The Randy Dorton Hendrick Motorsports Engine Builder Showdown was designed to take the technicians from the Hendrick Automotive Group and the engine builders from Hendrick Motorsports and put them together in a competition that’s designed to crown the best of the best from the legendary motorsports organization.
Back in October we detailed the winners; now there’s video of some of the event along with commentary from Rick Hendrick and others within the Hendrick organization.
“I’ve never seen the engine assemblers from Motorsports do as much homework,” Rick Hendrick says in the video. “To be practicing for weeks, to even do a videotape and a written handbook to give their partner, that’s how much it means to these guys to win, and that’s really important.”
The point of the competition is to be the quickest team of builders to assemble a 358 cubic inch Chevrolet engine that’s similar to the ones that Hendrick Motorsports uses to compete in the company’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars.
Twelve teams start the competition, each with one contestant from the Automotive Group and one from the Motorsports engine department, with the point of the competition to help the company’s employees come together and chase a common goal.
The winners are determined by the team with the quickest time and the smallest number of errors. The championship team for the 13th Annual Randy Dorton Hendrick Engine Builder Showdown was the pairing of Hendrick Honda of Charleston‘s Elmer Javier, and Hendrick Motorsports’ Van Nguyen, who put together a winning time of 21 minutes and 48 seconds without a single mistake. Now that’s talent!