Ford/AAA National Auto Skills Competition 2007

Tomorrow's Technician Editor Ed Sunkin, Brake and Front End Editor Andrew Markel, and I will be driving up to Dearborn, Michigan on Sunday to help judge the Ford/AAA National Auto Skills Competition. Last year was my first time as a judge and it was a great experience. It is inspiring to see enthusiastic young men and women come together to compete against each other as they try to become national champions. They are all so enthusiastic and nervous, yet they are very well-prepared. They are all required to wear a uniform as they work through the mechanical side of the competition. Last year Ford provided 50 beautiful, brand-new mustangs for these young men and women to tend. As part of the competition, the students are also given written tests. The combined written and mechanical scores determine the national champions.


How the Competition Works
This is a nationwide competition for 11th and 12th grade students in secondary schools and colleges (serving local high schools) that offer courses in automotive technology and have at least one full-time or part-time automotive instructor. Schools may enter a team of two to ten 11th and/or 12th grade students per full time automotive instructor, but each instructor must apply individually.
Each participating instructor selects his best 11th or 12th grade auto technology students to take the state qualifying exam which is taken on line and administered by a test administrator at the school
The combined score of the two highest scoring students from each school becomes the team score and counts 40% in the state finals.
In most states the ten teams scoring highest on the state qualifying exam then move on to the "hands-on" state finals scheduled each year in late April or early May.
In the "hands-on" competition, new Ford Motor Company vehicles are uniformly "bugged" so that each team has identical malfunctions to diagnose and repair. The competition requires repairs to be made with the highest quality workmanship in the lowest total time.
The winning two-person team from each state and their instructor are provided expense-paid trips to the national finals in June.
At the national competition, each member of the 50 state teams will take a written exam. Errors on the written exams are converted into time demerits that are added to the team's time on the "hands-on" mechanical competition in both the state and national competition.
Each vehicle in the competition is supervised by a team judge who supplies new parts upon request. When a team believes it has returned its vehicle to normal working order the hood is closed, signaling the timer to stop the team's clock. The team and its judge then take the vehicle on a short road test.
The team may then return the vehicle to its work area for further diagnosis and repair, or proceed to final judging.
The team with the fewest quality-of-workmanship demerits and the best combined total score of repair time and written exam will be declared the winner.