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Wisconsin History
The Beginning: The first High Mileage Vehicle Challenge in Wisconsin was held at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in the Spring of 1992. The students at that time of the Technology Education Collegiate Association (TECA) at UW-Stout wanted to put on an event similar to the one run by Technology Education Teachers in the state of Minnesota. The TECA students at the time did not have the time or knowledge of writing such a proposal to raise the funds. A Graduate Student in the Master's Degree program at UW-Stout at the time, Steve Hoersten, took on the task in the Fall of 1992. With the assistance of Dr. Kenneth Welty and Dr. Ed McDaniel (TECA Advisor in 1992), Steve submitted the proposal to the UW-Stout Foundation. The proposal was successful and TECA was awarded the funds needed to start the First HMV Competition. (Vague references to amount being $2,500.00)
First HMV Challenge: The first HMV Competition was conducted by a handful of TECA students in the UW-Stout Technology Park in Menomonie, WI, in the Spring of 1993. UW-Stout TECA/HMV hosted 6 cars their first year on a very rainy day. The event did not generate enough money to sustain itself, however the start-up funds from the foundation offset most of the costs for their second year as well.
Funding Early HMV:UW-Stout HMV was not self-sustaining the first few years through entry fees alone. With the help of Dr. Kenneth Welty, TECA advertised and sold "Motor Packs" along with curriculum to Wisconsin Technology Education Programs. The UW-Stout Technology Education department received a donation of several pallets of Small Motor Packs from a local industry. TECA advertised to WTEA Conferences and through WTEA Newsletters these "Motor Packs." This promotion generated dozens of orders and TECA had all the money they needed to run the HMV with funds to spare. The sale of "Motor Packs" generated thousands of dollars for TECA. After several years, TECA eventually ran out of motor packs. However, the HMV Competition was then large enough to support itself annually through entry fees, shirt sales and consessions during the event.
Growth - Road America: In the years around 2000 and 2001, HMV began to grow beyond 40 cars at the UW-Stout TECA/HMV Challenge.
Growth - FVTC: The Fall of 2001, FVTC was approached by NE-Wisconsin schools asking if it would be possible to have an event "on this side of the state." With collaboration from the TECA Students and Dr. Kenneth Welty at UW-Stout, the inaugural event went smoothly in the Spring of 2002. The first Fox Valley Technical College HMV Challenge was host to 17 High Mileage Vehicles on a very hilly and challenging course on the FVTC Campus. FVTC has been host to various strong supporters from the beginning including "Fox Valley Area Porsche Club" and "Miller Electric Manufacturing Co." The Porshe Club provided countless hours of volunteers for inspections and competition time while Miller provided equipment and expertise in cutting and joining technology during both inspection and competition days. Other various student clubs and staff at FVTC have also been a mainstay in providing inspectors, recovery vehicle drivers and more. The event grew quickly and by the third year, the challenge day site had moved to an area that surrounded the college's truck driving skid-pad in order to accomodate the volume of participants. With the addition of Wisconsin Electrathon teams in 2005, more complexity was taken on with the larger volume of the event. By 2007 the event organizers decided that the challenge day portion had outgrown the facilities and grounds on the campus of FVTC and moved that portion of the event to Wisconsin International Raceway (WIR) in Kaukauna, a fifteen minute drive from the college. The half-mile speedway was an instant hit with that year's 63 registered vehicles. The speedway offers their facilities for the students to use at a very deep discount and FVTC and WEEVA are surely appreciative of that.
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