Piercy awarded Kulwicki Memorial Scholarship

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Matthew Piercy is the 2012 recipient of the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Scholarship awarded by the Lee College of Engineering.

The Conover native will receive the honor formally during a presentation at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, Oct. 12, prior to the running of the Dollar General 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

During a high school career at St. Stephens High, Piercy won the Award of Academic Excellence all four years, was a junior marshal and won the Scholar Athlete Award. He was in the Beta Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and National Technical Honor Society.

Piercy’s racing interests include driving Limited Late Model and Late Model stock cars at Hickory Motor Speedway. In 2011, he placed third in the Limited season championship with four wins, seven second place finishes and nine poles. In 2010, he placed fourth in the Limited season point championship with nine top five finishes.

After graduating Piercy would like to work in the race industry as a team engineer and eventually work his way up to become a NASCAR crew chief.

“I’m a driven and passionate racer, much like Kulwicki,” stated Piercy. “I believe I will represent the scholarship in a manner that directly relates to what Alan Kulwicki stood for. This scholarship will aid me in getting an engineering education that will further my knowledge of racecars and the physics of how they work.”

With the premiere motorsports engineering program in the country, UNC Charlotte attracts top students from throughout the United States. The Lee College of Engineering has strong ties with many of the race teams in the Charlotte area, and UNC Charlotte engineering graduates can be found on numerous NASCAR teams.