High school solar car race begins 630-mile Texas run
The Solar Car Challenge marks 30 years with teams driving student-built cars from Fort Worth to Fort Stockton using solar power.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Dozens of high school teams are set to start a 630-mile solar car race across Texas on July 19, testing vehicles they designed and built themselves. The Verge reported that the five-day Solar Car Challenge counts the team with the most driven miles as the winner, with sunlight as the cars’ permitted fuel source.
The race begins in Fort Worth and ends in Fort Stockton, according to The Verge. The route runs through Palestine, Round Rock, Fredericksburg and San Angelo, where founder Lehman Marks said local residents often turn out to greet the teams.
The 2026 event marks the Solar Car Challenge’s 30th anniversary, The Verge reported. Marks, a Texas educator, founded the program after seeing students respond with enthusiasm to a college solar car project at the University of North Texas.
Marks told The Verge that he created a high school-only contest because students could not fairly compete with university teams that had more money and technical resources. The educational program began in 1993, and the first national competition followed in 1995, according to The Verge.
A student engineering test
The Verge reported that teams build their cars with commercial parts and 3D-printed materials. The program is meant to teach engineering alongside planning, fundraising, budgeting and project management, according to Marks.
Marks said road preparation is central to the challenge. He told The Verge that he has urged teams to put 500 miles on their cars before arriving so they can find and fix failures before the competition.
The Solar Car Challenge has reached more than 85,000 students across 39 states and several countries, including Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain and Singapore, according to The Verge. The program currently has more than 260 active high school solar projects, The Verge reported.
The event alternates between track competitions and road races, according to The Verge. This year’s Texas route is the first open-road version since 2018, based on images and reporting from The Verge.
New division aims for car-like designs
The race usually includes classic, advanced and electric-solar power divisions, The Verge reported. In the electric-solar category, teams use electric vehicles charged by stationary solar power stations.
Organizers added a cruiser division for the 2026 race, according to The Verge. Marks said the new class asks students to make four-seat vehicles with solar cells built into the body, along with four doors and a trunk, so the cars look more like passenger vehicles.
The change responds to questions about whether solar cars can move beyond thin, low-slung prototypes, Marks told The Verge. He said the goal is to help people picture practical solar-assisted transportation.
One entrant, Old Rip Racing, is a 14-student independent team drawing members from three schools, The Verge reported. Team captain Blake Wood, a 17-year-old rising senior at Benbrook Middle-High School near Fort Worth, said that mix of students is one of the team’s strengths.
Wood told The Verge that his team began planning about a year before the race, first sketching ideas on paper and studying past Classic Division entries. The team later turned those designs into CAD models while learning the software, according to The Verge.
Solar passenger cars remain experimental even as battery-electric vehicles have become common, The Verge reported. Wood said he believes competitions can help by introducing students to renewable energy technology early, while Marks said his main aim is to develop capable students, future engineers and a workforce familiar with batteries and engineering.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.