How the Solar Car Challenge is developing the next generation of STEM talent

Solar cars had been rolling into a small Indiana town for a rest stop when Dr. Lehman Marks noticed something unusual. Elementary and middle school students had gathered on a grassy area to watch the convoy arrive. As the high school drivers climbed out of their cars, the younger kids rushed toward them and reached out to touch them.

Dr. Marks, who founded the Solar Car Challenge in 1993, walked over to one of the kids, maybe 10 or 11 years old, and asked why.

“Because they're astronauts,” the boy said.

That moment crystallized something Marks had suspected since the program’s earliest days. The Solar Car Challenge teaches high school students to design, build, fundraise, and race solar-powered vehicles. But its reach extends far beyond the teams themselves. Over three decades of cross-country races, the program has put solar cars in front of more than 100,000 spectators along its routes — kids and families in small towns who may never have seen anything like it.

“We’re building solar cars and we’re teaching STEM, but we’re creating dreams in the minds of young people about what they can do,” Dr. Marks said.

This July, the Solar Car Challenge enters its 31st year of competition with the “Cross-Texas Adventure,” a five-day, 632-mile journey from Fort Worth through the piney woods of East Texas, the Hill Country around Fredericksburg, and the wide-open stretches of West Texas to Fort Stockton. Twenty-four teams from across the country will compete across five divisions. Enel North America is the co-title sponsor of the 2026 event alongside Lockheed Martin.

How a van ride started a 30-year program

The Solar Car Challenge began with a van full of high school students in 1989. Dr. Marks, a teacher at the time, had taken a group to visit a college solar car program at the University of North Texas in Denton. The entire ride home, his students asked the same question: Can we build a solar car?

No high school in the country had one. There were no kits, curriculum, or precedent, but Dr. Marks said yes anyway.

Within six months, he realized the project demanded more from his students than any textbook assignment ever had. They had to develop engineering plans, set budgets, learn to fundraise, and present their case to potential sponsors — skills that don't show up on a standardized test but matter enormously in a career. Dr. Marks formalized the effort into the Solar Car Challenge education program in 1993 and has run it ever since.

The program operates on a 15-month cycle. Teams begin in September with an overview and start networking with experienced teams. Workshops in the fall and January teach technical skills like electrical systems, aerodynamics, composite materials, and solar panel integration. On-site visits, video calls, and check-ins with Dr. Marks fill the gaps. By the time teams arrive at the race in July, they’ve spent more than a year building a car from scratch, raised around $30,000 to fund it, and learned hard lessons about efficiency along the way.

“I felt like it was important for the kids to get a full background of doing an engineering project — developing a plan, setting up a budget, learning how to fundraise, learning how to go out and shake somebody’s hand and look them in the eye and say, ‘Why don’t you come help us?’” Dr. Marks said.

Cooperation over competition

During a recent race, a team was running the braking test — a scrutineering requirement where drivers accelerate to full speed and slam the brakes, proving the car can stop within a set distance. The car stopped. The axle didn’t. It snapped on impact. Before the team’s advisor could reach the car, representatives from three other teams were already there. One of them was welding the axle back together.

That culture has been ingrained in the competition from the start and produces measurable results. According to a 2026 alumni survey, 97% of former participants reported being extremely satisfied with their Solar Car Challenge experience. A whopping 89% went on to major in a STEM field, and 74% are now working in STEM careers, including 27% who work specifically in the solar or energy industries. Some 66% of alumni said they used solar energy beyond their involvement in the Solar Car Challenge.

“When you see how many of these students go on to STEM careers, you’re looking at the next generation of engineers and innovators getting their start right here,” said Jesse Puckett, Director of Sustainability Projects and Community Affairs at Enel North America. “That’s exactly the kind of pipeline we want to support.”

The 2026 race and Enel’s role

The 2026 route is the largest cross-country race in the Solar Car Challenge’s history. Dr. Marks personally drove thousands of miles across Texas last fall to map it, plotting the course on roads with shoulders wide enough for teams to pull over safely. Each team travels in a convoy — the solar car flanked by an advance vehicle, a chase car carrying a judge, and a support vehicle towing a trailer — rolling through towns where local officials, chambers of commerce, and law enforcement have signed on to help.

The route passes through wind and solar projects operated by Enel North America. The final stretch runs through McCamey, Texas, where Enel’s operations and maintenance building sits directly on the race route, within sight of major wind and solar installations.

Enel employees will volunteer as judges and scrutineers during the pre-race evaluation at Texas Motor Speedway and support events along the route as the race progresses. The company is also continuing its sponsorship of the Iron Lions from Greenville High School in Greenville, Texas, who are competing in the Advanced Division for the second consecutive year. Their car, Aurora, will carry Enel’s logo across the state.

The field spans the country. The Presidio Solar team hails from a small town on the Texas-Mexico border. Seagull Solar is coming from Staten Island, New York. The Oregon Solar Car Team is making the trip from Bend. Each of them has spent more than a year preparing, fundraising, and building to get here.

The Solar Car Challenge currently accepts 100 schools into its education program each year, with a waiting list of 125 more. Pre-race events begin July 16 at Texas Motor Speedway, with the cross-country race departing Fort Worth on July 19. Learn more about the program.