Penn College Baja team competes in South Carolina

Although they didn’t achieve their typical top-10 finish, the Pennsylvania College of Technology team performed well at Baja SAE Carolina and is already working toward next season.

That’s the word from John G. Upcraft, instructor of manufacturing and machining and faculty adviser to Penn College’s Baja SAE club.

“I was proud of the students. They gave me their best. Everything was going perfect up until it wasn’t,” he said. “When we had some bad luck, the team handled it well.”

Penn College finished 21st out of 47 cars in the four-hour endurance race, considered the marquee event at Baja SAE competitions. Baja SAE requires schools to design, manufacture and build a single-seat, all-terrain vehicle to survive various tests that challenge the students’ ingenuity and the car’s quality.

Since 2011, Penn College has recorded 16 top-10 results in the endurance race.

At Baja SAE Carolina – conducted in Gray Court, South Carolina – the Penn College team navigated a burped tire and brake light issues to be in 12th place with 90 minutes remaining. Before they could mount a late-stage push, the output shaft on the car’s gearbox broke.

“We’re not sure how it happened,” Upcraft said. “Some people think we got hit from behind. It took us about an hour and a half to replace the gearbox because you have to take the clutch off, the axles off, the shocks off. Our goal was to get back out and do one more lap before the end of the race, but we came up a couple minutes short. The students’ effort to replace the gearbox in that amount of time was commendable.” 

The University of Michigan won the endurance race.

In other events, Penn College finished 10th in suspension and traction, 11th in acceleration and 12th in hill climb.

“We did well in those dynamic events,” Upcraft said.

Upon their return from South Carolina, the team immediately began preparing for the 2026 season, which begins at Baja SAE New York, scheduled for June 11-14 near Rochester.

“They are super excited about the next car,” Upcraft said. “The rear suspension is going to get changed. We’re updating our clutch, and the car is going to go on a serious diet. We’re dropping its weight. Our goal is to be done by April 1 so we can start testing and tuning.”

Members of the Penn College Baja SAE team who competed in South Carolina were manufacturing engineering technology students Jacob A. DeCray, Douglassville; Benjamin J. Hawkins, Aaronsburg; James T. Johnson, Manheim; Trevor J. Lindsay, Mechanicsburg; Justin A. Moser, Nesconset, New York; Brian P. Rogers, Kunkletown; Jack J. Shea, Pittstown, New Jersey; and Landen Witmer, Dauphin.

The team also included Brock J. Dunkelberger, Catawissa, and Camren J. Ferrara, Lock Haven, both majoring in engineering design technology; Luke T. Rockey, Morrisdale (engineering CAD technology); Matthew J. Rotundo, Abingdon, Maryland (electric power generation technology: diesel emphasis); and Davis I. Rowell, Boalsburg (heavy construction equipment technology: operator emphasis and technician emphasis).