IUPUI Motorsports Students Get “Dream” Internships with IRL, Champ Car

IUPUI mechanical engineering technology student Mike Sheridan is a summer intern with Panther Racing. Shown is the Panther team’s Indy 500 car.

INDIANAPOLIS – Four students from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) will serve summer internships in the major leagues of motorsports.

Enrollment in the university’s Motorsports Technology Certificate program in the School of Engineering & Technology has opened the door for these students to work with the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series.

Mike Sheridan, a junior in mechanical engineering technology – who will also be one of the first IUPUI students to graduate with the new motorsports certificate – has been placed as a summer intern with Panther Racing, one of the top IRL teams. Sheridan has been learning the ropes as a member of the IRL team since April, working as a mechanic on the team’s car and doing data acquisition in the pit lane during Indy 500 practice and qualifying runs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was in the pits when driver Vitor Meira put the Panther entry on the second row during Indy qualifying last weekend.

“This is a dream opportunity, to be working as an intern on a major race team while finishing my education at IUPUI,” Sheridan said. “I can’t believe everything I’m getting to learn and see.”

Three other IUPUI students will work as summer interns with the Champ Car World Series. Mike Armbrester, a mechanical engineering master’s degree student; Josh Cullins, a mechanical engineering technology junior; and Griffin Randal, also a mechanical engineering technology student, are all working for Champ Car Director of Technology Scot Elkins.

Armbrester described the Champ Car internship: “It seems that I will be exposed to a fairly wide slice of the Champ Car pie, including technical inspection, race control, data acquisition, safety studies, wind tunnel testing, and perhaps much more, all with an eye towards preparing myself for a job with a (racing) team at some later point.”

In addition to the internship, IUPUI offers a series of motorsports-related classes and projects, said Professor Pete Hylton, head of the motorsports program. In one ongoing project, mechanical engineering technology students design and build a race car for eventual competition in the Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing division.