Good morning.
I’m certain by now you have seen Jenna Fryer’s AP story from earlier this week about the medical face shield production at the NASCAR R&D center and the various industry efforts to assist the fight against COVID-19. It showcases how some of NASCAR’s engineers have come up with a way to make face shields and protective equipment out of 3D printers at NASCAR’s Research & Technology center in Concord, NC.
Below is the video news that was captured as well as a feature story produced by NASCAR Newswire. There’s plenty of material included to put together a nice broadcast package or an interesting story/column. Hopefully this helps you for some content during these challenging times. Hoping for your safety and health.
Take a look at the below information as well as video B-Roll and interviews about the project.
Since NASCAR announced a postponement of its season on March 13, the auto racing sanctioning body and organizations within its industry are rising to the challenge in the fight against COVID-19. From manufacturing needed medical supplies to donating space, time and resources for various philanthropic causes, the industry has pivoted to do its part in this crisis.
Some examples with assets you can use your coverage:
To assist medical professionals, the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, NC, is using its 3D printers to manufacture face shield parts, then assembling those face shields for NOVANT Health with clear plastic donated by Piedmont Plastic. The R&D Center is also 3D printing human heads for medical professionals to refine protection techniques for COVID-19 caregivers.
- CLICK FOR SOUND FROM THE PROJECT MANAGER, NASCAR SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR AERODYNAMICS ERIC JACUZZI
- CLICK FOR B-ROLL OF THE NASCAR FACE SHIELD PRODUCTION
- CLICK FOR PHOTOS OF THE NASCAR FACE SHIELD PRODUCTION
IMSA team CORE Autosport has retooled its operation to manufacture face masks for medical professionals.
- CLICK FOR SOUND FROM CORE AUTOSPORT TEAM MANAGER MORGAN BRADY
- CLICK HERE FOR CORE AUTOSPORT B-ROLL
Technique, Inc., in Jackson, MI, a supplier of chassis parts for NASCAR teams, has retooled its factory to produce 20,000 face shields per day.
- CLICK FOR SOUND FROM TECHNIQUE, INC., OWNER RONNIE JOHNCOX
- CLICK FOR B-ROLL FROM TECHNIQUE
The Joey Logano Foundation has established a $1 million COVID-19 response and recovery fund in partnership with Elevation Church.
- CLICK FOR SOUND FROM JOEY AND BRITTANY LOGANO (via Twitter)
Matt DiBenedetto and Wood Brothers Racing have donated hundreds of tablets to nursing home residents so they can video chat with their loved ones during this crisis.
- CLICK FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
NASCAR and Scholastic have partnered to provide STEM learning materials for parents to download for use in their home education efforts.
- CLICK FOR THE ASSETS
CLICK HERE FOR A BROADER LIST OF INITIATIVES OCCURING ACROSS OUR SPORT
For more information, photos and graphics to assist your coverage, register and visit NASCARMedia.com.
NASCAR Industry Makes a Difference for COVID-19 Caregivers
April 3, 2020
NASCAR Wire Service
The interruption to the 2020 NASCAR season as our country and the world manages the COVID-19 pandemic has been understandably disappointing and disconcerting for racers, fans, teams and the industry as a whole. But instead of completely retreating during this time of general uncertainty, NASCAR and the racing industry at large have instead responded immediately with exactly the kind of huge pick-me-up that is making a legitimate life-saving difference.
The NASCAR Research & Development Center, located outside Charlotte, has turned its high-tech capabilities into real life medical assistance – manufacturing face shields with its 3D printers and even a prototype human head that Wake Forest doctors and scientists are using to research better treatment supply options.
CORE Autosport, a team in IMSA’s WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, is similarly committed to helping out. Its team shop is manufacturing thousands of facemasks for distribution across the country. Technique Inc., a Michigan-based company that normally supplies chassis components to NASCAR teams has similarly turned its efforts during this pause in racing to making face shields for medical distribution and has ramped up production to 20,000 shields per day.
Roush Fenway Racing has developed a special prototype “transport box” that helps provide a safe, workable barrier between a COVID-19 patient and the many medical personnel treating them in hospital rooms and transporting them on hospital floors.
When it comes to innovation, rapid response and answering the call, the sport of NASCAR is all in.
“I think NASCAR is in a unique position across the industry and especially at the Cup level where you have some of the best fabricators and engineers in the world and we have all this capability to make all these parts for cars, parts for testing so you have a high talent pool and then you have the machinery and the people needed to kinda do all this now,” said Eric Jacuzzi, senior director of aerodynamics at the NASCAR R&D Center.
“That’s what really puts us in a unique spot to be able to help out.”
Unlike any other major sports, the very essence of NASCAR racing involves cutting edge technology conducted – literally – by rocket scientists, engineers and tech geniuses who would normally be putting their minds around new racing innovations. Instead of making cars go faster, they are now helping a nation try to manage a historic global medical pandemic.
“Sitting at home for a day or two is great, but I think most people are starting to look at what they can do,” Jacuzzi said. “And the crew we have here working on this stuff is all volunteer. People are volunteering to come here at nine o’clock at night and stay until midnight – all different types of departments. It helps having people do that and even people are taking some parts home and having their teenage children help with cutting things out. So it’s even giving students at home right now the opportunity to contribute.”
“We’re used to working hard and being on the go all the time so it’s a big adjustment for us to kind of have this pause. But this is helping us keep going and really just from an education side, more people are learning about how to run these machines and all that so it’s good for everyone to feel like they are contributing and helping out and they certainly are.”
At the NASCAR R&D Center, Jacuzzi said the idea to mass produce the face shields came from a random homeowners association post on a Facebook page.
It was a similarly random connection for Roush Fenway Racing, according to the Roush team’s Operations Director, Tommy Wheeler. Dr. Brian Talenk, the brother-in-law of Roush’s Simulation Director Marcus Marty, reached out to see if Roush operation had the capability to help both conceptualize and manufacture a device that would provide another line of defense for the medical professionals treating virus patients.
“I said, ‘yes, of course we can. Let’s do this now,’ Wheeler recalled.
“That was around lunchtime [last Thursday] so we mobilized here so we could make some prototypes, which we did that afternoon and got them delivered to Brian [Dr. Talenk] to see if they worked.
“What ensued from there was a round of tweaks and things that the doctors and such wanted. He started sending pictures and discussing with his network of physicians and anesthesiologists around the greater Charlotte area. We then did approximately three more prototypes and by Friday – a day later which I’m pretty proud of – we were online with what we call our Version 2 Box.
“They were impressed by that (timing).”
Since then, Roush Fenway Racing has delivered 58 units to hospitals from Wake Forest to Miami. Wheeler describes the devices as something similar to a “sneeze guard” at a salad bar. The clear guard is placed over the patient in bed – covering their upper body from head to about chest level. There are two holes that allow physicians and nurses access, but the protection helps prevent the kind of immediate exposure that has spread the virus.