RENTON – Modern vehicles are complex creatures, and fixing the million things that can go awry can take surgeonlike skill and precision.
“There’s three to four times more technology than (in) the first spacecraft that landed on the moon,” said David Robbins, an automotive instructor at Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood. “To be able to work on these cars is a challenge.”
Six teenagers from three high schools in Snohomish and Island counties were among “the best of the best” to face that challenge Tuesday at the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills State Finals at Renton Technical College.
Oak Harbor High School juniors Bryan Larsen and Nathan Reed took first place with a perfect score, nabbing trophies, free tools and $30,000 worth of scholarship offers each.
They were the only one of the 10 teams to correctly diagnose and repair all 10 “bugs” in a specially prepared test vehicle.
“My heart’s still beating a thousand beats per second,” said Larsen, 16, after learning the results.
More than 160 students from 25 high schools across the state took the initial written test to qualify for the competition.
“It was an honor to be down here,” said Reed, 17. “And to come out with a clean car like that – I’m really happy.”
Pairs of student mechanics were spread across 10 service bays at the college, hunched under hoods and behind panels of identical sport utility vehicles. Teams had 90 minutes to find and fix the problems, take the cars for a test drive, then park them for the judges’ scrutiny.
The Oak Harbor team was the third to finish, but had the highest score. A faulty low-pressure switch in the air conditioning system threw a wrench in other teams’ performance.
Meadowdale seniors Dustin Haviland and Shawn Kimble, both 18, were frustrated after six men in white hats reported their “demerit” for missing the switch.
Still, the boys finished in fourth place and knew it was complimentary of their skills to get so far in the contest.
Their career plans include stock car racing and working in shops – things to keep them surrounded by the smells of grease and gas for years to come.
“There’s a new challenge every day, something new,” Haviland said.
Getting to the state competition opens doors for students, and not just with lucrative scholarship offers.
For example, Monroe High School senior Mark Galloway, 18, who attends Sno-Isle Skills Center, already has a signed contract with Speedway Chevrolet to work in the service department, his father said.
The dealership also will sponsor him as he gets his technician’s certification.
“He’s an 18-year-old kid who already knows what he wants to do,” Greg Galloway said.
In many ways, working with cars is ingrained in these boys.
Across the board, proud parents related stories about how even as toddlers, their sons were drawing pictures of cars, building cars out of Lego blocks or taking remote control cars apart to see how they worked.
Jim and Ginny Connell of Lake Stevens recalled how their son, Sno-Isle Skills Center student Sean Connell, 18, worked on his sister’s VW at age 2.
“His fingernails haven’t been clean since,” Ginny Connell said.
Kathy Savage said she is proud of her son, Larsen, and his first-place finish. “It makes the mess in the garage worth it.”
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