Style Crest recently had the opportunity to provide skirting for a model manufactured home featured by the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association at the Autotrader 400 NASCAR race. The collab got us thinking about some of the things manufactured homes have in common with NASCAR – and some ways that a manufactured home and a stock car are very different.
First, the similarities:
In Stock & Ready to Use
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- Because it’s been around for so long most of us probably don’t remember that NASCAR is an acronym. It stands for North American Stock Car Auto Racing. What exactly is a “stock car”? The original vision of NASCAR was that participants were racing “in stock” cars – the same cars that you could find in stock at a dealership. In the same way, a manufactured home is factory-built and comes off an incredibly sophisticated assembly line to a dealer’s lot ready for you to live in.
Built to a Higher Standard
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- While NASCAR may have initially been intended to feature the same cars you could pick up at the dealership down the street, today’s race cars are highly specialized machines with incredible amounts of technology and safety features. They’re also closely inspected before every race to ensure compliance with a stringent set of rules. In the same way, manufactured homes are constructed to HUD code for safety, durability, and consistent compliance with exacting standards that in many cases surpasses the local building code that site-built construction must meet.
A Need for Speed
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- Drivers at a NASCAR race can reach speeds close to 200 miles an hour. Compared to the construction time for site-built homes, manufactured homes can make it from the initial order to move-in day like a NASCAR zooming past a lawnmower.
Now, let’s talk about what’s different between a NASCAR race car and a manufactured home?
Comfort Levels
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- One is quite comfortable. The other…not so much. Manufactured homes feature modern and efficient HVAC systems to ensure a comfortable year-round indoor temperature. In contrast, NASCAR drivers endure temperatures in excess of 100 degrees…and with no air conditioning!
Clear Differentiation
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- It’s tough to tell one apart. The other, there are thousands of options. NASCAR needs numbers or colorful sponsor logos to be able to discern one car from the next. And even then, the race broadcast often adds graphics to point out who’s who. But the days of little to no customization in manufactured housing are long gone, replaced by a great deal of choice in architectural style, home features, colors and design & finish.
Greater choice isn’t just for new homes but can completely change the look and feel of an existing home. For instance, Style Crest offers over 120 varieties of Caliber Doors, each of which are paintable or stainable to an endless number of combinations.
Durability Prioritization
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- One may not make it through the afternoon. The other is built for the long run. NASCAR teams have multimillion-dollar budgets to allow for inevitable crashes and mechanical failures. There are even parts of a NASCAR’s body designed to detach and fly off as soon as the car gets in trouble. Compare that to modern innovations in manufactured homes like Valor Vinyl Skirting.
Valor’s unique locking mechanism is engineered to hold panels tightly together through wind and is constructed with durable vinyl built to defend against weed eater damage.
When you stack it all up, a NASCAR race is an absolute blast to visit… but you wouldn’t want to live there!
Thanks to everyone at Autotrader 400 and the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association for a great time and the wonderful hospitality. We’d love to return the favor – stop by and visit Otis and his team at our Atlanta branch anytime!