Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations
PLANO, Texas – Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud, the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series champion, was the special guest Wednesday for an outdoor employee event to celebrate the partnership between DXC Technology and Texas Motor Speedway.
DXC Technology, which is also a sponsor of Pagenaud on his No. 22 Chevrolet, will debut as the entitlement sponsor for Saturday night’s DXC Technology 600 Verizon IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
“It’s a dream kind of relationship,” Pagenaud said. “DXC Technology is going to be the main partner on the race track this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, which is a first, and I’m going to (have them on my) car, so it’s a very exciting event.”
A few hundred employees were on hand for the event at the Plano office of the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company with some 137,000 employees worldwide. They were treated to an autograph session as well as Q&A with Pagenaud, promotional giveaways and a drone flying exhibition by the Team Penske driver.
A large number of DXC Technology employees are expected to attend the race, which also will include a special pre-race track walk for them. Employees had theopportunity to purchase DXC-branded race t-shirts at the employee event with the proceeds benefitting Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas.
Pagenaud is accustomed to the technology of an Indy-car, but during his visit he had the opportunity to fly a drone. He maneuvered the drone as deftly as his No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet on Texas Motor Speedway’s ultra-fast 1.5-mile oval.
“You get to see everything that you’d see if you were on the drone,” Pagenaud said of the experience via the drone camera. “It was a lot more stable than I would have imagined and quite easy to fly, really. … It’s amazing. I get to do things that I would never imagine I would do as my job. It’s quite enjoyable.”
Several different drones were on display as DXC Technology is leveraging drone technology to deliver the green flag for Saturday night’s DXC Technology 600 (7:45 p.m. CT green flag with pre-race show beginning at 7 p.m., NBC Sports Network).
The Inspire 2 drone will be used for the delivery of the green flag to Honorary Starter Dan Hushon, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer for DXC Technology. The Inspire 2 model has the ability to accelerate from 0 to 50 mph in just five seconds and has a maximum speed of 58 miles per hour.
The drone, which will take off in Turn 3 at approximately 7:34 p.m., will fly through Turn 2 and then Turn 1 before heading down the frontstretch for the flag delivery on the DXC Technology 600 ballfield logo.
“I’m super excited about it because drones show you a different picture than what you’re used to,” Pagenaud said. “We need to evolve and see something different. We need youngsters to be interested in what we do. If we don’t evolve with the society, we’re going to be forgotten. This is great news to have the drone carry the flag for the start of the race. I’m really excited to see that happening and that we’re allowing new technology to be a part of racing.”
DXC Technology, the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, also is pushing the edges of drone technology to explore practical, integrated, business uses.
The company also has produced a drone that has autonomous navigation, voice-activated command capabilities, and 3D landscape reconstruction — all driven from the cloud. The DXC drone is considered to be the world’s first with commercial implementation of voice-control. DXC has partnered with what3words to translate GPS coordinates into unique three-word addresses, enabling a licensed drone operator to voice-activate a drone to fly with precision, anywhere in the world.
