This post, the first in a series, was written by Christie Hyde from AAA’s national office as she accompanies the winners of the 2011 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition, students Matthew Saunders and Drew Torrey of Vale, Ore., as they shadow a Roush Fenway Racing team.

The Competition

Some 10,000 high school automotive technology juniors and seniors competed this year for nearly $12 million in scholarships. Students that surpassed an online exam paired up at the state finals to diagnose and repair “bugged” Ford vehicles. Top teams moved to the national finals at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., where Vale High School’s Matthew Saunders and Drew Torrey took the national title with the highest written exam score and fastest repair time. In addition to winning scholarships and tools, the students and their instructor spent a week shadowing a Roush Fenway Racing NASCAR Nationwide Series team at its North Carolina race shop and Daytona International Speedway. ... Read More

This post, the third in a series, was written by Christie Hyde from AAA’s national office as she accompanies the winners of the 2010 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition, students McKenzie Nordland and Jonathan Anderson of Valley City, N.D., as they travel to job shadow the Roush Fenway racing team.

The competition winners had three NASCAR events on the agenda and during most NASCAR race weekends, when events are in the same town they take place at the same racetrack. However, Indianapolis is unique. The premiere NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at the infamous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series hold events at O’Reilly Motorsports Park, located six miles away.... Read More

This post, the second in a series, was written by Christie Hyde from AAA’s national office as she accompanies the winners of the 2010 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition, students McKenzie Nordland and Jonathan Anderson of Valley City, N.D., as they travel to job shadow the Roush Fenway racing team.

The second day of the trip began early for the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills national champions as we traveled a short distance from our hotel in Mooresville, N.C., to Roush Fenway Racing’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race shop.... Read More

This post, the first in a series, was written by Christie Hyde from AAA’s national office as she accompanies the winners of the 2010 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition, students McKenzie Nordland and Jonathan Anderson of Valley City, N.D., as they travel to job shadow the Roush Fenway racing team.

The winners began their job shadow experience with Roush Fenway Racing at the team’s headquarters in Concord, N.C., with a walk through the Roush Fenway Racing Museum, which is open to the public free of charge, Monday through Friday. Then they received a special behind-the-scenes tour of the team facilities that very few are lucky enough to experience.... Read More

     This entry, the sixth and final in a series, was submitted by AAA’s Christie Hyde who accompanied the winners on their job-shadowing trip. Read all posts here.

We awoke the day before the scheduled race to sunny skies and pleasant temperatures in Pocono Mountains. We traveled to the racetrack for a shortened day in the garage. The 2009 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills national champs quickly went to work assisting the DeWALT team in preparing the No. 17 Ford Fusion for back-to-back practice sessions. During practice,... Read More

          This entry, the fifth in a series, was submitted by AAA’s Christie Hyde who accompanied the winners on their job-shadowing trip. Read all posts here.

Our first morning in Pocono was an early one, as we headed out to the racetrack at 6:30 a.m. After picking up our credentials from NASCAR, we headed into the garage where the DeWALT team was beginning the vehicle inspection process. Justin, Matt and Mark jumped in to help, pushing the race car, installing bodywork, hauling the inspection... Read More

          This entry, the fourth in a series, was submitted by AAA’s Christie Hyde who accompanied the winners on their job-shadowing trip. Read all posts here.

The fourth day of our trip took a slightly slower pace and allowed us to catch our breath a bit before busy race weekend. In the morning, we drove slightly further north to Mooresville, North Carolina. Nicknamed ‘Race City USA,’ Mooresville is home to the NASCAR Technical Institute—a partnership... Read More

     This entry, the third in a series, was submitted by AAA’s Christie Hyde who accompanied the winners on their job-shadowing trip. Read all posts here.

After a spending a day at the track with the DeWALT Racing team, day three of our trip took us to Roush Fenway Racing, where the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills national champs spent the day alongside the team during final prep for this weekend’s race.

Roush Fenway Racing has an entire... Read More

 
This entry, the second in a series, was submitted by AAA’s Christie Hyde who accompanied the winners on their job-shadowing trip. Read all posts here.

Tuesday was the first official day of 2009 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills national champs’ job shadowing with Roush Fenway Racing’s DeWALT Racing team. But our morning didn’t start over at team’s headquarters in Concord. Instead, we loaded into our Hertz rental SUV for a daytrip with the team to Rockingham Speedway.

Our drive to... Read More

     This entry, the first in a series, was submitted by AAA’s Christie Hyde who accompanied the winners on their job-shadowing trip

BACKGROUND:  Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills is a nationwide automotive technology competition for high school juniors and seniors interested in pursuing careers as automotive service technicians. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the competition that tests students’ automotive knowledge, workmanship and problem-solving abilities... Read More