Youngstown State University's Penguin Baja Off-Road Racing team kicked off the 2023 Baja SAE competition season with two to 20 overall finishes and multiple top 10 event finishes.

The season comprises three events that take place between May and September. During the first two events in Oregon and Washington, YSU competed against 164 teams and finished in 9th place and 19th overall.

The 9th place finish is the second top 10 overall finish in the program's history.

In individual events, the YSU team took second place in the Engineering Design Event at both competitions and a best-ever 8th place finish in the four-hour endurance race in the Oregon competition.

The second place finish is the best to date for YSU and ranks them as the top Baja design team in the country, just behind the Canadian team.

Baja SAE challenges engineering students from colleges and universities around the world to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain and in some competitions, water.

Students work together as a team to discover and resolve technical challenges in design, test and manufacturing, as well as business issues.

Each team is expected to design and build a prototype of an all-weather, rugged, single seat, off-road recreational vehicle intended for sale to the nonprofessional weekend off-road enthusiast.

The third competition is set to take place in September in Nashport, Ohio where the incoming seniors will take the wheel.