(FORTUNE Magazine) – Mom could probably outstrip these hot rods in her station wagon. But 20,000 spectators would have booed her -- and her dirty wheels -- off the track at the first annual Solar and Electric 500 auto races held in Phoenix this April. The solar champ: a model made by Swatch, a Swiss watchmaker, which moved almost silently around a 300-kilometer, or 186-mile, course at an average speed of 62 miles per hour. A battery-powered Honda CRX won the 200-kilometer electric car race, humming along at an average 54 mph. Says race organizer Ernie Holden of the turnout: ''It wasn't the crowd you'd get to watch the famous fire-breathing oil burners, but we were pleased.'' Holden, director of the Solar and Electric Racing Association, hopes the 500 will stimulate development of alternative-fuel cars, which emit about 90% fewer pollutants than their gas-fueled counterparts. Sponsors included General Motors (which put up $6,000) and the U.S. Department of Energy ($30,000). Spectators paid $10 each to see the ecologically correct main event.