First in a series of stories highlighting partner activities supporting the efforts against COVID-19

Dallara, the exclusive chassis supplier of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, is shifting gears in its Speedway, Indiana, factory and joining a host of other private businesses in the fight against COVID-19.

Inside the factory, the Dallara staff is using cutting tables normally reserved to cut fiber cloth for race cars to prepare materials that will be used for face masks and gowns.

The materials are first delivered to the factory from an outside vendor. Then, the Dallara staff cuts them for masks and gowns as needed. StitchWorks, a company based in downtown Indianapolis, picks up the items twice a day and sews the material before delivering the finished product to hospitals.

“We need to be very active in everything we can to help, first of all, the medical cause and doctors, nurses and everyone involved, to fight this battle,” said Stefano dePonti, CEO and general manager of Dallara USA. “As soon as this virus is defeated, the better for everybody. So, if we cannot properly build race car parts, let’s do something that can help the community and move it forward with the hope that this will help many people that, right now, are suffering.”

StitchWorks is a sewing facility that houses industrial sewing machines that are available by designers, local partners and the public. The organization is joining forces with several groups in the Million Mask Challenge, which brings people together to create masks for those in the healthcare industry.

dePonti said that Dallara’s corporate headquarters in Italy is making ventilator parts and working with its aerodynamics team to test better ways to create oxygen flow. He said he was inspired by that work, and he hopes that if their research is successful, he could implement the same work and technology in the factory located just up the road from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.