Auto skills bring
glory to 2 Maui grads
Two recent Maui High School graduates took second place at the 2003 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills national finals on June 24 in Washington, D.C., marking the eighth consecutive year that Hawaii has placed in the nation's top 10.
Aaron Yamada and Colby Cabacungan raced against 49 other teams to repair a malfunctioning 2003 Ford Taurus. Each team worked on different vehicles that had the same flaws.
After 52 minutes of fixing glitches, Yamada and Cabacungan shut the car hood, signaling to the judges that they were finished.
"Deciding whether to close the hood or continue working on the vehicle was the hardest part," said Yamada. "I was actually pretty calm while we were working, but I got real nervous after we were done."
Once the hood is closed, "time officially stops," said Dennis Ishii, the boys' auto tech teacher and coach. "If they think the car is running OK, they drive it to the finish line," nicknamed the "point of no return," he said.
Hawaii was among only three or four teams that crossed the finish line with a "perfect" automobile. Yamada and Cabacungan fixed every malfunction including bad fuses and a bad starter.
Hawaii's team was beaten by the Minnesota team, which shut its hood after 39 minutes.
Hawaii teams have ranked in the nation's top 10 since 1995. Maui High School has won the state competition in 11 out of the 12 years, losing only in 1994.
Yamada and Cabacungan each won $4,000 in scholarship money, and will continue their automotive education next year when they enroll in Leeward Community College's Ford Asset Program, a two-year program designed to teach both in the classroom and on Ford dealership sites.