CONCORD, N.C. \u2014 Eric Jacuzzi made the rare trip from Milan to Charlotte to Daytona Beach last week.<\/p>\n
NASCAR\u2019s Vice President of Vehicle Performance has been working on quite the cool, and unexpected, sports connection.<\/p>\n
Stock car racing and luge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a really cool project,\u201d Jacuzzi said. \u201cI don\u2019t have to hype people up very much. They want to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASCAR has been consulting for USA Luge as a technical partner over the course of the last year, ultimately hoping to improve the team\u2019s speed down the ice.<\/p>\n
The luge team eagerly jumped at a chance last summer to speak with NASCAR about becoming more aerodynamic in both its sleds and uniforms.<\/p>\n
That sparked a partnership that even saw NASCAR\u2019s branding on the athlete\u2019s helmets during World Cup events.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year in Salt Lake City, NASCAR scanned the athletes and their sleds. After the Olympics those scans will be made into 3D printed versions and run through a wind tunnel at Windshear in Concord, and even down a man-made rolling road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told the coaches we\u2019re going to do it NASCAR style,\u201d Jacuzzi said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to read the rule book a little bit and you guys tell us where are we going wrong and what we need to do to fix that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacuzzi credits USA Luge with having most of the knowledge, but NASCAR\u2019s role is to take the concepts from beginning to end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really want to make them feel like they can compete at the highest level,\u201d he said. Ultimately this is not a one-year partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the partnership is in preliminary stages, both sides hope it produces a major impact for the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re going to put Americans on the podium on American soil we\u2019re going to need to make improvements,\u201d Jacuzzi said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what we aim to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Nick Carboni at\u00a0ncarboni@wcnc.com<\/a>\u00a0and follow him on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n