A Marana school will field one of only two all-girl teams at a statewide high school pit-crew challenge Friday that's expected to draw around four dozen teams.
"I hope we do very well and show up some of the guys," said junior Jessica Coolbaugh, who is part of the pit crew at Mountain View High School.
The other all-girl crew is from Peoria's Sunrise Mountain High School.
Two teams from Mountain View — one boys team and one girls team — will participate in Friday's Ford High School Pit Crew Challenge at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler.
"I want to win. If not win, at least get top five," junior Shannon Musegades said.
Of the 240 or so students enrolled in automotive technology courses at Mountain View, fewer than 25 are girls. Seven of those girls — five team members and two alternates — will compete in the challenge.
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The competition will consist of rotating two tires, torquing lug nuts to 65 foot-pounds, changing an oil filter and replacing spark plugs.
The team that does this the quickest wins the event and a used Ford vehicle for its school's automotive classes.
Mountain View's all-girl pit crew is competitive with the boys team. At one point, the all-girl crew's practice time was shorter than that of its male counterpart.
So far, the girls can complete all of the pit crew tasks in 2 minutes, 29 seconds.
"Finally, I got some competition," senior Benjamin Bodell said about the girls. "They kick butt. We all kick butt."
Each team practices one night a week, and most get in some extra practice time on weekends.
"I think because they're doing something that females normally wouldn't do, they are out to prove themselves," auto teacher David Damiani said. "Their motivation and efforts are probably a little bit more. They probably practice more."
Damiani spent 30 years in the auto-repair industry before he started teaching at Mountain View last school year.
Stephanie Hilton-Acosta, the pit crew's team captain, took her first automotive technology class as a sophomore.
"I was going to learn how to drive, and I took it at first to learn what I was going to need to do on my own car," said Hilton-Acosta, who is now a senior. "I just really got into it. It's a passion."
She also is taking nursing classes at Tucson Medical Center. After high school, she wants to study to become a nurse.
Hilton-Acosta and her friend and fellow pit crew member, junior Cierra Kaplan, have their theories on why girls tend to avoid auto-repair courses in high school.
"A lot of people see being a mechanic as a dirty job," Kaplan said. "A lot of girls, not to stereotype, but they're like, 'I can't get my nails dirty.' "
Kaplan enrolled in her first automotive class as a sophomore because her father wanted her to.
"I took to it," she said. "It came to me easily."
Most of the girls who enroll in auto courses do so at the urging of a parent or because they want to learn basic car maintenance.
Coolbaugh wanted to do something different.
"I don't want to be the stereotypical girl," she said. "I like to stand out. And doing something that's male-dominated makes a woman stand out."
Mountain View's pit crews
Girls: Stephanie Hilton-Acosta, Cierra Kaplan, Holly Sturgis, Brie Bonjour, Arieal Lester, Jessica Coolbaugh, Alex Potter and Shannon Musegades.
Boys: Stephen Hackenbracht, Benjamin Bodell, Ryan Goss, Mike Goss, Brandon Del Castillo and Matthew Gregg.
"A lot of people see being a mechanic as a dirty job. A lot of girls, not to stereotype, but they're like, 'I can't get my nails dirty.' "
Cierra Kaplan, member of Mountain View High's all-girl pit crew
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