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Wheels in Motion
Letter from the Editor
by Drew Ruble
As University editor, it seems everywhere I turn, I see the impact of MTSU on middle Tennessee and beyond. Even to the stars.
This edition of MTSU magazine is filled with yet more examples, including profiles of MTSU’s reach into two of the state’s signature commodities—music and whiskey—as well as one of the most-talked-about landscapes of 2021, the planet Mars.
Another example will soon take shape. MTSU’s involvement in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix IndyCar race, set to take place in downtown Nashville Aug. 6–8, will be the latest and greatest example of MTSU’s continued impact on the region.
A global lineup of drivers—including Hendersonville native Josef Newgarden, who won the circuit in 2019, and former NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson—will race through city streets in single-seat cars with 2.2-liter, twinturbocharged, direct-injected, V-6 engines optimized to run at 12,000 RPM, with an estimated 500-700 horsepower.
Undergoing a truly visceral experience, over 100,000 fans lining the course will feel the power and energy of race cars rush over them along familiar Music City streets more associated with honky-tonks and pedal taverns than Indy cars. The temporary track, or street circuit, weaves past Nissan Stadium (home of the NFL Tennessee Titans), over the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge (a memorable new look for the international sport), and into downtown.
What does all this have to do with MTSU? Well, there is sure to be an occasional crash at the new IndyCar race in Nashville. And when that happens, racers will strike cushioned concrete barriers made of environmentally conscious mixes that were developed in partnership with MTSU’s first-of-its-kind Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program—its students, faculty, and alumni.
In the months prior to the event, MTSU concrete experts—including alumni Travis Jarrett (’05) and Frank Bowen (’14) with Jarrett Concrete Products, a precast concrete facility in Ashland City—filled thousands of debris fence panel and concrete barrier molds for the 2.17-mile downtown course layout.
Hands-on learning experiences for MTSU students were created through internships and manufacturing relationships for the material science program.
But, even aside from the IndyCar partnership, the CIM program’s profile is clearly rising. Gov. Bill Lee provided funding in the state’s 2020–21 budget for a new $40.1 million building to house MTSU’s School of Concrete and Construction Management, and a groundbreaking was held in April. Targeted for completion in August 2022, the new lab and classroom building will feature examples of the many ways concrete can be used in construction.
You might say the program’s partnership with the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix is just the latest True Blue example of MTSU’s relevance—and where the rubber meets the road.
MTSU's future Concrete and Construction Management building, now under construction
