CONCORD, N.C. - A partnership 30 years in the making, according to Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, and a facility and initiative a few years in development came to a head in a crowded Papa Joe Hendrick Meeting Center.
The Atrium Health Motorsports Athletic Center was officially unveiled in front of media and invited guests as part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday afternoon. Hendrick, chief executive officer of Advocate Health Gene Woods, Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute president Dr. Claude Moorman and NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon were on hand and on stage to start the proceedings.
"It's a special day for us and I think about where the sport has come from and where it is today, especially with pit crews and training, it's been an amazing ride from what I've seen back in 1984," Hendrick said. "We're so honored today to let you experience this facility and we're doubly excited because of Atrium and the team with Gene and our area here in Charlotte.
"It's been 30 years coming, so I'm excited for you to see it today."
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Using such facilities on college campuses, at pro sports facilities and even at Fort Bragg, the effort was a joint collaboration spearheaded in large part by Hendrick Motorsports development manager Roberto Medina and pit development manager Evan Kureczka. With their guidance and input and a collaboration of REDLINE Design Group (architecture), 3TEN Construction (general contractor), ACRO Development Services (civil engineering) and Forty Nine Degrees (branding) the AHMAC represents a game changer in pit crew athlete recruiting and development and beyond.
"I've seen a couple of races at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I would say the thing I've really come to recognize is the tremendous amount of skill and discipline and strategy that goes into racing," Woods said. "What I've come to find out more is about that pit crew. The skill that's required is really incredible and it's situations where moments, seconds count and if you think about the work that goes in, everybody working together in unison, it's really what we're trying to do here at this facility.
"Under this roof you're going to find medicine, wellness, state-of-the-art strength training, sports medicine, dedicated spaces for physical therapy, hydrotherapy and recovery all working together in unison."
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Indeed, it was on display for all to see on Thursday. From red light therapy to the barber shop, from the weight room to the locker room with a walk by a hot tub, cold tub and saunas in between, every facet was open complete with Hendrick Motorsports crew members giving brief summaries on the equipment in addition to complete guided tours.
Certainly, the new home to the pit department is a far cry from Hendrick's earliest days in the industry. Ray Evernham, who served as crew chief for Gordon's No. 24 team from 1993-1999, was at the forefront of pit crew development and recruiting and was acknowledged by Hendrick on Thursday. The facility's main conference room also bears his name as the Evernham Conference Room.
"(One day) I came down the hill and there was a bunch of young guys running through this field and I thought, 'What in the world is this? Is something wrong? Why are these guys running?'" Hendrick said. "And come to find out, it was Ray Evernham and he was running our pit crew guys and he had young guys, athletes, and I'd never seen anything like it. Our guys changing tires had big tummies, smoking cigarettes ... and that's the way pit crews went. You just picked somebody that was on the team and, 'Hey, you're changing tires today.'
"Jeff was reminding me, we went to Daytona and there was a pit stop and we were four seconds quicker than everybody. It was Ray Evernham. It was his idea, his baby. He talked us into it and started recruiting people and this is where it is today."
Evernham attended Thursday's event as did all of Hendrick Motorsports' current drivers (Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Corey Day) and crew chiefs (Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle, Blake Harris and Adam Wall). As much as the facility figures to help Hendrick Motorsports teams physically, Gordon pointed to the camaraderie that will be built with the pit department sharing one facility along with open doors to the rest of the campus.
"We've built a culture here at Hendrick Motorsports about coming together, working together. It's a team effort," Gordon said. "We've already seen just this week, all of our athletes were working out together, doing different activities in one space, one room, just feeding off of one another, maybe even a little bit of a competitive rivalry. But also, just interaction. Now we get to take that to our crew chiefs, our drivers, bringing them into this space, working out with their pit crews as well as employees, taking care of the rest of the teammates on campus and bringing them into this facility.
"It's mainly our teammates and how it's going to bring them together and build a closer bond, family bond that Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick have built here."
Over the next couple of hours, guests and media mingled, exploring the far corners of the AHMAC and learning about its features. Despite having taken a private walkthrough hours earlier, even Hendrick was still in awe over some of the advancements in training and recovery that can now be found nestled on his own campus.
And yet, for him, it marks just yet another step in bringing the best to his teams and organization in the never-ending quest for excellence that began all the way back in 1984.
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"This is super exciting for me. I can't wait for our friends in the media to see the rest of it and see what you think. But we left no stone unturned," Hendrick concluded. "But this is just the next step in personal care because I've preached this all of my life, everything I've ever said is your people are your biggest asset.
"Because I'm getting on up there, I've got people that have been with me 35 and 40 years in management. I need them to hang around. And all the young people that come in - it's amazing to me, the equipment here now that's here just to get them back faster. I saw a piece of equipment I can use back here, it's like being in the pool. But I'm not in the pool ... that's pretty cool."