By AP/KWMU
Claremont, Ca. – A team from the University of Missouri-Rolla drove its solar-powered car across the finish line Wednesday nearly five hours ahead of the pack.
The American Solar Challenge was a two-week, 23-hundred-mile competition between solar cars that started in Chicago and ended in suburban Los Angeles.
Solar Miner-Four had engine trouble during the first leg, but took the lead in Oklahoma and never relinquished it.
Rolla's elapsed time was 51:47:37. "Everybody's thrilled," said Kerry Poppa, a 20-year-old engineering student on the Rolla team. "It's great to finally be here and see two years of work come to fruition."
The University of Minnesota was second in the field of 20 cars. UM-Columbia took sixth.