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By Richard King
U.S. Department of Energy |
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| Photo contributed by Richard King |
| The Arizona team used their squirt guns to help stay cool. |
BARSTOW, CALIF., July 22, 2003 -- Barstow is a hot town in the summer and it was 108 degrees today. As teams crossed the Mojave, they didn't find much relief at this final stage stop. Teams were trying to find shade wherever they could. The Arizona team bought some squirt guns and were dousing each other and everyone who walked by, anything to find a little relief. When Barstow Community College put the water sprinklers on to water the lawn, a group went out to play Frisbee in the middle of the sprinklers!
All the teams are in and ready to start the final leg to the finish line tomorrow. Auburn University, desperately trying to finish the whole race without trailering, had to push their car the final mile because their batteries were completely dead. The penalty for pushing was 21 minutes. Three of the team members almost had heat stroke, but they are so proud to have completed the leg under their own power - no pun intended.
Here are the times for the teams that arrived today:
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| Arizona | 10:35 a.m. |
| Kansas State | 10:35 a.m. (12 seconds behind Arizona) |
| McGill | 10:40 a.m. |
| Toronto | 12:40 p.m. |
| Stanford | 5:06 p.m. |
| Purdue | 5:07 p.m. |
The rest of the ASC teams had to trailer to the Barstow checkpoint.
Tomorrow is the finish. The distance from Barstow to Claremont is 90 miles. The teams will cross the finish line as early as 11 a.m. PST. The City of Claremont is hosting the finish and the cars will be on display until about 3 p.m. It will be a great ending to a truly great race.
The race was carried on CNN today. Sports Illustrated is going to use a photo of Waterloo in front of a semi-trailer on the Interstate in the next issue of the magazine. The Today Show wants to do a live broadcast with the winning team Thursday morning from Claremont. The list goes on. One of the main objectives of the event is public awareness, and I'd say this race has been very successful.
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