Experiencing the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the blink of an eye with Alcon

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Recently, Alcon partnered with Hendrick Motorsports for a day of eye testing for their over the wall crew. The day included the opportunity for the assembled media, including myself, to take part in the various tests, which measured not only eye health but peripheral vision and memory as well.

 

“We recognize that precise vision is absolutely essential to the success of our racing team,” said Andy Papathanassiou, Director of Human Performance, Hendrick Motorsports. “From strength and conditioning to nutrition, we put our pit crew athletes through training regimens comparable to any other professional sports team. Working with Alcon DAILIES® TOTAL1® to test the vision of all our athletes will help to achieve the highest standards of performance.”

 

If you’ve ever doubted that NASCAR pit crews are athletes, you wouldn’t feel that way after taking a tour of the massive campus that is Hendrick Motorsports. The entire facility is built around athleticism, and even features a football field looking area that is used for training.

 

Their weight rooms are second to none, and the crew guys, who might like small on television and from a distance, are muscle bound men of the first degree. The tires alone weight more than 70 pounds, and they lift them over their heads using only two fingers!

 

Following the mornings testing and a tour of the Hendrick Museum and gift shop, the media as well as Alcon and public relations personnel from Cohn and Wolfe, took part in a ride-along at the historic Charlotte Motor Speedway. The track is located less than two miles from Hendrick’s shop,  and dominates the landscape of Concord, NC.

 

Now, everyone reading this has probably seen the Charlotte track at one point or another. It is the first NASCAR track to have condominiums on site, and has been featured in numerous films, including Days of Thunder and more recently, Talladega Nights.

 

It is for all intents and purposes, the home track of stock car racing, and it was an honor to be able to go around it’s mile and a half turns and banks. The track may seem flat to the casual observer, but once in the car you can feel the curves and the massive acceleration. The car seemed to slide into the turns in a fashion that would make the average driver wince, but the professionals of the Richard Petty Driving Experience glided through them with ease.

 

To think that the drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series experience that sensation not for two or three laps, but for more than 600 miles, is mind boggling.

 

The purpose of the day was to show how the new Alcon DAILIES contact lenses can benefit not only athletes, but regular people as well. Having to stay focused on the corners, as well as the other cars around you while traveling in excess of 165  MPH requires the best vision you can muster, and with the help of companies such as Alcon, the Hendrick team will definitely have an edge going into 2015 and beyond.

Adam Sinclair
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