Robert Spears
Greer, South Carolina
ME, 1978
Greetings, I am thrilled that the 2007 Baja team won first place. The story in the online newsletter indicates that Auburn has participated for the "last 14 years". That is partially true - but Auburn's involvement goes back to at least 1977. In 1978, five other engineering students and I designed and built a Baja vehicle that finished second overall at the Western Mini-Baja competition held in Phoenix, Arizona. There were seven categories of competition including marketability, design, cost, safety, drag race, maneuverability race, and finally a 50-mile endurance race. We were tied with a car from the University of California, Pomona after the first six competitions. We were leading the endurance race through seven laps (35 miles) and then accidentally jumped the car off a 10-foot high bank, bending the steering linkage. The University of California slowly gained ground and passed us with only about 100 yards left in the race and won the overall competition. However, at the awards ceremony that evening, the Auburn team received the greatest applause and acclaim due to our overall design and friendliness with other teams. So it is high time that an Auburn team advanced our standing in the mini-Baja competition. Other members of the team were Brian Williams and James Denny (there were three more in the design phase and two others in the construction racing phase that I cannot remember)