Kulwicki Family Donate $1.9 Million to UNC-Charlotte

Thelma Kulwicki, the stepmother of late NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki announced yesterday she has established a $1.9 million trust fund to benefit the UNC-Charlotte engineering program. According to NASCAR, this is the biggest donation ever made to the school which produces about 10 percent of NASCAR engineers.

"This was something Alan was very proud of and for him it ranked right up there with all his victories," Thelma Kulwicki said when announcing the trust fund. "Alan was a firm believer in the inherent value of education, and his academic experiences helped him to overcome some big odds and achieve great things."

In return for the substantial donation, UNC decided to rename the current research laboratory and call it Alan D. Kulwicki Motorsports Laboratory. This is not the only donation announced by the Kulwick family, as they will also donate $630,000 to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where the "Polish Prince" received his mechanical engineering degree in 1977.

"He succeeded through his entrepreneurial, technical and leadership skills [and] at UWM, we strive to impart those same qualities in our students today," Michael Lovell, the dean of engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee told NASCAR.

Alan Kulwicki began his career as most soon-to-be racers, did, racing kart from age 13. He moved on and became the 1992 Winston Cup championship by what was at the time the closest margin in NASCAR history.

He died one year later, in a plane crash. To honor him, his race car was slowly moved around the track, in what Kyle Petty described as being the "saddest thing on a racetrack".