Racing toward a future in car maintenance
The loud roar of a race car making its way around the curve of a track is a familiar sound to senior Jacob Pisetsky. Since attending his first race at three, he has dreamed of one day working in the car industry and now he is going to Pomona FairPlex Center for Automotive Arts twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays learning the ins and outs of automobiles.
The class of 11 students focuses on skills such as changing oil and performing maintenance on vehicles that come in for free repairs. Once he is done with the introductory course over this semester, Pisetsky will advance to the other levels of the program. Pisetsky discovered Fairplex’s program last year through alumni Nick Shafer, who participated in the program during high school.
Pisetsky credits his father as one of the reasons why he developed an interest in cars at an early age. His father used to work on a variety of cars as a hobby, such as Jeeps, Datsuns
and motorcycles. With cars being a staple in his house, Piesky has always been interested in what happens on the track as well as how the cars operate.
“I went to see a kind of junior NASCAR race over at Irwindale Speedway, and I always had Hot Wheels when I was a kid,” Pisetsky said. “So, I’ve kind of always been interested in that kind of stuff and now I’m a very big Formula One fan.”
Although Pisetsky has looked up to various race car drivers throughout his life, his favorite competitor is Ayrton Senna.
“He would push the car to boundaries that no one here really thought of and introduce all new kinds of thoughts for how much downforce could affect the car,” Piseysky said. “Which is like being able to take a car to a corner with the most amount of speed possible.”
Pisetsky also has gone to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles with his grandfather to learn about different types of automobiles and their functions. When at the museum, Pisetsky gets to see both new and old race cars. He has also seen cars that have recently raced and some that have been featured in old and new movies.
In the future, he hopes to pursue a profession that allows him to work with cars. After high school, Pisetsky plans to continue his education at a community college like Mt. Sac in tandem with participating in other programs similar to the one at Pomona Fairplex.
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