Eric Lubarsky ASE Winner Of ACDelco's Technician of the Millennium II

Master Automotive Technician Wins ACDelco's "Technician Of The Millennium II" Competition

Detroit - ACDelco has announced the winner of this year's Technician of the Millennium II competition, the company's first-ever international vehicle diagnostics and repair competition. Eric Lubarsky, an ASE Master Automotive Technician and co-owner of E&G Automotive in West Springfield, Massachusetts, earned the coveted title during the two-hour hands-on contest held in Charlotte, North Carolina. The contest is part of ACDelco's Total Service Support (TSS) Program, which supports Independent Service Centers.

"This contest has achieved the goal of showcasing the professional technician and has strongly enhanced the ACDelco brand image with our customers." says Susan Christophersen, manager of ACDelco service training in the United States.

"The Technician of the Millennium II competition is ACDelco's way of acknowledging the best technicians throughout the U.S. and Canada who demonstrate the highest level of expertise and professionalism."

The international competition, which attracted nearly 5,000 TSS technicians, began last October. The technicians answered a 100-question ASE written exam in phase I of the competition. From this exam, 30 technicians from the U.S and 15 from Canada moved on to phase II, which consisted of diagnosing and repairing predetermined "bugs" placed in a 2001 Buick LeSabre. In phase III, the final 9 contestants competed by diagnosing and repairing a 2001 Chevrolet Malibu.

Lubarksy, representing ACDelco's Northeast Region, emerged as the grand prize winner. Rick Kelly, representing ACDelco's Western Region and Buck's Automotive in Tucson, Arizona, was 1st runner-up. Bill James, of Bill's Quality Automotive in Tulsa, Oklahoma, located in the South Central Region, was 2nd runner-up.

"The name ACDelco has been around forever, and their products have a reputation for excellence," says Lubarsky. " The organization has a good image, and I want to help project that positive image. I'm proud to be wearing the ACDelco Technician of the Millennium title."

In addition to a commemorative trophy, Lubarsky's grand prize package included: a brand new 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche truck; a Mitchell laptop computer with a DVD drive and mechanical estimating software; a Vetronix MTS 6100 Service Bay Workstation with an integrated Roll Cabinet; a Micro 500 kit from Midtronics; a $2500 gift certificate from SPX; and 200 minutes of TAC from Diagnostic Hotline.

Kelly's prize package included: an adventure trip for two to Jamaica, a $10,000 ACDelco Exclusively Yours Rewards Card, a $1500 gift certificate from SPX, a $1000 gift certificate from Mitchell and a commemorative trophy. James' prizes included: a $5,000 ACDelco Exclusively Yours Rewards Card, a $500 Mitchell gift certificate and a commemorative trophy.

All nine phase III, best of the best, technicians received an all-expense paid trip for two to the international competition, and were guests of ACDelco at the NASCAR(r) Winston Cup (r) UAW-GM Quality 500 race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

ACDelco, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Mich., is a global leader in automotive replacement parts and services offering products for virtually all makes and models. For more information, visit the ACDelco Web site at www.acdelco.com.

General Motors , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, designs, builds and markets cars and trucks worldwide. In 2000, GM earned $5.0 billion on sales of $ 183.3 billion, excluding special items. It employs about 372,000 people globally.