Petty Enterprises has donated two racecars to the Virginia Tech Foundation for use with mechanical engineering graduate students pursuing degrees at the premier motorsports research facility, VIPER Services, located at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Halifax County. VIPER (Virginia Institute for Performance Engineering and Research) is one of four mechanical engineering/motorsports-related research labs affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, an outreach effort of Virginia Tech in partnership with the local community.

Virginia Tech Foundation Chief Operating Officer Ray Smoot noted, “Petty Enterprises has been a great economic engine for the region for a long time. This donation to the Virginia Tech Foundation for the VIPER motorsports lab in Southside advances a research program that will further strengthen the area’s economic development. We are delighted.”

The Petty decision was prompted by the Nextel Cup’s move to the Car of Tomorrow in 2008, necessitating the retirement of standard-model racecars following the final Ford 400 Nextel Cup Series race last November. As a result, most of the cup cars were relegated to driver development programs or were sold to ARCA teams for pennies on the dollar. However, Petty Enterprises chose to donate some of their cars to engineering programs designed to produce future racing engineers.

Petty Enterprises General Manager Robbie Loomis noted in an ESPN.com article that the first donation would be to Virginia Tech for use at VIPER Services, primarily due to the research already underway there with a well-known motorsports team. Said Loomis, “In this sport we need an area where we can groom and shape engineers to really fit the racing model. There always seems to be a disconnect between the book engineer and the actual applications engineer at the racetrack. So we hope we can bring that together for the future."

VIPER Director Steve Southward couldn’t agree more. Said Southward, “We are thrilled to have the racecars in the lab for hands-on experience. Working with these cars on our eight-post shaker rig allows our students to put what they learned about chassis engineering in class into practice in a way that leads to real know-how.” The VIPER eight-post shaker rig (VIPER 8 Post) tests vehicular suspension systems and is the only one of its kind in North America for commercial testing.

The IALR program in mechanical engineering has attracted thirteen graduate students to its Southside location since the program began in the fall of 2005. The graduate student connection may be another reason why Petty donated the cars to VIPER. Two former Virginia Tech mechanical engineering students have worked for Petty Enterprises in the past, according to Team Manager Jerry Freeze, who said he hopes that Petty Enterprises, “will be able to benefit from more talent [from Virginia Tech] in the future.” VIPER’s Steve Southward is counting on Petty and other racing teams to hire graduates from the program he and his colleagues are building in the region.

 In addition to the VIPER 8 Post, VIPER offers cutting-edge test equipment including a shock dynamometer, and a driving simulator. VIPER is uniquely positioned to provide the latest in vehicle performance engineering through technology advancements with its research partners: Virginia Tech, focusing on suspensions and drivers; Old Dominion University, focusing on aerodynamics and power train systems; and the Virginia International Raceway (VIR), a leading vehicle performance center.