Colon overcame obstacles to find success in NASCAR

	Alba Colon, in her former role as projects manager for Team Chevrolet. AP

NEW YORK -- Alba Colon doesn't back down from a challenge. Even when it came from the Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt.

At her first encounter with Earnhardt, at a test of a new Chevrolet motor at Talledega in 1994, Colon, a mechanical engineer born in Puerto Rico, the only person she recognized was the late seven-time NASCAR champ.

At a time when diversity was only a word in the dictionary this 5-foot-1 woman wasn't out to prove anything other than she was a competent engineer.

After the test Earnhardt told her, "I give you a year. You're not going to make it here."

Being fresh on the job she was taken aback, but not defeated.

"For me that was a challenge, I'm going to show these guys what I could do," she recalled. "He made me work harder, that's what motivates me."

With a racer's never-say-die attitude she earned the respect of all in the NASCAR garage and currently she is General Motors NASCAR program manager responsible for technical support -- including engines and wind tunnel issues -- and sponsorship.

Hanging in there paid off as Colon explains: "I love my job, it's a little bit of engineering, a little bit of management and a little bit of politics. You have to have people skills. There are so many personalities you have to work with and to make things happen. That's what I love, no day's the same. This beats any day at the office."

In addition to Earnhardt, she's worked with the late, great, engine builder, Randy Dorton, who steered her toward his department. She smiles and said "but, on the chassis side I wasn't putting (enough) attention because Randy was smart enough to make me learn about the engine stuff."

Oddly enough Colon had no special interest in racing when she started her education and she was in a very small group. "When I went to school for mechanical engineering there were only two or three females. Now most of them are female. It's just unbelievable how things have changed."

Switching from the ivory tower of an engineering school to coveralls and working with a bunch of guys was just part of the whole challenge, but nothing out of the ordinary. "It was not a big deal to work with guys at that time," she said. "It was just a normal thing."