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Mini-Baja East, 1984

May 11 - 12, 1984, Morgantown, WV

Story by Mary Louise (Smith) Parsons, written May 1984

Ray and I first heard about the Baja last fall. Out son, Tom, told us that he had applied to be on the Baja team at the University of West Virginia. Only senior mechanical engineering students could apply. From the applications that were received, seven team members were chosen. Tom was one.

To give a short overview of the Mini-Baja: There are three Mini-Baja's in the United States - East, Midwest, and West. Mini-Baja East includes all colleges and universities to the Ohio River, parts of Canada, and Puerto Rico. The East competition differs from the other two in that it includes a water course. At least two schools from the Midwest entered the East competition in 1984 so that they could compete in the water course.

Each school that enters the competition is given an engine by Briggs and Stratton Co. There are certain safety factors that have to be built-in, but other than that the engineering students pretty much have free reign on building the vehicle. Some schools (for whatever reason) are not able to complete the vehicle before the Competition. Ray and I met a gentleman who said that he had seen Carnegie-Mellon's two vehicles several weeks ago, yet Carnegie-Mellon did not attend the competition.

There were about 45 schools registered in the 1984 Mini-Baha East. The trials extended over a two-day period, Friday and Saturday, May 11 and 12. This was part of the graduation events taking place that weekend. The trials were held at the University of West Virginia, in Morgantown, this year because West Virginia University won in 1983.

WVU students had a slight edge over others because they had last year's vehicle as a model. However, Tom pointed out the innovations and told us that when they had raced the new vehicle against the old, the new one won out, as is the case with many of the schools I'm sure. They also tried to tip the new vehicle and couldn't, a factor that proved crucial in the trials.

Ray an I drove to Morgantown Friday morning and arrived at the parking lot of the coliseum in time to see the completion of the weighing-in and safety inspection of each vehicle. Tom and his team greeted us "bright and bushy-tailed" even though many of them had been up until 4 a.m. putting finishing touches on the vehicle.

The first trial was to measure pick-up speed, full speed, and braking. West Virginia went first (as they did on all three trials the first day, having been the winner last year). Later we were told that they were tops on full speed, but not on the pick-up and braking.

For the second trial, a heavy link chain (about 100 feet long) was laid straight and one end was attached to the back of the car. The car tried to pull that end of the chain until it reached the other end of the chain and was pulled straight again. WVU failed to do this, by about 5 links. Many other vehicles succeeded easily, it seemed.

The third event was held in a very rugged area near the campus. The course include small hills, a swampy area, gullies, sharp turns and lots of trees. WVU sailed right through his, delighting most of the spectators. (All drivers in this and succeeding events walked the course prior to driving it, so there was some familiarity with it.)

The ingenuity of some of the drivers was wonderful to see. In this third event, one driver couldn't make it up the first small hill, so he backed the car, turned it around, and ran the rest of the course backwards! Quite a feat!

WVU ended the first day in fourth place. During the day, a dear friend, Franklin Sykes, from Delaware had joined us, arriving by bus. That evening Kathie's parents and sister (Tom's in-laws) drove in from the D.C. area. What a joy to have the support of family and friends!

The first trial on Saturday was the water course. We missed WVU's part in this, arriving just a few minutes after they had finished. Their time in this was 2 minutes, 47 seconds. (The fastest time was 2 minutes 41 seconds.) The course was about 100 yards in length, marked out by buoys in the depths of the lake. Some took a long time to get through so after awhile the judges brought them out after six minutes.

Next came the hill climb at a ski slope. Late, Ray and I walked to the top of the hill. When arriving at the top, we wondered where the hill was - it was so steep! The vehicles started at the bottom of this slope. WVU didn't make it to the top, but only about 3/4ths of the way. Some went to the top of the hill quite easily, it seemed.

The final trial was the endurance run about a mile long - uphill, downhill, through lake and woods, ravines and lots of mud. The requirement was to complete the course six times. Ray and I had a good vantage point at the end of the lake. We were told that at the starting point the vehicles were lined up two by two. After a few feet the trail narrowed, causing a bottleneck for some cars. WVU was here in second position with another car, from their number four standing at the end of Friday's trials. Oh, I failed to say that Tom was driving this heat. The endurance run was made with two team members - each driving three times around.

We first saw Tom come down the hill, fourth in line. He entered the water, then passed two of the cars in front of him, exiting the water following University of Maryland. At this point the course was comparatively wide and going up the hill Maryland chose to drive to the left of a tree - and ended up caught on a stump! Tom came up from behind and passed on the right side. What a beautiful thing to see! This gave WVU a 50 second lead - which they were able to hold throughout the race.

Another exciting point, we were told, was in Tom's second time around. He reached the water where many of the cars were waiting to enter the water for the first time. (To enter the water slowly meant less water in the car.) Tom decided not to wait for the other cars to enter, so he went around them into a deep ravine. He was sure his car would not topple! Wish you could have heard the roar of the crowd at this point!

This endurance run included coming down the ski slope. One fellow, we were told, rolled his vehicle head over heels down the slope. The bottom the judge was waiting apprehensively and asked if the fellow was alright. He answered with a big smile and went on his way! The bravery was marvelous to see!

Fourteen cars finished the endurance run. Several cars ended it with three instead of four wheels. They lost a wheel, but ran the course anyway! One driver of such a car finished much later, but as I looked at him he broke into a big smile and said, " Well, I finished it anyway!" He had proved his staying power!

WVU won the endurance run and this, because it counted for more points, helped them on to become champion of the 1984 Mini- Baja East. WVU, the first team to repeat as champion ever, and by the narrowest margin of victory ever - 1,017 to 973 points. University of Maryland was second, Tennessee Tech third, and Bucknell fourth.
Tom and Phil Bischof, his team mate, were interviewed afterwards for TV. It appeared on a local station the following Monday. Other members of the team were Mick Rotella, Ron Barrer, Bob Kissel, Greg Cutlip and Peter deJong, all senior Mechanical Engineering students who received their Bachelor of Science, Engineering in weekend ceremonies.

Photo of Ed Stadler, Dorothy (Schultz) Stadler
Pat (Stadler) Rhodes, Kathie (Stadler) Parsons
Tom Parsons, Mary Louise (Smith) Parsons, Franklin Sykes