Nation's Top High School Auto Tech Students "Rev Up" their Skills with Roush Fenway Racing

Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Winners to Job Shadow No. 6 Ford Team at Daytona International Speedway

ORLANDO, Fla., June 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AAA and Roush Fenway Racing today announced that the winning pair of high school automotive technology students from the 2011 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals will receive a dream learning experience—a week behind the scenes with the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Nationwide Series team of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

The job shadow will begin June 27 at the Roush Fenway Racing facility in Concord, N.C., where the Nationwide Series No. 6 Ford team will open up its race shop to the winning students to give them an in-depth look at auto technicians in the fast-paced world of NASCAR, as the team prepares for the upcoming Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway on July 1.

The students and their instructor will then travel to Daytona, where they will serve as honorary pit crew members during the NASCAR race weekend. The students also will have the opportunity to interact at-track with 2010 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year, Stenhouse, Jr., who is serving as the national spokesperson for the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills program.

"There's no way I could compete without the work of an amazing race team to make sure my car is in peak condition," said Stenhouse, Jr. "I'm excited to be part of the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition and support these talented automotive technology students who may just be our future NASCAR automotive technicians."

The once-in-a-lifetime job shadow is one of the grand prizes for the two-person team of high school students that wins the 62nd Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals. The winning students will earn this prize after beating out teams from all 50 states in a written exam and timed event in which they raced against the clock and each other to identify glitches and repair deliberately installed "bugs" in a 2011 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 truck.

"The thousands of young, aspiring automotive technicians who devote such time and energy into preparing for this competition are truly the future of the automotive industry," said Roush Fenway Racing Team Owner Jack Roush. "That's why Roush Fenway Racing is proud to join with Ford and AAA for a fourth year to encourage more students to consider careers in automotive technology and to give two lucky students the chance to learn from some of the best technicians in the industry."

Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills is the nation's largest competition for high school automotive technology students, giving thousands of teens the keys to start their careers in the automotive service industry by offering nearly $12 million in automotive scholarships at both the state and national level. A pool of more than 10,000 junior and senior automotive technology students started the journey to the National Finals with an online exam in March. The highest scorers advanced to their states' hands-on competition, with the top team from each state competing in the National Finals at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., June 12-14.

About Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills (www.AutoSkills.com)  

Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills is a nationwide automotive technology competition for high school juniors and seniors interested in pursuing careers as automotive service technicians. In its 62nd year, the competition tests students' automotive knowledge, workmanship and problem-solving abilities with a written test as well as a race against the clock to diagnose and properly repair intentionally "bugged" vehicles. Ford and AAA are dedicated to the competition as part of their commitment to the future of automotive service in America.

AAA news releases, high-resolution images, broadcast-quality video, fact sheets and podcasts are available on the AAA NewsRoom at AAA.com/news. Additional information about Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills is available at AAA.com/AutoSkills.

For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.

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Christie Hyde
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SOURCE AAA