DEARBORN, June 27, 2007 (FCN) -- Daniel Lehmkuhl and Austin Castro of San Luis Obispo High School of California are the winners of the 2007 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals competition held at Ford World Headquarters Tuesday.
Teams from across the country squared off in a two-part competition consisting of a written exam and a timed, hands-on portion where they raced to correctly diagnose and repair identically "bugged" Ford Fusions.
"We felt fairly relaxed during the competition," Lehmkuhl said. "It was just us against the car."
By topping a field of 50 teams -- one from each state -- the California teens each receive a $2,500 general education scholarships from Ford and AAA. In addition, the students can choose from full tuition scholarships from one of several technical colleges. The students' high school instructor Jeff Lehmkuhl, father of competitor Daniel Lehmkuhl, returns to San Luis Obispo with a trophy for the school.
"Daniel and Austin proved they are America's most auto-savvy teens," said Allan Stanley, manager of Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills. "Their hard work and drive to be the top high school auto technicians is typical of all of the participants in the competition. The auto industry must attract such dedicated young people to keep America's vehicles operating safely and trouble-free."
The remaining top 10 teams, in order, were Saline High School in Michigan, Doherty High School in Colorado, Lake Norman High School in North Carolina, Fauquier High School in Virginia, Trumbull Career & Technical Center in Ohio, Mid America Technology Center in Oklahoma, South Shore Vocational Technical High School in Massachusetts, Vale High School in Oregon, and Maui High School in Hawaii.
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