When it became clear that his son was also mechanically inclined, he was not surprised. Pilgrim High School will come in sixth. Newport Area Career and Technical Center is the first to close the hood of their car. The other mechanics flinch at the sound. The Newport team revs the engine and takes off for their test drive, then cruises into the nearby AAA garage to be judged.
Accuracy counts for more.
The winners turned out to be the team from Davies Career and Technical High School, in Lincoln. Jesse Budnick and Jason Marrapese will have their choice of scholarships, but they have already been signed up by Universal Technical Institute, which has branches across the country. It's not unusual, he says, for school recruiters to start watching a talented young mechanic as early as ninth grade. He's been watching Marrapese and Budnick that long, he says. Warwick Area Career and Technical Center finished only third, but Bill Valerno is pleased and proud of his students.