A record number of local high school teams took part Jan. 17 in the 2020 NFADA Ron Smith Memorial AutoTech Competition at the SUNY Erie Community College-Vehicle Technology Training Center in Orchard Park. The event was hosted by the Niagara Frontier Automobile Dealers Association and SUNY Erie Community College.
The competition featured teams of two high school automotive seniors who went through a series of diagnostic, workstation and performance tests to measure their automotive technical skills and abilities. Ford Motor Company provided vehicles for the students to compete on.
Also during the event, teams of high school juniors competed against a stopwatch in an Olympic-style format to dismount and mount tires using a tire-changing machine. Overall, the competition featured a record number of participants, including 13 senior and 14 junior teams.
Top finishers in the senior competition were:
• 1st Place, Dan Eckert and Charles Hanlon, Erie 2 BOCES, WD Ormsby Center, East Aurora.
• 2nd Place, Lucas Doran and Patrick Willis, Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, Batavia.
• 3rd Place, Samantha Conrad and Brian Eskant, Erie 1 BOCES, Potter Career & Tech Center, West Seneca.
Top junior teams in the Tire Rodeo were:
• 1st Place, Dylan Stephens and Tyler Hinton, Erie 1 BOCES, Potter Career & Tech Center, West Seneca.
• 2nd Place, Devon Zinter and Joshua Roberts, Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, Batavia.
• 3rd Place, Ethan Andrucyk and Ian Dorsheimer, Erie 2 BOCES, WD Ormsby Center, East Aurora.
The NFADA would like to congratulate Scott Stark, instructor from WD Ormsby Center, for coaching the top finishing team in the senior division for the second consecutive year, and Samantha Conrad of Potter Career & Tech Center on being the first female participant to finish in the top three in several years!
First place finishers in the senior division will now represent their school and the Niagara Frontier Automobile Dealers Association at the National Automotive Technology Competition in New York City in April.
