By Catharine Runion · Community Editor
Grove City College’s engineering programs have garnered quite the reputation in the last couple of decades, but there’s a growing population of automotive engineers that are taking the off-road racing world by storm.
The annual Baja Butler Bash took place a few weeks ago and Grove City’s racing team took home first prize. Their participation in the race, though, isn’t the only important function of the club. The team also plans, hosts and runs the event.
The race itself is simple enough conceptually: Various local college Baja clubs build off-road vehicles according to the standards of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and attempt to go as many laps as their vehicle can withstand.
However, the execution of this goal and the organization of the event are not quite so simple. There’s a hill climb at the beginning of the event, and then the endurance test gets underway.
“The endurance race is four hours long and requires a combination of speed, durability and good driver skills in order to place well,” junior June Lee, the secretary of Grove City Racing, said. At the end of the day, it really isn’t about flashy performance: It’s about reliability.
“A speedy car that breaks down and needs to be towed off the track for repairs may not do as well as a car that is slower but runs consistently,” Lee said. “Every minute spent off the track is a minute lost to competitors whose cars are still in the race.”
The time and money spent to perform well in the race are significant, and they can pose some serious limitations to the club. According to Lee, budget constraints mean that they can only build a brand-new car every few years. The time in between is either spent tweaking the existing car or improving upon the existing design.
In addition to designing and training with the car, the club spends the first two months of the school year planning the Baja Butler Bash. Grove City Racing Vice President Jeffrey Bollenbach was the lead planner for this year’s event, and he says that it’s an incredibly detailed process.
“Planning for Butler Bash takes a tremendous amount of effort,” Bollenbach said. “We handle marketing, outreach to other teams and sponsor coordination to fund the event and encourage participation.”
Bollenbach said that as the event has grown, complications have come up. The team reserves the same track every single year, so as more teams get involved the team must plan track layout changes and identify spots that need improvement. The event’s growth also brings up important safety concerns: this year, an ambulance was present at the race.
With 12 teams and 32 cars competing, the event this year was a smashing success.
The team has historically gone to and competed in national races. In the 2025 season, they placed 24th out of 103 competing teams at a race in Mechanicsville, Md. This year, they hope to compete in two national races.
Grove City Racing is a chapter of SAE International and was founded in 2006 to provide opportunities for engineers to gain hands-on experience in automotive niches. However, the club isn’t exclusively for engineers.
“Although the club primarily draws mechanical engineers because the skills needed to build a Baja car are directly related to that major, there is an active need for students of other skillsets,” Lee said. She argued that the planning of the Baja Butler Bash especially required input from other majors.
Bollenbach echoed that sentiment, saying that members of the club are happy to teach anyone who is willing to learn. “Our current president, Tobias Leithart, is an entrepreneurship major, and we’ve had members from business, computer science and other disciplines,” Bollenbach said. “No matter what or where you come from, we try and welcome you into Baja.”
Stay tuned to see what the club will accomplish in the 2026 racing season.
