Carlos Miranda
Eagle Staff
The Carroll Shelby Automotive Program held their annual Dyno Day/Open house event on Saturday, March 19, 2016. It gave Northeast Texas Community College students and anyone that was interested, a chance to come and put their horsepower to the challenge. It also gave insight on of the opportunities the Shelby program offers.
Dyno Day was a win-win situation because people showed up, cars got put on the Dyno, but also the students of the Shelby program got the chance to get their hands dirty and put their skills to work in front of a live audience. The students got put to a test because not every car is made the same, but the way they faced them was professional.
An instructor of the Carroll Shelby Automotive Program, Tony Whitworth spoke of how the students worked as a team and instead of getting nervous or frustrated they worked as one by finding solutions and fixing the problems, giving the spectators the show they came to see.
“The problems that we had were to be predicted and I wanted the students to have those issues, sometimes you plan for problems and they don’t happen,” said Whitworth. “Sometime you plan for problems and they do, the confidence they developed in the last two hours will help them in the next Dyno day.”
The Shelby Program has offered students an array of benefits, especially toward Shelby Program Class President, Chris Tudor. “I have been very blessed in the way that things have went with the Pan Americana Race and being able to do a shadow program at a dealership,” said Tudor. “I got an actual dealership job off of that and with all the things that are going on, it’s awesome because it such a great blessing to be able to do it.”
Director of Student Activities Rico Willis saw the success that Dyno Day had at Northeast Texas Community College, of how they got yo showcase a part of the learning experience that the Carroll Shelby Automotive Program offers to its community and what it means to have this name on its campus.
“We offer something to people that want to go into the automotive industry that no other location can. We are the only program that has his name on it,” said Willis. “You can never get that anywhere else, if you want it you got to come here, and if you want to come here, we want you here. So that the thing about it you're just not going to get it anywhere else.”
