Texans are this Year's Best Student Auto Technicians; Washingtonian is Tops Among Professionals at 11th Annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals

DEARBORN, Mich., June 29 -- Jacob Tilley and Garrett Johnson, students at Cy Fair High School in Cypress Texas (near Houston), won the 11th annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals today in Dearborn, Michigan.

Tilley and Johnson successfully diagnosed and corrected a dozen mechanical/electrical "bugs" deliberately placed in a 2004 Ford Escape. That hands-on performance today on a field adjacent to the headquarters of Ford Motor Co. and AAA Michigan, combined with their score in a 100-question written exam taken yesterday, earned each of them more than $31,000 in scholarship prizes.

Tilley and Johnson were competing against 49 other two-student teams, each of which qualified for the national finals by winning their state championship.

In the 2004 Ultimate Master Technicians competition for professional auto techs, held simultaneously with the student contest, John Roman of Discovery Ford Lincoln Mercury in Moses Lake, Wash., took top honors. He will receive $6,000 in cash, a two-year lease on a 2004 Ford F150 truck, and several thousands of dollars worth of tools. Sixteen other professional auto techs took part in the competition, each of them the winner of a regional contest. This was the first time the national finals have been held outside of Washington D.C.

  Other top finishers in the student competition were:
  2nd    Drew Friede / Kyle Miller, Rolla Tech Institute, Rolla, Missouri.
  3rd    Don Lewis / Matt Huston, Capital High School, Helena, Montana.
  4th    Tyler Anderson / Nick Maag, Vale High School, Vale, Oregon.
  5th    Corey Williams / Jonathon Allen, North Iredell High School, Olin,
         North Carolina.
  6th    Keith Molina / Jesse Bakke, Lahainaluna High School, Lahaina,
         Hawaii.
  7th    Joshua Loyd / Andrew Orpin, Newton High School, Newton, Kansas.
  8th    Shane Albers / Nathan Wozniak, Grafton High School, Grafton,
         Wisconsin.
  9th    Sam Mrofcza / Peter Spencer, Willowbrook High School, Villa Park,
         Illinois.
  10th   Paul Jordan / Clair Hawkins, Blackfoot High School, Blackfoot,
         Idaho.

In the Ultimate Master Technicians competition, the top five finishers were:

  1st    John Roman, Discovery Ford Lincoln Mercury, Moses Lake, Washington.
  2nd    Joe Julsrud, Finish Line Ford Lincoln Mercury, Statesville,
         North Carolina.
  3rd    Darrin Byrd, T & W Ford Sales-Service, Williamstown, Kentucky.
  4th    Geoff Fowler, David Ford Lincoln Mercury, Keene, New Hampshire.
  5th    Tom Riefers, Rich Ford Lincoln Mercury, Archbold, Ohio.