Mike Schmidt Memorial Award (Baja SAE North American Champions)
Sponsored by: Schmidt Family, Marty Gordon, Rochester Institute of Technology
Awarded for: Perseverance, engineering excellence, and competitive success as demonstrated by earning the highest cumulative point score at all the North American Baja SAE events in a single competition season. The award is given in memory of Mike Schmidt—a founding member of the “resurrected” RIT Mini-Baja team. Schmidt was extremely motivated by the “Mini-Baja” program at RIT and was a driving force behind RIT’s first participation at all three North American Mini-Baja events in 1999. Schmidt’s premature passing at age 21 in February 2000 was a great loss to RIT, Baja SAE, and the general engineering community. It is hoped that this award will preserve the spirit of Mike Schmidt within all who participate in Baja SAE.
Award Classes: First, Second, and Third Place
Award Criteria: The award is presented to the team that BOTH (1) competes in all SAE sanctioned Baja SAE events in the U.S./Canada [previously known as East, Midwest, West] AND (2) has the highest normalized point total in all three events.
Award Procedure: The award is based on the cumulative point total accumulated at all the North American Baja SAE events in a single competition season. If a school enters more than one vehicle in a competition, the point total for the vehicle having the highest point total per event will be used. For example, if Car #1 earns 790 points and Car #2 earns 850 points at Baja SAE Gearville—the points from Car #2 will be used to calculate the total points for the award. If at Baja SAE Motoland Car #1 earns 900 points and Car #2 earns 500 points—the points from Car #1 will be used to calculate the total points for the award. Simply put, the higher scoring cars points at each event will be used. If the maximum point score that can be earned at a competition is other than 1000, then each teams earned points will be normalized on a basis of 1000 points.
Award Presentation: The award will be presented by a sponsor or a representative of the sponsors at the final North American Baja SAE event of the season. This award will always be the final award presented.
Sponsor Contact: Marty Gordon, RIT, 716-913-2912, megite@rit.edu