A 1969 Corvette hood he repaired and painted won first prize at Skill USA’s New Jersey competition.
By John Tredrea
Eight months after Alan Pomykala took up custom car painting, he won a statewide competition.
A 1969 Corvette hood he repaired and painted won first prize a few weeks ago at Skill USA’s New Jersey competition, held at the Somerset County Vocational School.
Skills USA is a national organization serving more than 264,500 high school and college students and professional members enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations, including health occupations.
Alan, 17, divides his school day between Hopewell Valley Central High School and the Sypek Center (a county vocational school) on Bull Run Road in Ewing. He said that, in the Skills USA competition, "every state has a competition for each course offered in most vocational schools auto collision, cosmetology, custom car painting, things like that."
Under the rules of the competition, the hood Alan painted had to be damaged. "I got a ’69 Corvette hood for a little over $100 at a swap meet in Englishtown," he said. "They have one there every six months." At swap meets, car enthusiasts buy, sell and swap car parts.
"The hood had some bad cracks in it," Alan said. "I had to do some fiber glass work on it before starting the painting."
Alan, a junior who lives in the Titusville section of Hopewell Township, spent nearly a month working on the hood. "I worked on it in class every morning, and spent an hour and a half of my own time working on it after school every day," he said. "It was a lot of fun."
Brainstorming with his schoolmates, Alan decided the hood would have a flame-shaped American flag against a blue marble background. "I laid out the flames first and then put the flag in," he said. "I wanted to express something patriotic."
At the competition, Alan was graded not only on the hood itself, but on his presentation to the judges and how he answered their questions. "There were about a dozen hoods competing against ours," he said. First-prize medals were presented to Alan, and also to Tom Carberry, a HoVal senior, who pitched in as a partner and helped Alan with the hood project.
"Tom helped with some of the sanding on the hood," Alan said. "We went up together for the medals. When we came down, we were given spray-paint guns, used for detail work. It was really exciting. Felt great. Several businesses offered us both jobs after we’re finished with school."
"I’ve only been doing this kind of work for eight months, but I really like it," Alan said. "I definitely will pursue a career in it. My parents are happy I found something I like doing."
Alan’s interest in his chosen trade was sparked by watching workers in auto body shops and by instructional TV shows on custom car painting.
Bob Gonier teaches Alan’s auto collision course at the vocational school. Like the Sypek school, Central High is proud of Alan’s accomplishment. His hood was prominently displayed in the central hallway of the school, just inside the main entrance, for several weeks.