HAMLET — With NASCAR making its long-awaited return to Rockingham Speedway, it seems fitting that Richmond Community College accepted a bid for the construction of the future Hendrick Center for Automotive Training.
The RichmondCC Board of Trustees on Tuesday awarded the contract to Hoss Contracting, based in Wingate.
According to Wylie Bell, director of marketing and communications, Hoss also built the college’s cafe and renovated the Lee Building. The company was also one of several contractors to bid last year on renovating the future county public services building.
The price tag on the construction: $4,231,700.
Funding for the center comes from a variety of sources, including $1.5 million from a state budget allocation and contributions from the Richmond Community College Foundation, the Richmond Community Foundation and the Cole Foundation.
Groundbreaking for the project is expected to be within the next few months, and completion is planned for the fall of 2026.
The Hendrick Center was first announced in June of 2022, but Dr. Dale McInnis, then president of the college, said the conversation started three years prior.
Auto magnate Rick Hendrick previously partnered with Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte two decades ago to start the Joe Hendrick Center for Automotive Technology, named — as is the pit garage at the Rock — in honor of his late father.
Since that program started, Hendrick said his company had hired 600 students as of 2022.
The college’s workforce training certificate for automotive technician will take weeks, instead of years, to obtain.
