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The Chisago Lakes High School Supermileage Team ranked in the top four finishers for all four categories at the annual MTEA Supermileage Challenge, held at Brainerd International Speedway May 14-15.

Under the direction of teacher Mike Sandell, the CLHS team first started meeting last September, where the team members decided to use two vehicles from last year’s competition and build two new vehicles so they could compete in all four categories of the challenge.

The 15 students divided into teams to work on the four vehicles for the stock, modified, E-85 and experimental categories.

Eric Zitelman, Jeremiah Malchow and Brian Revier prepared the stock car for competition.

In all four classes, students must design and construct a vehicle that has a minimum of three wheels, powered by a Briggs and Stratton engine, that will get the highest possible mileage rating while maintaining a 15 mph speed.

In the stock class, students were required to use a stock 3.5 hp engine and were not allowed to make any modifications.

Zitelman said the biggest challenge was the design – as well as the final assembly. To begin, the team looked at other vehicles for ideas.

“We learned from the other cars here and tweaked different things,” he said. The CLHS stock class vehicle took first in the state competition last year, running at 473 miles per gallon (mpg).

This year, the team’s vehicle surpassed that mark and took first once again. It recorded 812.95 mpg, with an average mileage over the course of six runs of 748.98 mpg.

The stock team said they have been meeting two days a week throughout the school year to work on the vehicle, but when crunch time came, they started meeting every day over the last few weeks to get it ready.

They said it was great to win, and fun to compete on the Brainerd track.

In the modified class, Justin Rivard, Jason Carlson and Tyler Belisle earned third place with a mileage of 483.13 mpg and an average of 446.53 mpg.

The modified teams use a Briggs and Stratton engine that can be modified however the team chooses.

Rivard and Carlson shared the driving duties during the two-day contest and are pleased that their modified vehicles are improving each year.

They both enjoy working on cars and know taking classes in mechanical drafting and industrial technologies have helped them on the supermileage team.

The biggest challenge for them – getting the vehicle done on time. All the team members worked Friday night and all day Saturday before the competition to get the vehicles ready.

Gus Garbe, Matt Grunwald and Eric Tilly were the team working on the experimental class vehicle.

In this class, teams can use any Briggs and Stratton engine available.

The team tried several different modifications along the way, and said they quickly found out what doesn’t work. The key during the race, they said, is to get up to your top speed quickly and spend as much time coasting as possible.

The experimental vehicle placed second, with a top mileage of 552.47 mpg and an average of 429 mpg.

The E 85 class is a fairly new category for the race. Teams must build a vehicle that runs on 85 percent ethanol fuel.

Team members Dan Boyer, Ryan Whitacre, Adam Tilly, Aaron Rivard, Ryan Rivard and Roger French learned that it is not as efficient a fuel, so specific engine modifications were required to make it run.

The end result was a third place finish for the team, with a top mileage of 389.11 mpg and an average of 346.23.

Sandell said he is very pleased with how the four teams finished, particularly as the event neared and none of the vehicles were ready.

“A couple of weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought they’d make it,” he said. “A lot of these kids are involved in other activities that also take a lot of their time, so it’s tough to get here and work on the cars.”

Along with finding time to work on the vehicles, team members must find time to pay for the vehicles. The supermileage team doesn’t receive any funding through the school district, so student team members must raise up to $5,000 to help pay for their vehicles and expenses related to the competition.

This year’s sponsors were: Mid-Minnesota Wire, Plastic Products, Cross Country Excavating, Wild River Electric, Lindstrom Fire Department, Chisago City Fire Department, Security State Bank of Marine, RiverBank MN, Everett and Connie Carlson and Ronald and Juanita Morgan.

This is the 17th year that Chisago Lakes has had a Supermileage Team. Sandell has been at the helm throughout its existence and missed only one Brainerd contest in those years.

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