NR man wins national auto tech contest

NEW RIEGEL — David Borer, of New Riegel, a service tech trainer at Reineke Family Dealerships, won first place in a national auto technician competition this fall. The TV program about the contest airs at 8 p.m. Friday on CBS Sports Network. In his job with Reineke, Borer said he trains new-hires to service vehicles, and "hopefully advance them within their career." He said this is the third year he's been part of the competition. In 2021, he received an email from the University of Northwest Ohio promoting the contest. One of the qualifying rounds was at the college in Lima. "They reached out to people and wanted to (start) promoting their training," he said. "I went down and tried it out and ended up winning a trip to Nashville that first year." The contest has categories for professionals and students. In 2022, he earned one of the top four spots nationally in the professional category and traveled to Florida, taking second place and $20,000. This year, he made the top four again among about 2,500 people who entered. This time he took first place in Florida, earning $40,000. "The U.S. Auto Tech National Championship Driven by Yokohama aims to make our final round of competition simulate a real-life, in-shop scenario," according to information Borer provided. This year, students and professional competitors were given a repair order tasking them with replacing parts such as calipers, rotors, brake pads, brake fluid, struts, shock absorbers, spark plugs, tie rods and others. Until they arrived at the competition, Borer said the competitors didn't know what they would be asked to repair. They competed within a three-hour timeframe. Borer said the trip was fun, and this year he got to visit with friends he made at previous competitions. This year's contest is on TV, he said, and last year's competition can be seen on YouTube.