In this Friday, March 27, 2020, photo provided by NASCAR, safety splash shields are made at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. NASCAR has joined the effort, using their idled equipment and technology to produce face shields and other needed PPE items for health care workers battling the new coronavirus. (Eric Jacuzzi/NASCAR via AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The five 3D printers at NASCAR’s Research & Technology center – two delivered in February and installed less than two weeks ago — are typically focused on composite parts and working on an updated stock car.

But when racing came to a stop March 13 amid the coronavirus pandemic, a handful of NASCAR engineers wondered if the printers could be used to address the shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers. They contacted suppliers and came up with designs for face shields the printers could make. They met with Novant Health, which serves medical facilities in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Now the printers are running 18 hours a day with approximately eight engineers volunteering their time to oversee production from approximately 7 a.m. until midnight every day. The newest printer, about the size of an outdoor shed, can print three face shields every 2 1/2 hours.

“That’s the one we try to keep running almost nonstop,” Eric Jacuzzi, senior director of NASCAR’s aerodynamics and vehicle performance, told The Associated Press. “We have people that are actually having their teenage children help with cutting the clear facial part as part of their volunteer work at home, six of us running the machines, and more people reaching out to help.”

NASCAR is donating the face shields as part of the charitable community acts the series does every year. The sanctioning body has followed Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota — NASCAR’s three manufacturers — as companies from the automotive industry that have pivoted production to PPE during the global crisis.

Ford this week said beginning in April it will work with GE Healthcare to build air-pressured ventilators, with a target of manufacturing 50,000 units in the next 100 days from a Michigan components plant. Ford is also providing engineers and facilities to assist 3M’s production or air-purifying respirators.

General Motors partnered with Ventec Life Systems to build ventilators and has vowed to produce more than 50,000 face masks per day. Ventec and GM said the FDA-cleared ventilators are scheduled to ship “as soon as” April, they can raise production to 10,000 critical care ventilators per month and have the capability to increase output. GM also said it was donating resources at cost.

Toyota is building face shields and collaborating with medical device companies to speed the manufacturing of ventilators.

Others across motorsports have also stepped up.

Brad Keselowski last year started Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing, which is equipped with a combination of 3D printers and CNC machining. Keselowski said he has “joined forces with groups endeavoring to meet the face shield production needs of those in healthcare.”

Joey Logano, Keselowski’s teammate at Team Penske, has established a $1 million Response and Recovery Fund through his foundation.

“Right now, the world is experiencing a situation like we’ve never seen before,” Logano said, noting the foundation “will help provide funding and necessary supplies for organizations in need during this scary time.”