Here are three opportunities to learn about cars and driving

Drive One high school preparing car for Detroit AutoRama

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Drive One high school
Drive One high school students are restoring this 1967 Pontiac GTO for the Detroit AutoRama | America's Automotive Trust photo

With sponsorship from the RPM Foundation, a 1967 Pontiac GTO is being restored by students at Drive One high school in Detroit and is scheduled to be displayed March 4-6 at the Detroit AutoRama.

Drive One was founded in 2012 to help fill a skills gap in automotive education. It has more than accomplished that goal, the school notes on its website, with more than 300 students not only completing the program but graduating from high school, with 84 percent finding enrolling in post-secondary educational institutions or beginning careers in service centers or restoration shops or in the military services.

From its start with 3 students meeting on Thursday evenings in a pole barn, the school has moved into its own tech center in Roseville, Michigan and offers classes at other high schools as well. 

The school’s tech center facility includes two classrooms, six service bays, a fabrication shop, machine shop, wood and interior shops and also offers instruction in transportation design and clay modeling.

Milestones for BRAKES driver training

Another kind of automotive education program recently reported milestones with BRAKES, a national teen defensive driving program, educating its 50,000th teenager, as well as more than 53,000 parents.

BRAKES is short for Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe and was founded in 2088 by Top Fuel drag racing champion Doug Herbert after his sons Jon and James died in a car crash. Herbert developed BRAKES in hopes of keeping other parents from experiencing such loss.

“BRAKES is not Driver’s Ed,” it noted in its milestone announcement. “It is a free, hands-on, advanced driver training program taught by professional instructors, including current and former members of law enforcement, professional racers and stunt drivers. BRAKES maintains a low two -to-one student-to-instructor ratio to maximize educational effectiveness.

“Each weekend BRAKES school includes identical sessions to allow parents and teens to pick one that will fit into their busy schedules. Each session includes three hours of training, starting with a classroom presentation followed by nearly three hours behind the wheel of new Kia vehicles.

“Courses include distracted driving awareness, panic braking, drop-wheel/off-road recovery, crash avoidance and car control/skid recovery – all of the biggest causes of crashes for new drivers. Other educational elements often include ‘Big Rig’ safety, first-responder vehicle extrication demonstration, and what to do in the event of a traffic stop.”

Genius Garage accepting students

Yet another automotive educational program is Casey Putsch’s Genius Garage, a non-profit in Ohio, which is accepting students for its 2022 sessions which begin in March and run through June.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Makes me miss my ’67 GTO I owned for 20 years, from my Junior year of high school (1975), until 1995. And kicking myself for selling it.

  2. How about one of these programs near St Augustine, Fla? I have a 16 year old just starting to drive and I’m retired law enforcement. Just spent a good chunk
    Of cash getting her some very basic driving skills (will listen to others better than me I think). Kids NEED the skills you offer (so do some adults).

    For years got a discount for my EVOC training but so long ago doesn’t apply now.

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