Alba Colon Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Alba Colon

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Three General Motors teams are chasing Ford's Kurt Busch in the 2004 Chase for the Nextel Cup, and it's part of Alba Colon's job to make sure they get there.

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Colon is GM Racing's NASCAR Nextel Cup program manager, overseeing how the manufacturer supports its 16 Chevrolet teams. Colon is a bit of a rarity in NASCAR: a female holding a top-level job.

But the results speak to how well she has done her job. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are all within 48 points of the Nextel Cup points lead.

Colon sat down with NASCAR.COM staff writer Lee Montgomery to talk about GM Racing's approach to the Chase, about its competition and about the future.

Has there been any more work, anything change at all for you in your job?

Alba Colon: No. We keep working hard. Maybe we the parts that we deliver, the teams have been asking for more parts to be sure that they have. For example, fresh engines, brand new engines every weekend. That has been a little different.

And more stress. Everybody feels like checking every point, everything. It has been a little bit more stressful, but it really much the same job, just to be sure there are no mistakes.

What is your official title?

Colon: I am the NASCAR Nextel Cup program manager for GM. There is a Busch program manager and a truck program manager. I have been in charge of the engineering resources that we provide to the teams in the Nextel Cup Series.

And that includes everything from engine to parts to data.

Colon: Engines, parts, data, aero, chassis - all the support we give to the engineers.

Everybody thinks that Chevrolet pours tons of money, tons of resources. Is there any way to quantify what you guys do?

Colon: Well, that's a very tough question. Everybody's spending money, all the engineers, all the time, all the data, different tests we do with the teams, there's not really a way to quantify. Really, we are 24/7 with our teams, like DaimlerChrysler and Ford are.

How many people are in GM Racing? Hundreds?

Colon: We don't really say that. There are a good number of engineers.

A lot of people assume that the teams in the Chase get most of the attention. Has that been tough for GM to divvy up the resources?

Colon: We have 16 teams that we support every weekend. That is apart from the teams that come and participate a couple of races every year. We have what we call the "key partners" concept, a concept that has been known pretty well outside our main four house teams. They do special development with us.

But we give the same data, we support all the teams the same. Maybe the main difference is that they do special development for us.

So you're not spending any more time with the guys in the Chase than anybody else? I guess there's a natural tendency to do that, just because they get so much attention.

Colon: I agree with you. If I said no, I'd be lying. That's not right. Again, if we do a specific test, we give everything to everybody. But the priority is those teams that are very close to the championship. If there is something particular that has to be done now, they get the priority. The same with the other guys. It has to be that way.

Let's say GM does a wind tunnel test for whatever team. Exactly how does information get disseminated other teams? Paper? E-mail? Word of mouth?

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Colon: A wind tunnel may be a bad example, depends on where we wind tunnel. If we do a wind tunnel with, say, the Hendrick Motorsports team, that's a specific wind tunnel that they will keep the data, and we do the development with them.

We have wind tunnels that we do with everybody, and we invite one or two representatives with those teams to be there. They will get the data that way.

For example, on the engine side, we are doing the test the same. Everybody can contribute and be there at the test, give ideas. We do it many ways, e-mail, paper. It depends on the project. When we are developing new cars for the future, that's everybody.

It has to be as a family. We need to listen to everybody, not only one particular team.

Are the teams more open to sharing among each other. The Hendrick and RCR and Gibbs, is it tough to get them to share stuff together?

Colon: Like I told you before, we have this "key partners" concept. I remember when we started how difficult it was to be at those meetings. Nobody wanted to talk or anything.

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Now, you would have to be there. It's unbelievable how much they share. We want to have all our teams set up to be ready to win. At the track, it's up to them how they finish.

There is something that does not make any sense, and that everybody goes and tests. Right now, they are that level that they trust each other. It's interesting. It has been good because you can not do this by yourself any more. You have to have the teamwork here.

How proud would GM be to win the championship this year, knowing all the attention on the Chase? How cool would that be?

Colon: Any championship is great, let's be honest with that. But of course, it would be great to be the first NASCAR Nextel Cup champion. After everything that has happened this year, it would awesome. It would be awesome. Our teams are very charged to do it. It's like a high. Everybody's ready to do it.

I know Dodge is getting a new nose for next year. Are you guys getting anything new for 2005?

Colon: We are getting a manifold. Dodge has a new car that it is introducing. Our car is coming in the next couple of years. We are already working on that.

Any timetable? 2007? You can't really talk about that.

Colon: NASCAR knows. We are already working on that. It is a continuous development with all of the manufacturers. We can never stop. The competition is tough, and we have to be there and ready.

You talked about some of these key teams. Is there any plan to add more GM teams? Are you out looking for teams?

Colon: I can not talk about that because we are going to make an announcement soon of who is all our teams. We are always open to any ideas, to any teams. We already are in negotiations to keep our teams for longer time. That's what I have been concentrating on a lot lately. The competition is tough, so you have be aggressive to keep your teams.

Toyota came into the truck series and changed things. They built everything and distributed it to the teams. What does GM thought about that?

Colon: We have been successful with our route. We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket. The way we have been working has been very successful in the past. We want to continue and keep it that way. We have very talented teams. In Toyota's case, for example, we have great engine builders and we want them to keep doing it that way.

The same goes for the Roush/Yates engine program. There are different teams building engines, going different routes. Has there been any thought to move all (GM engines) into one engine area?

Colon: Like I was telling you with the key partners, the basic structure of the team is developed with all the teams together. From there, they follow suit in different ways. We know what each team is doing, and it has been working.

We have Hendrick, Gibbs and DEI teams in the top 10. And Kevin Harvick and RCR was there, so the concept cannot be bad when we have three different manufacturers of engines and bodies and chassis doing the job and being in the top.