One hundred of the nation’s best young automotive technicians, including Bothell High students Jacob Kallinen and Roman Wagner, will compete in the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals June 10–12. The competition will be held at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., where two-student teams from all 50 states will vie for first-place honors.

The championship student team will earn thousands of dollars in scholarships and a weeklong job shadow experience with auto racing royalty – former Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne and his Wood Brothers Racing team. The National Finals consist of a written exam and a timed event where the students will compete to identify glitches and deliberately-installed “bugs” in identical 2012 Ford Fiestas. The team with the best combined written and hands-on score will win the national championship.

Kallinen and Wagner were among 13,000 high students across the nation that completed on the initial online exam which qualified them to advance to the hands-on competition in Washington state on April 24. Bothell High earned first place out of 10 qualifying schools during the hands-on competition. Bothell High’s automotive instructor, Patrick McCue, will also travel to Michigan to provide support and guidance during the national competition.

The winning two-student team will have an opportunity to participate in a job shadow that will include:

• Immersion into the Wood Brothers Racing team as they prepare for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7

• Serve as honorary pit-crew members on the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion under the guidance of Crew Chief Donnie Wingo

• Mentoring by No. 21 driver Trevor Bayne at both the Wood Brothers Racing shop in Harrisburg, NC, and also trackside at Daytona.