REGION: Drag Race High

Ramona, Oceanside students adjust to life under spotlight

By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Friday, October 17, 2008 12:07 PM PDT ∞

NORTH COUNTY --- If you think it's hard to work with someone looking over your shoulder, imagine the pressure on auto-shop class students at El Camino and Ramona high schools.


Watch the video

For the last six weeks, a film crew from Speed Channel's 'Drag Race High' reality TV series has shot them in class, over work benches and under the hood as they tackle the biggest project they've ever attempted: each creating a hot rod from scratch in just one semester.

There's more than just a grade at stake. The two classes will race their tricked-out cars against one another in late November, and the winner gets to keep the losing team's car as a trophy for one year.

Besides that pressure, students also know their work will be scrutinized by gearheads across the nation when Drag Race High starts showing in February.

"At first I was like, all pumped," said James Wall, 15, of El Camino High in Oceanside. "But when they're in your face all the time, it gets kind of annoying after a while. But as long as we get the car done."

James ---- known as "Weasel" to his friends ---- said he's a fan of television shows about cars and has always wanted to be on one.

His reality-show dream became an actual reality after his teacher, Steven Jennings, contacted the Speed Channel to pitch El Camino as a school to feature in the show's second season.

"Drag Race High" producer Ray Iddings said the show, scheduled to begin Feb. 20 and run for 10 episodes, will be as much about the students as their cars.

"It's about the things that affect the kids outside of school," he said. "It shows that they really have to sacrifice a lot to make this car a reality. There's some great stories there."

Iddings said he picked the two schools because he was intrigued by a potential David versus Goliath angle: Ramona High is known for winning championships, and Jennings was calling them out.

"They asked me who my rival would be, and I said Ramona," Jennings said. "They're one of the best schools out there. To be the best, you have to beat the best."

Jennings soon realized what he had gotten himself into. Last week, he logged about 140 hours at the school, and his students work on the car into the night several times a week.

"It's a very difficult thing to take 25 kids and built a dragster in 12 weeks," he said. "It's the most difficult thing of my life."

At Ramona, auto-shop teacher Robert Grace and his students also are working long hours.

"It's kind of weird because they have this camera following you around, but it's kind of cool," Ramona High freshman Ryan Greenwell, 14, said.

Ryan said he and other students have learned to tune out the camera crew and focus on work. As part of the show, however, students were pulled aside and interviewed on camera so viewers could learn something more about them.

In his interview, Ryan said he likes bicycle motorcross and drag racing.

Ramona High sophomore Sy Noel, 15, also said it took a while to adjust to the cameras.

"It's been a little different, but you get used to it after a while," he said. "It was different at first, just to have something staring at you."

The network provided each school with $10,000 to start their projects, but it's up to the ingenuity of the students and teachers to acquire the many costly parts needed to convert a stock car into a drag racer.

Jennings said he is constantly on the phone trying to find sponsors, adding that he has organized a car show Sunday at El Camino as a fundraiser.

The students are guarded when discussing their cars, to the point where they won't even allow photographers to take shots of their work in progress.

About halfway through the contest, which will culminate with a Nov. 22 showdown at Fontana Raceway, both cars look more like Frankenstein creations than high-performance racers.

Much of the original paint has been sanded away, metal is being replaced with fiberglass, new suspension systems are being installed, and roll cages, the thick metal bars that frame the interior to protect the driver, are being welded into place.

"Flip it over," one El Camino student shouted as two classmates stood next to him at a table saw, ready to cut a pipe, last week.

"What does the angle have to be?" another asked.

"Forty-five and a half!" the third answered.

Such teamwork is typical on the projects, which are hands-on creations for students. The teachers teach and oversee the job, but the students decide on the car body, engine and other parts, and they are the ones doing the work.

"How many kids get to be on a TV show working on their cars?" Ramona High senior Cody Haynes, 18, said about the experience.

Ramona High senior Chris Houts, 17, a racing enthusiast who broke his back two years ago riding a motorcycle in the desert, said he doesn't notice the film crew anymore because it is generally in the background, just watching.

"At first it was kind of nerve-wracking," said Chris, the crew chief of the school's 22-student team. "You have the thought in your head that the whole nation can see this."

Chris said he still watches what he says around the camera, while El Camino High junior Angel Guzman, 16, said he no longer pays much attention to the film crew.

"At first, everybody was trying to get on the camera," Angel said.

El Camino classmate Eric Brito, 17, also said he used to try to get on camera deliberately, but now doesn't pay them much attention and even gets annoyed when work has to stop because a student is being interviewed.

"I hate that," he said.

As they learn about auto mechanics, some students said they also are learning about teamwork and skills they hope to someday use professionally.

"I always wanted to be a mechanic," Guzman said. "An honest mechanic. I just want to help people out."

El Camino freshman Phil Wenzel, 15, is one of the youngest members of the crew and said he has learned about teamwork by working on the car.

"It gets pretty hectic with 20 kids on the car," he said. "It taught me to listen to what other people's ideas are, because they may be better than your own."

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.