Collin Bowden (E14), an engineering technician at Newport News Shipbuilding, has always been a NASCAR fan.

“I was always watching the races,” he said. Bowden, an Apprentice School graduate, grew up a fan of Jeff Gordon and remembers going to NASCAR races at Richmond Raceway.

Before moving into engineering about a year ago, Bowden spent the majority of his nearly 12-year NNS career as an X43 mechanic working on submarines. His passion for racing and his work as a shipbuilder came together this year through the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, a simulated racing series that allows racers to compete across 18 races for a share of prize money.

Bowden is in his third year in the series and his first racing the BuildSubmarines.com car, sponsored by Blue Forge Alliance – an organization contracted by the U.S. Navy to help recruit employees to support the submarine industrial base.

There is a free agency period during which racers can be picked up by a team for sponsorship. A friend who was sponsored by the RFK Racing team mentioned Bowden’s connection to Navy submarines. That ultimately led to Bowden’s association with RFK Racing and the BuildSubmarines.com car.

“It was pretty cool to see the real-life connection play into the virtual side of it. Having the same place you work be represented on the racecar you’re driving is a pretty cool combination,” he said. “It’s definitely a full circle moment and something that I didn’t see coming at the time.”

Races are usually held every other Tuesday, but Bowden and his competitors don’t just login every two weeks.

“We spend a lot of time testing, practicing and running simulation races and laps,” he said. “You get your teammates and run a pack of cars to try and simulate the race as much as you can in the two weeks between the actual races.”

Although he’s racing from home, Bowden said the simulations are “as close to real life as you can get without getting in a racecar.”

“All the tracks are laser scanned so they’re identical to real life,” he said. “The cars act just like the real ones.”

The races are livestreamed on Twitch and other social media platforms. Bowden hopes his contribution helps encourage people to explore career opportunities at NNS and other submarine industrial base manufacturers.

“The potential is there,” he said.