Two Franklin Co. Teens Head To National Auto Competition

Jonathan Taylor and Carlos Utrera are good with their hands, at least when it comes to cars.  And anytime you get these two talented teens together, they’re unbeatable.
“We’ve learned each other pretty good and have been able to work together,” Jonathan Taylor tells NewsChannel 32.
They work so well together that they’ve been named the best student Auto technicians in Georgia. 
“This is like winning the Superbowl.”
Terry Wicker has worked alongside Jonathan and Carlos for the past year to help them prepare for the first round of the Ford/AAA Auto Skills competition, which was a 50 question test.  Their score was so good that they placed in the top 10 for the state competition.
“In fact, they were the highest written score, which is great academically speaking,” Wicker adds.
From there, the three learned the ins and outs of a Ford Focus and practiced fixing problems that could come up at state.
“No matter how easy or how hard it is, I just work on it,” Utrera explains.
And Carlos and Jonathan must have worked pretty hard, because on their big day in April. They won.
“It was easy. It took about 10 minutes and we already had it running before everyone else,” Taylor says.
But even though fixing 10 problems in a car at the state competition may have been easy, Wicker and his two students plan to prepare as best they can for nationals.
“We’re going to try our best.  We’re going to practice a lot so we can represent Georgia the best we can,” Carlos Utrera tells NewsChannel 32.
Jonathan and Carlos both won $30,000 scholarships when they placed 1st at the state competition.
The nationals will be on June 24th in Dearborn, Michigan.
More than $6 million in prizes and scholarships will be given to competitors there.