Mason Doherty and Brent Winkelman spent part of an afternoon crawling around a 2008 Scion TC last week.

They were getting to know the car and where things are as they prepare for a national automotive repair competition in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The boys will compete against automotive repair students from other states with hopes of winning a car or scholarship.

St. Cloud Toyota, where Winkelman works part time, set the two students up with the Scion, which Winkelman and Doherty will inspect and fix in the competition.

“I’ve always liked cars and … to fix them and make them faster,” said Doherty, a senior at Apollo High School.

At the National Automotive Technology Competition, competitors diagnose and repair cars that have had bugs installed in them.

Doherty and Winkelman are taking an automotive course at Apollo through St. Cloud Technical College’s Discovery Academy program, which provides college-level courses for high school students.

Their teacher is Dwayne Hickman, a former automotive technician for General Motors who is an instructor at the college. He said New York will be a great experience for the students.

“It’s more of a confidence builder,” Hickman said.

Hickman’s course is supported by Automotive Youth Educational Systems, a partnership of manufacturers, dealers and schools that is designed to develop potential technicians.

“The best part of a program like this is it’s very good to let a young person see what the craft is before they have to spend money on college,” said Mike Lehn, St. Cloud resident and Minnesota manager of AYES.

Winkelman, a senior at Annandale High School, works 20-30 hours a week at the Toyota shop. He said he wants to win some of the $3 million in prizes, including two cars.

“I think it will be pretty difficult. Sounds like there is going to be a lot of people from different schools,” Winkelman said.

Win or lose, the students get a trip to New York and a tool set to share.

The contest will be held in conjunction with the New York International Auto Show.

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