It was a weekend of highs and lows for team principals Steve and Tere Pruitt of Corsa Motorsports highlighted by the appearance at Stanford University’s Center for Automotive Research, the half-page Wall Street Journal article by David Biederman deeming the car “The Baddest Hybrid” on the planet, the prowess the hybrid electric car showed in competing for the lead at the front of the pack against fully funded manufacturer teams despite the niggling problems that left the team one step off the podium and having the Discovery Channel following us for three days of filming and interviews but the week’s activities ended on the highest note the team has yet to date including its podium finish at Lime Rock in July.

At the Night of Champions award banquet held in Monterey, Steve and Tere received the Green Racing Agency Special Award that was presented by Margo T. Oge, Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality with the Environmental Protection Agency; Patrick Davis, Program Manager of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Program Office at the U. S. Department of Energy; and James Smith, President Elect and Director, SAE International.  The award was on a special recycled and sustainable bamboo plaque stating:

The United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Department of Energy and SAE International congratulate the pioneering air pollution reduction and energy conservation contributions of Steve and Tere Pruitt of Corsa Motorsports in the development of a competitive hybrid electric race car in the 2009 American Le Mans Series Green Challenge.

“It was totally unexpected” said Steve Pruitt noting that “the project does represent the future and as the tag line for the American Le Mans Series says: ‘To Tomorrow. Faster’. We do have the most sophisticated car on the planet and know that we are dealing with futuristic technology and this weekend we believe we demonstrated that tomorrow is not far away and at the same time we have discovered how to make tomorrow go faster as well which bodes well for next season.”

“We have been contacted by a number of individuals and entities who either attended the Stanford event, saw the Wall Street Journal article or attended or saw the telecast of the 4-hour race with inquiries ranging from potential appearances at transportation technology conferences to requests from fans for simple explanations about the technology” said Pruitt.  “We believe in the education potential of the program through our Racing Into The Future educational program for secondary school students which demonstrates to students the educational and career pathways available in this emerging workforce area and we try to respond to every inquiry or request we can as the opportunity to educate the public not just about the racecar but on the necessity of our use of these technologies by consumers is of great importance to the future energy considerations of our country” he added.

The team plans to next exhibit the car at the SEMA show in Las Vegas the first week of November.r.