Two TCTC automotive students compete today in national skills competition

Staff report

DEARBORN, MICH.

Trumbull Career and Technical Center students Joe Coffey and Blaze Kanchok will represent Ohio at the 65th Annual Ford/AAA National Student Auto Skills Competition today at Ford Headquarters in Dearborn.

Coffey and Kanchok will compete against the top automotive students in the country. All 50 states chose two students to enter the competition based on having the highest scores on the state competition.

Their instructor, Dave Gillies, will attend as their coach.

Today’s competition involves a race against the clock to correctly diagnose and repair a deliberately “bugged” Ford vehicle. There also will be a written competition.

Top-placed teams receive scholarship money and prizes in addition to the grand prize — a weeklong job-shadow experience at the Daytona International Speedway.

The winners will shadow Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 car and 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne leading up to and during the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona Beach July 5.

Coffey and Kanchok earned the right to compete by winning in May at a competition in Independence, Ohio, among 18 other Ohio students.

Coffey and Kanchok were able to compete in Independence as a result of having a top score in the preliminary online exam administered in January.