ve taught business students at two big universities, where students are typically prepared by studying some broad fundamentals. That is great in case your plan is to pursue entry-level corporate life or prepare for a prestige MBA, sampling a number of different industries along the way in which. But if you happen to already know that the automobile business is your bag, and moreover if you happen to love motorsports but have not the slightest notion of the way it operates, then Northwood’s classes could possibly be your ticket.