At Tillamook High School, the Automotive and Drag Racing Program is about much more than building fast cars. It is about giving students an opportunity to learn real-world skills, work alongside industry professionals, and discover career paths they may not have known existed.

The THS Drag Racing Team grew out of our automotive program as a way to give students who wanted more hands-on experience an opportunity to take their skills to another level. Students work after school and in the evenings designing, building, fabricating, diagnosing, tuning, and maintaining real competition vehicles.

Our students aren't simply watching someone else work—they are doing the work themselves.

One of our major projects is a 1965 Ford Mustang powered by a turbocharged LS engine and backed by a Turbo 400 transmission. Students have been involved in everything from fabrication and the roll cage to wiring, engine systems, tuning, and troubleshooting. The Mustang has run a best of 10.2 seconds at 133 mph in the quarter mile.

We have also built and raced a 1995 Chevrolet Camaro powered by a turbocharged 5.3L LS engine. Projects like these give students an opportunity to apply what they learn in class to an actual vehicle where their decisions, measurements, workmanship, and ability to diagnose problems matter.

One of the biggest additions to our program has been our chassis wheel-hub dynamometer. This equipment allows students to test and diagnose vehicles in our own shop before taking them to the racetrack. Students can learn about horsepower, torque, engine performance, data collection, tuning, and diagnostics using the same types of technology they will encounter in the automotive performance industry.

Our program has also expanded well beyond drag racing. Students have worked on Formula F2000 race cars, engine run stands, fabrication projects, electrical systems, engine management systems, and many other automotive projects.

The program has been fortunate to receive tremendous support from local businesses, community members, and industry professionals. Volunteers such as Tyson Price of S-R Repair and Roy Ellerbroek of E & E Autobody have spent countless hours working alongside students. These relationships allow students to learn not only technical skills but also the expectations of an actual workplace—showing up on time, communicating, solving problems, working as a team, and taking pride in the quality of their work.

The results can be seen after graduation.

Former THS automotive students have gone directly into the automotive industry, including Landen Manley and Dylan Noffsinger, who have pursued careers working in professional hot rod and automotive shops outside our community. Seeing former students turn the skills they developed at Tillamook High School into careers is one of the greatest measures of success for our program.

Our students have also had opportunities to showcase their work outside the classroom. At the Portland Roadster Show, THS students have displayed their projects alongside professionally built vehicles and connected with people throughout the automotive industry. These experiences allow students to see that the quality of their work can stand alongside work being completed in professional shops.

The racing program also gives students another type of "team" to belong to. Not every student connects with a traditional high school sport or activity. For some students, the auto shop is their gym, a toolbox is their equipment, and the race team is where they find their place.

That's what makes this program special.

The cars get people's attention, but the students are the real story.

Our goal is to continue creating opportunities where students can learn by doing, develop relationships with industry professionals, and leave Tillamook High School with skills that can lead directly to employment, technical education, apprenticeships, or lifelong careers.

We are extremely proud of what our students have built, but we are even more excited about what they will build next.