Crisis Doesn’t Build Character, It Reveals It.

A few minutes into the World Solar Challenge (see previous post), my Michigan team found themselves in the middle of a near worst case scenario.  The car was caught in a chain reaction accident that resulted in severe damage to the front of the vehicle (see picture below).  It may not look like much, but these cars are temperamental beasts and can’t race like NASCAR with fenders flapping in the wind. 

Solar_car_crash_4 Michigan was able to repair the damage within 24 hours and began racing again but they were now a day behind the leaders and effectively out of the race. 

Knowing this, the team raced full-tilt and put up a top 3 finish time (sans the time to repair the crash damage).

I’m sure many of the race crew will ask themselves "what if" questions, but in my view, they demonstrated more strength of character and team work than they could have in a 1st place finish.  Sure the scoreboard counts, but in the long run it counts as much how you play the game.  So my hat if off to the Michigan team…may you have better luck in the North American race next summer.