Photo contributed
From left to right: Art Boyt, former Crowder alternative energy instructor, former Crowder graduates and students Chris Kalmbach, Greg Brockman and Steve Tipton and Doug Smith, an electrical engineer from University of Missouri Rolla, stand in front of the campus van with the TSAR strapped on top back in 1984.
James Walls
Campus News Editor
The Trans-American Solar Auto Run (TSAR) was the first solar car to successfully cross the United States from coast to coast back in the summer of 1984. The car was made by a team from Crowder College with help from Eagle Pitcher Industries, Baldor Electric and TDF Corporation. Traveling from San Diego, Calif. to Jacksonville Beach, Fla. in a 45 day span, the car made history as it went. Now, 30 years after its journey, a book has been made to commemorate its achievements.
“I just thought it was something that should be done,” said Chris Kalmbach, the one in charge of putting together the team that constructed the TSAR, as well as the commemorative book, “to try to get a lot of it [the information] in one place and tell the story … mostly in pictures, but where it was all together, so everybody could have the same thing.”
TSAR: A Solar Crossing of America offers many photographs from the building process to the journey itself, as well as articles from newspapers written about the historical event.
Photo contributed
The Trans-American Solar Auto Run is now displayed in the Henry Ford Museum, right next to the Moon Rover.
“It was about advancing the technology and bringing it to public awareness. To say ‘this is viable, look what we did, we proved it,’” said Joel Lamson, current solar energy instructor, about the TSAR’s journey and its significance.
As student Jaron Welch, a solar energy major, states, the TSAR’s journey was before his time, but it did leave an impact on the world.
“Anything that we do for solar energy,” said Welch, “whether it be an advancement or a new technology, pushes forward the solar industry.”
To special-order a copy of TSAR: A Solar Crossing of America contact Chris Kalmbach at 417-451-1834, or email him at ckneosho@gmail.com.
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