It's unlikely auto-racing fans will see Green Berets driving muscled Hummers on NASCAR tracks or that soldiers will get racing Fords in Afghanistan, but the North Carolina motorsports industry and the Army's Special Operations Command have signed an agreement to find out what each can teach the other, officials announced Saturday.
The plan is to explore technologies that will work for both the military and the racing business while benefiting the state's economy.
Maj. Gen. John F. Mulholland Jr., commander of the Special Operations Command based at Fort Bragg; NASCAR President Mike Helton and Gov. Bev Perdue announced the agreement at a news conference at Daytona Motor Speedway in Florida.
North Carolina officials say the motorsports and defense sectors are worth $30 billion to the state's economy.
Special Operations forces fighters always want "innovative methods to make our operators more effective, and the amazing technologies developed by N.C. motorsports companies have direct applications to the many complex problems we face," Mulholland said in a statement.
Like the Army's special operators, he added, "people who work at this level of the motorsports industry are constantly seeking to improve their performance - to dominate the competition - under the most extreme conditions."
The signatories to the memorandum of agreement are the N.C. Department of Commerce, the N.C. Military Foundation, the N.C. Motorsports Advisory Council and USASOC Mobility. Perdue called it a "historic partnership" that will have "worldwide implications."
The agreement lists some of the areas that both the Army and racing teams may explore: engine performance, fuel, driver's visibility and awareness of what's going on around the vehicle, blast modeling and simulation, protective systems, flame resistance and garment protection, and driver training.
Racing involves making cars lighter, faster, more durable or safer, said Derek Chen, director of motorsports development for the state Commerce Department.
"A lot of the technologies that put us at the forefront in racing, we can apply much of that technology in a form that a lot of our war fighters are using," Chen said.
For example, military vehicles have been weighed down over the years with more equipment and more armor to protect them from roadside bombs, said LanceDeSpain, executive director of the N.C. Military Foundation, which helped broker the deal.
Motorsports companies can build lighter, stronger seats and better suspension systems, he said. They not only have the knowledge the Army needs about vehicles, but can also work quickly, he said.
"The way it works today, there's no modeling or simulations for these vehicles," DeSpain said. "It's as old-fashioned as you can imagine. I have a problem, it takes three to four years to get a solution. Then you take it to the desert, say it still doesn't work. ... That model doesn't work for the Special Forces at all. It's just way too slow."
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has budgeted $11 billion for spending on new vehicles, maintenance and research and development, Chen said.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said her office secured early funding to help develop the partnership.
"This valuable partnership links two of North Carolina's largest and most important industries," Hagan said in a statement.
The deal means a motorsports company in Concord, for example, would have the same or better inside information than giant military manufacturers like Lockheed or General Dynamics. That gives them the inside track when it comes time to bid on military contracts, DeSpain said.
The memorandum of agreement among Special Operations, the Commerce Department, the military foundation and the N.C. Motorsports Advisory Council calls for the Special Forces officials to meet at least quarterly with motorsports companies.
"It is really an extraordinary thing for the Special Forces to share their problems with someone,"DeSpain said.
Perdue created the N.C. Motorsports Advisory Council a little more than two years ago. The council, comprised of 15 to 30 members, develops policy recommendations to strengthen the racing industry in the state.
Perdue established the N.C. Military Foundation in 2006 when she was lieutenant governor. The nonpartisan, nonprofit economic development organization focuses on the state's defense and homeland security economy.
In 2009, the foundation released an analysis of the state's strong points in industry, academia and research and development and how it coincides with emerging military and homeland security needs. According to a statement released by Perdue's office Saturday, cooperation between the military and motorsports sectors has increased significantly since then and led to the agreement, which was signed last month and announced Saturday.
The Associated Press and staff writer Matt Garfield contributed to this report.
