Racing Renovation

Contractor transforms manufacturing plant into fan-friendly Penske facility

By Debra Wood

Boosting Mooresville, N.C.'s Race City USA moniker, Penske Racing South has renovated a former industrial plant into a multipurpose headquarters and assembly building complete with catwalks and a souvenir shop for fans.

"We are going to have something no one else has, in the industry or anywhere in the world," said Don Miller, president and co-owner of Penske Racing South. "We are going to have a fan-friendly race shop."

Penske Racing fields three NASCAR teams, with drivers Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman and Brendon Gaughan. All three moved into the new complex in early 2005. Penske Racing will sell its other buildings, located about 8 mi. from the new headquarters.

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"We were in three buildings, in three plats with three teams, and that's not good for communication internally," Miller said. "We're trying to give them all space to work. They'll all be working side by side."

Penske Racing bought the former 440,000-sq.-ft. Matsushita air-conditioning compressor plant, which opened in 1991 and closed 10 years later, and spent more than $12 million remodeling about 207,000 sq. ft. of it. The purchase included 110 acres, so Miller said the company will have plenty of room to expand.

Mooresville is also home to Dale Earnhardt Inc., the North Carolina Racing Hall of Fame, the NASCAR Technical Institute and Robert Yates Racing. The city prides itself on its racing roots.

General contractor Choate Construction Co. of Charlotte began demolishing the former plant's interior and renovating the structure in August. Crews worked two shifts, seven days per week to finish by year-end. About 150 people worked onsite each day.

"The schedule was very tight," said Bill Wilder, director of business development for Choate. He added that on Aug. 1, the company possessed only one drawing for the building.

"Speed was an issue," he said. They told us, 'You have to be done by Dec. 31. We're going to be building race cars there for 2005, and the first race is Daytona in February.'"

The ceilings reach 30 ft. high, with embedded fixtures illuminating the work areas. Crews subdivided the space into assembly areas, engineering, a decal shop, three 100-ft.-long spare parts warehousing areas and a transporter truck bay and loading area. Choate removed a portion of the exterior wall to add six overhead doors for the transporters.

"The biggest challenge was to get everything they do under one roof - everything from the chassis-build fabrication to sheet-metal application to painting and part storage in one place," said architect John Corley, president of Black Corley & Owens of Benton, Ark., which has completed a significant amount of work for United Auto Group, owned by Roger Penske. "It's all arranged to flow from one area to another."

Miller described the project as similar to European-style automobile shops and some owned by United Auto Group in the United States, only the new headquarters enjoys a racing edge.

Racecar sponsor Kodak will have its own photo studio and lab in the building to shoot publicity shots. Penske Racing also added a 200-seat employee cafeteria, a 300-seat auditorium where sponsors can hold special events and a gift shop with racing cars on display. The shop also provides elevator and stair access to a glass-enclosed catwalk elevated 12 ft. above the action.

"Fans will be able to walk down that catwalk and watch everything going on inside the race shop," Miller said.

Penske Racing's current shops have 10-ft.-long windows for fans to peer into. But the NASCAR enthusiasts begged for more. The catwalk rests on steel girders and was built like a bridge.

"We did creative structural engineering to have room to put all that in there," Corley said. "We used small spans and smaller columns and closer spaced beams."

Throughout renovations, Penske and Choate remained flexible to new ideas, such as adding 30-ft.-long graphics to the walls that depict racecars. Both companies placed a high priority on safety during the job.

Penske promotes a culture that reinforces safety throughout its operation. Set-up plates and lifts were installed flush with the floor to decrease the risk of falls.

All sections received new heating, air conditioning and electrical wiring. The facility boasts more than one million imported, mocha-colored Italian tiles.

"It's pretty classy all the way around," Miller said. "It's good for our sponsors, it's good for the fans and good for the sport. That's why we are doing it."

Useful Sources:

Penske Racing South
http://www.penskeracing.com

Project Team:

Owner: Penske Racing South, Mooresville, N.C.
General contractor: Choate Construction Co., Charlotte, N.C.
Architect: Black Corley & Owens, Benton, Ark.