Solar-powered car blazes trail with help of brothers

LOS ANGELES -- Two Southeast Missouri brothers welcomed California's scorching summer sun Wednesday afternoon as their solar car passed the finish line, winning the longest solar power car race in the world.

Scott and Neal Essner of Kelso, Mo., along with the help of about 40 other members of the University of Missouri-Rolla solar car team, celebrated as UMR's Solar Miner IV cruised into Los Angeles, blowing away the competition in the American Solar Challenge. The ASC allows colleges and universities across the country to build and race solar-powered cars.

"We had the most efficient car in the race," said Scott Essner. "But we also had the perfect team to back up the perfect design of the car."

Solar Miner IV, which took two years to design and build, was the lightest and most powerful car in the competition, he said.

The race began in Chicago on July 13 and ended in Los Angeles. It spanned 2,300 miles along the old U.S. Route 66.

The Solar Miner IV reached the finish line at 1:39 p.m. with a total elapsed time of 51 hours, 47 minutes and 39 seconds, beating the second-place team, University of Minnesota, by just over five hours. The team set a record for U.S. solar car racing, beating the ASC 2001 record by more than four hours.

While Neal Essner, who completed his first year at UMR this spring, has barely begun his collegiate experience as a member of the UMR solar car team, his older brother, Scott, who graduated last spring, said farewell to his experience Wednesday going out on top. Scott was chosen by his team members to drive the final leg of the race.

"To drive the completion of the race was just unbelievable," said Scott Essner. "What a way to go out."

Producers from nationally televised news programs contacted the Essner brothers and other members of the team about their experience.

The UMR team beat out prestigious engineering schools such as Purdue University and Stanford University for the coveted Wilson Cup, the trophy awarded to the winner.

UMC comes in sixth

Missouri's only other university that competed, University of Missouri-Columbia, reached the finish line with an elapsed time of about 10 hours behind UMR, placing sixth overall.

Until the two brothers are able to return to Southeast Missouri from California sometime next week, the Essner family is celebrating the victory miles apart.

"Words can't express how I feel," said Beverly Essner, mother of the two, who works at Blanchard Elementary in Cape Girardeau. "To have two sons win this together -- we're just bursting, we're so proud."