These students are the wheel deal high school seniors from New York and around the country competing to determine who can best fix a car. NY1's Roger Clark filed this report.

Richie and Nick are focused on one thing—finding out what is wrong with a BMW SUV. 

The New York State champs from Orange-Ulster BOCES have had some practice on this vehicle. 

"We've been going over to the Orange County BMW and they've been nice enough to let us work on an X3 and give  us some of the software, give us a chance to really mess around with everything and get a feel for how the whole car operates and everything," said finalist Richard Wierzbicki-McMickle.

The pair is one of more than 30 teams of high school seniors from around the U.S. taking part in the National Automotive Technology Competition at the Javits Center, where the New York International Auto Show continues through the weekend. 

The competition began 23 years ago in an effort to address a shortage of automotive repair specialists. 

"These are high-paying, good jobs that these folks will move onto," said GNYADA Education Committee Chairman Nick Toomey.

The students have three hours to diagnose and repair problem, or "bugs," in the car, with points for each successful repair. Up for grabs is $3.5 million in scholarships, tools and other prizes.  

Don’t call them future mechanics; they’re auto-techs, because these days, a laptop can be as important as a wrench to fix a car. 

"You have to have very good diagnostic skills. Which comes with problem solving. Problem solving is everything in the industry," said Orange-Ulster BOCES Instructor Matthew Dykes.

Among those on hand to cheer on the kids was Rusty Wallace, NASCAR Hall of Famer who knows a thing or two about cars. 

"This is like their Daytona 500. This is a big, big day for them,” Wallace said.

Once they graduate from high school, the kids from New York are headed for Penn Tech, where they will continue their automotive technology studies and after that hopefully a job at a dealership.

"It's given me a huge jump on life pretty much. Now I now I'm set and I can really look forward to my career," said finalist Nicholas Maurer.

With these guys doing repairs, we can look forward to knowing we are in good hands when we take our cars into the shop.