LESSONS LEARNED
Even though some of the teams suffered greatly because of the mistakes they made, none of the other competitors took advantage of their situation. Camaraderie overflowed during the two days of the contest--it was the good feeling you get when you take parts off your car to help a competitor stay in the race.
It was evident by the cars displayed that each team learned a lot about race car building, but each team didn't hold it over the other on how they finished at the end of the day. It was friends first, competitors second, and it made for some exciting times and excellent racing!
At this time it looks like the Q Collegiate Power Challenge might happen again next year, so check out the Hot Rod magazine Web site in the future to find out what the schedule for next year's program might be.
The first day of competition...
The first day of competition was supposed to be reserved for the track, but the weather didn't cooperate (and in Texas that means biblical downpour!), so the four teams readied their rides to make their dyno runs instead. The Houston UTI facility is one of the largest of the seven UTI campuses, covering 204,000 square feet with 64 classrooms and 18 labs.
Factory Five Racing's Mark...
Factory Five Racing's Mark Dougherty was everywhere during the weekend helping the teams with questions about the FFR roadsters, and he even donned a welding helmet to help the Exton team with some of the repairs that needed to be done.
Late on the second night,...
Late on the second night, the Houston team gets to hoist the first place trophy. Their months of hard work paid off, as they also won two of the five categories of competition.
| DYNO | 1/4-MILE | 60-TO-0 | SLALOM | JUDGES | TOTAL POINTS |
|---|
| GLENDALE HEIGHTS, IL | 282.35 | 12.654/103 | 146.74 | 6.37 | 192 | 292 |
| AVONDALE, AZ | 447.82 | 11.659/118 | 217.60 | 6.58 | 186 | 331 |
| EXTON, PA | 324.10 | 12.050/115 | 120.38 | 6.12 | 197 | 343.483 |
| HOUSTON, TX | 375.55 | 11.796/115 | 101.68 | 6.28 | 206 | 365.433 |