Knowing how to fix cars is taking 17-year-old David Chavez places. As a student at Lawrenceville’s Maxwell High School of Technology, Chavez and classmate Jorge Gonzalez won Georgia’s AAA/Ford Student Auto Skills competition for high schoolers who want to earn a living as automotive service technicians. Winning state earned the pair a trip to the national finals in Dearborn, Mich. last month . Chavez, who just graduated high school and is working at Rick Hendrick Chevrolet in Duluth, has mapped out a future around cars. Not just fixing them. Some day he plans to wheel around in his dream car — that really fast one from “Fast & Furious.”
Q: Have you always liked cars?
A: Everyone in my family has always been into cars and that is how I got into them. My uncle owns a body shop, my other uncle works at Ford and my dad works at another dealership. As a kid, I had car posters all around my room and a carpet that looked like a road.
Q: What’s so cool about cars?
A: For most people, a car is just a thing to get from point A to point B. For me, I like working on cars, getting dirty and making something work.
Q: What kind of car do you have?
A: A 1998 Nissan 240SX, which is an old sports car that I modified. I am getting a Honda S2000 so that I can have a more reliable car for college.
Q: Do you plan to work on cars in the future?
A: My plan is to go to Georgia State in the fall for my core courses, then Georgia Tech for mechanical engineering. Once I make enough money, I want to open my own performance shop.
Q: How did you and Jorge do at the national competition in Detroit?
A: We got 33 out of 50. We weren’t as prepared as we thought we were. At the national competition, it was a lot more difficult to diagnose the problem and get our car to start.
Q: What was the problem?
A: There were actually 10. The main problem was the fuel pump module and we couldn’t figure that one out. I am more used to working with older cars. This car was a 2014 Ford Fusion and everything is controlled by computer. We had an idea that the problem had to do with the fuel pump but we couldn’t get to the module.
Q: Can’t you just blame Jorge?
A: I tried. I told my fans it was his fault but it was definitely a group effort.
Q: Were you disappointed?
A: I wanted to take another trophy. But it was the first time we took a team from Maxwell to nationals so it was still pretty worth it. And we got our teacher two trophies at the state competition, one for highest score and one for winning the competition.
Q: So you are fond of Max Chavez, your Automotive Services teacher?
A: The first thing he said to me when I took his class was, with a name like Chavez, you better be good. He relates to students. He is just an awesome teacher.
Q: Do you have a dream car?
A: Every car person has a dream car. Mine is the Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R from the first car movie I ever watched as a kid, “Fast & Furious.” It was the awesome-est car to me back in the day. When I grew up and looked up information about it, I learned it really is a great car. Unfortunately, it is illegal to own in this country because it doesn’t pass some of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s specifications. I have to wait until it is considered a classic and doesn’t have to meet regulations to drive it legally.
Q: Does knowing about cars still help kids these days get dates?
A: It still does.
About the Author
