Two Palo Verde graduates compete in D.C. car event

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 | 9:49 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- For the rest of their lives, Las Vegas residents Tony Enomoto and Julian Thommes expect they will remember that the fuel pump drive module of a 2005 Ford Focus is under the back seat.

If they had discovered its location just a little bit earlier, they would have done better representing Nevada in the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals in Washington Monday.

Enomoto, 18, and Thommes, 17, who just graduated from Palo Verde high school, competed against two-person teams representing every other state in the nation. Sandwiched between cars for teams from Nebraska and New Hampshire, Enomoto and Thommes had 90 minutes to figure out what was wrong with their blue Focus, fix the problems and drive it to the finish line.

Nevada's duo placed 32nd out of the 50 high school field.

Enomoto and Thommes had been confident going into the competition on Sunday because they had been perfect in the state competition in May.

In the nation's capital, after the announcement of "ladies and gentlemen start your engines, if you can," the team ran to Car 28 and quickly began trying to figure out what "bugs" had been planted in their car. All the cars had nine identical problems, from blown fuses and problems with the horn to a bad ignition.

Thommes was in charge of the interior while Enomoto was in charge of things under the hood. Enomoto said they fixed a lot of problems in the first 10 minutes but he spent the rest of the time looking for the fuel module, which helps get gas to the engine.

In the last two minutes, he happened to flip to the right page of the manual, found what they needed under the back seat and quickly connected it. They closed their hood, which stopped their clock and kept them in the competition, with just seconds spare. They knew they had missed a few other things on the car that they could not fix unless it started.

"We needed to go over the diagrams more," Enomoto said.

The final score from the hands-on competition was added to results of a written test they took Sunday afternoon.

Palo Verde automotive instructor Tom Garrett said it was a "humbling" experience and he knows to try and learn more about the car next time.

This was the first time Palo Verde had competitors at the national level. In 2001 Greg Bolender and Destin Corbett, students at Churchill County High School in Fallon won the top prize.

The team's only strategy for the competition was to get in there and get the job done.

"I'm going to go in there and not think about what anyone else is doing," Enomoto said before the competition. "We are just going to get in there and do what we have been practicing."

Enomoto said the first thing would be to check if it would "crank" or start.

"You go from the basics up," Enomoto said. "Get it running and then make everything else work."

Prior to the competition, Garrett arranged to get a 2005 Ford for practice. Enomoto said having an actual Focus helped the team "get a good look at the car and find out where everything is." After the competition Thommes said they only practiced on it for about a week and realized they could have used more time. Garrett said he would have rather received a manual on the car from contest organizers versus the CD they sent. Next year, he knows he will print the whole thing out.

Enomoto and Thommes started the competition in February with a written exam. Their scores put Palo Verde in the Top 10 and earned them a spot in the state competition. In May, they competed against other teams from Nevada high schools in another timed competition, identifying and fixing problems in a Ford Taurus. Their victory there brought them to Washington.