Navarre, FL –
On a warm Florida morning, the whine of a small electric motor cuts through the chatter of students arriving at Navarre High School. Behind the building, a teenager in a helmet carves lap after careful lap around a track circling the football field, drawing curious onlookers to the fence.
This is the "Shock and Awe" Electra-thon team. For the students who build, race, and live and breathe these low-slung electric machines, it is far more than an after-school hobby. "These kids are spoiled rotten," said James Fox, the team's coach, and a woodworking teacher with 18 years in the classroom. "They get to do things I only ever dreamt about as a kid."
From a Kit to a Program
The program traces its roots to a phone call James received on a July afternoon several years ago. Florida Power and Light, as part of an initiative covering 65 percent of the state, was offering a single electric race car kit to one school per county in its service area. The Santa Rosa County CTE director thought of James immediately. His answer was immediate. "Yes, whatever it is, yes, let's do it — I don't care, just yes," he recalled with a laugh.
The kit arrived December 4th. It was anything but turnkey. Students received a welded frame, a handful of bicycle spokes, rims, and a collection of loose components. Every piece of the car had to be assembled by hand. Today, the team fields four cars. Two of those were built in collaboration with West Florida Tech, a rival school whose coach specializes in fiberglass molding. James, a skilled welder, fabricated matching frames for both programs. The coach produced matching shells. Since one school is in Escambia County and the other in Santa Rosa County, the joint creation has an unofficial name — the "Escarosa car."
The Science Behind the Speed
The cars may look modest, but the engineering demands are anything but. Each vehicle runs on either lead-acid or lithium batteries, with every car limited to one kilowatt of energy per race. The strategic differences between battery types drive much of the team's preparation. Lithium batteries weigh just eight pounds. Lead-acid batteries tip the scales at 73 — a significant penalty in a sport where every pound matters. But battery choice is just the beginning.
Weight management adds another layer of complexity. Rules require drivers to weigh at least 180 pounds. Students who fall short — and several do — use dive bags packed with ballast weights, carefully positioned to balance the car for each individual driver. "If Sophia gets in the car, her weights go here, here, and here, because she only weighs 100 pounds," James explained. "We have to add 80 pounds to that car."
On the shop floor, grid lines taped to the concrete serve as an alignment station. Before major races, every car is rolled out and checked to ensure it tracks straight and true. The fastest the team has ever gone: 58 miles per hour — on bicycle tires, an inch, and a half off the ground, at Homestead Miami Speedway.
Building More Than Race Cars
Driver selection on Shock and Awe is meritocratic. Practice hours are logged, reset after every race, and the student with the most seat time earns the next start. It is a system that rewards dedication over seniority. Liam Brown, a 12th grader who transferred schools specifically to join the program, is currently leading the hour count heading into the team's next race at Five Flags Speedway — a banked oval that once hosted a 44-car field drawing teams from five states, including Texas, Georgia, and South Florida. "I love building stuff, creating stuff," Liam said. He plans to study mechanical and electrical engineering and hopes to continue Electrathon racing in college. Emily O'Hearn, an 11th grader who grew up watching Formula One, joined after a friend encouraged her to try out. She arrived knowing nothing about the program. Now she is eyeing a career in mechanical engineering, possibly, she said, as part of an F1 pit crew. "It can give you so many life skills," Emily said. "Accountability, taking charge when someone needs it, working efficient but effective, problem-solving. It's an amazing thing to do." Team assistant Rainee Bishop, who serves as what the coach calls the program's "team mom," has watched students transform over the course of a season. "To see them when they first come in and then at the end of the season — it's just huge," Bishop said. "They're so timid and quiet, and at the end they're the noisiest kids out there." She recalled the team's first year, when students who would never have crossed paths in the hallways found themselves working side by side. At the Army-sponsored "Shakana Shakedown" race — the program's annual homecoming event — former members returned from as far away as Georgia just to watch. "It's created a community within," she said.
The Army Steps In
Keeping a competitive racing program alive requires more than passion. Hotels, diesel truck rentals, $40 tires, $15 inner tubes, and cross-state travel add up quickly. That is where sponsors like the U.S. Army make the difference. "They literally keep our batteries charged," James said. "They keep it alive."
The Army's sponsorship of the Shakana Shakedown has helped fund equipment, travel, and outreach — including school demonstrations where the team brings its cars to elementary schools and lets young students peer inside the open canopies at motors, wiring, and the driver's cramped cockpit. For Liam and Emily, the Army's involvement carries meaning beyond a logo on a car. "It lets us help reach out to everyone," Liam said. "It could show how the Army can — hope. That's the word. Better impacts the future." Emily, who said she briefly considered enlisting in the Marines, sees a direct line between the engineering discipline she has developed on the race team and the kind of precision required in military technology. The connection has not gone unnoticed on the Army's side, either. The hands-on STEM skills, teamwork under pressure, and problem-solving culture that define Shock and Awe mirror the qualities the service looks to cultivate in the next generation.
Eyes on Five Flags
For now, the team's focus is on Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola — their biggest race of the year, held on a banked oval where they hope to sustain speeds between 40 and 45 miles per hour for a full hour. Liam will almost certainly be behind the wheel. The batteries are already being tended to. The alignment lines are on the floor. Superintendent Dr. Barber, who has attended races, owns a team jersey with her name on the back, and once handed out trophies trackside, will likely be watching. "When you have so many people supporting you," James said, "it's hard not to be successful."