Colon
brings more than expertise to engineering role for Hendrick
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[June 15, 2018]
Alba Colon never fulfilled her
childhood dream of becoming an astronaut -- and probably won't.
In a career that took a dramatic turn when she was studying
engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Colon spent 23 years
at General Motors before signing on as director of competition
systems at Hendrick Motorsports this year.
"I wanted to emulate Sally Ride, the first female U.S. astronaut,"
Colon acknowledged in an exclusive interview with the NASCAR Wire
Service. "I wanted to be the first Puerto Rican astronaut and the
first female Puerto Rican astronaut."
That desire got sidetracked when a professor enlisted her help with
a solar car project, and her interest in vehicle engineering was
sparked.
"I went to mechanical engineering school because I wanted to be an
astronaut, but I fell in love with cars in the process," Colon said.
Born in Salamanca, Spain, Colon grew up in Puerto Rico and attended
the Mayaguez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. The solar car
project led to Colon's building and exhibiting Formula SAE cars --
and that eventually led to a job at General Motors, where she rose
through the ranks to manage Chevrolet's motorsports program.
Then came the chance to work for team owner Rick Hendrick.
"I had been with General Motors for 23 years, and everything was
great," Colon said, "but this opportunity came to be, and it's one
of those opportunities that's once-in-a-lifetime, working with a
group that I had admired for many, many years -- especially with an
owner like Mr. Hendrick.
"They're in a stage where they're trying to make some changes, and,
like I said, the opportunity came to be, and it's one of those
things that may only come once in a lifetime. So you need to jump at
great opportunities when you have them in front of you."
Hendrick felt the same way about his new director of competition
systems, and so did the rest of the organization.
"She's just such a terrific person, a smart engineer," Hendrick
said. "She has her ear to the ground. In life, and especially in
engineering, you have some super smart people, but they don't know
how to communicate. They are smart, but they don't know how to talk
to each other.

"Alba can pull that out of anybody. She is so good at communication
with the people. She's got all that experience from GM, but she's
worked with our teams, so she can connect the aero and the
engineers, and she can float between all of those people.
"I can't tell you how happy I am that she's part of the company,
because she is so talented and so smart. Everybody respects her.
When we mentioned her name, everybody said, 'Man, if you can get
Alba. ...'"
Moving from Michigan to North Carolina was more of a culture shock
than Colon thought it would be. The corporate culture was different
as well.
"It's a complete cultural change in terms of companies," she said.
"I come from a company that has 200,000 employees to a company
that's way, way smaller than that (500-plus employees).
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"So, of course, it's a cultural shock. It's a different experience,
a different climate, a different everything. I almost felt like I
did when I left Puerto Rico and came to Michigan. It's like I'm
leaving everything again 23 years later."
It's also a different side of the competitive equation. Once tasked
with helping all Chevrolet teams, Colon is now focused on preserving
the preeminence of Hendrick Motorsports, which won 12 Monster Energy
NASCAR Cup Series championships during her tenure with General
Motors.
Colon's charges now include the teams of seven-time champion Jimmie
Johnson, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Sunoco Rookie of the Year
contender William Byron.

"Honestly, now I'm working with four teams, where in the past, I was
working with many, many organizations," Colon said. "I need to
concentrate on four specific teams, drivers, crew chiefs and so on,
instead of working with many, like I did in the past. So that has
been the biggest change for me."
Colon came to Hendrick Motorsports during a time of change within
the sport, too. NASCAR introduced new vehicle inspection technology
this year -- the Optical Scanning Station -- and Chevrolet
introduced a new race car, the Camaro ZL1.
From a performance standpoint, there have been some growing pains
with the new entry.
"Like any other car, when you have a new vehicle, you take some time
trying to learn about it," Colon said. "We learn something new every
day, and that's the beauty of what we're doing, just learning and
getting better every day.
"There are many new rules and a brand new car, and sometimes it
takes a bit longer than expected. But, trust me, we're working hard
every day to make our cars better and better."
Colon may have wanted to become the first female astronaut from
Puerto Rico, but she's certainly not the first female engineer to
achieve an important role in stock car racing. In fact, Colon works
side-by-side with Diane Holl, Hendrick's vehicle engineering
director.
"I truly admire her, and I've worked with her for many years," Colon
said. "She's the director of vehicle engineering, more so on the
aero side, and she's doing a really great job.
"I knew about her, so it's been a pleasure to work with her here.
And we have many other females here in the company that maybe aren't
known to people out there."
Colon has visited family in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of
Hurricane Maria, and she met with students from her alma mater. Her
involvement with the students runs deep.
"For any young aspiring engineer, this took a lot of education, and
this took a lot of work to get here," Colon said. "I'm blessed to be
where I am, and I want to help others to get where I am today."
And to get there with no regrets -- even if it means giving up the
dream of flying into outer space.
--By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level
Media.
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