MOMENTUM - September 2023 - 34

SAE NEWS
" SAE helped me get my dream job "
Hendrick Motorsports' Alba Colon shares career insights at WCX
ALBA COLON DIDN'T ALWAYS WANT TO
WORK IN MOTORSPORTS. In fact, she had her
sights set much higher - atmospherically
speaking.
As a young girl growing up in Puerto Rico,
Colon aspired to be an astronaut, following in
the footsteps of her hero Sally Ride.
" I wanted to be the first female Puerto Rican
astronaut, " Colon told a crowd at SAE
International's WCX in April.
Her dreams led her to the University of
Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, where she studied
Mechanical Engineering and first became
acquainted with SAE International.
" In 1990, I was reading an SAE magazine
article about Formula SAE. I wrote to SAE and
about a month later got information back on
the program, " Colon said.
Colon and four male classmates got to work
on building their Formula car, and from that
moment on, she was hooked. She spent the
next four years participating in and taking on
leadership roles with Formula SAE, leading to
connections with General Motors (GM) where
she worked for years as a Data Acquisition
Engineer for the GM Motorsports Program and
eventually becoming NASCAR General Manager
at GM in 2001.
In her time at GM, Colon had the chance to
work with racing greats, including NASCAR
legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. She was content to
spend the rest of her career there until one day
when she got a call from none other than famed
NASCAR team-owner Rick Hendrick, asking her
to be a part of his high-performing Hendrick
Motorsports team. Colon accepted the role as
Director of Competition Systems at Hendrick in
2018 where she leads a team of engineers who
carry out digital simulations, studying and
tracking performance and analyzing data to
share with the track engineers and crew chiefs.
Colon detailed the demanding schedule of a
NASCAR Cup Series racing team, and the
multiple parts that come together to make a
Sunday race day happen, for the crowd at WCX.
The work starts at 7 a.m. on Monday morning
with a car evaluation to kick off daily meetings
about vehicle status. The week includes quality
control checks, tearing apart and rebuilding
engines, and testing and analyzing
34 September 2023
Alba Colon has been a Formula SAE volunteer since she left the program as a student
participant.
aerodynamics and other driving factors before sending the car off on Friday,
after which engineers continue communication with the on-track team
throughout the weekend until race time, when they get ready to start it all
again.
" Racing is my life and I love what I do, but racing is a life that takes from
you seven days a week - that's your whole life and that's your family, " Colon
said.
And as racing and the team environment inspires Colon, she also finds it
important to pay that inspiration forward. She's an active volunteer with
Formula SAE to this day, and an advocate for women and people of color to
enter STEM spaces. Her volunteer efforts even landed her close to her
childhood hero, Sally Ride, when she had the opportunity to serve as a teacher
at an event in Michigan for young girls hosted by Ride herself.
" It was the best day of my life. I got to meet my idol, " Colon recalled.
As she looks to the future, Colon emphasized the need that Hendrick and
SAE International have for each other when it comes to developing technology
and standards. Colon shared how valuable it has been for her to network with
professionals at SAE events and encouraged the crowd to " get out of the
bubble " and see what's out there. n
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MOMENTUM - September 2023

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