Showcase Your Skills at the Inaugural Bodywork Bowl!

Calling all competitive collision professionals – or essentially calling ALL collision professionals because what body technician, estimator or painter doesn’t believe he or she is the best?!

Well, now’s your chance to prove it at the inaugural Bodywork Bowl Collision Repair Skills Competition, taking place on the trade show floor at NORTHEAST® 2023 on Saturday, March 18. Compete against your industry peers in one of the competition’s three categories: estimating, painting or welding for a chance to take home a $500 cash prize!

AASP/NJ President Jerry McNee looks forward to the show every year, but his excitement for the debut of AASP/NJ’s Bodywork Bowl is palpable.

“NORTHEAST is at the top of my list when it comes to industry events, and this competition gives us a chance to recognize the collision professionals who roll up their sleeves and get down to business every day in the shops, welding, painting and writing estimates. Their skills deserve to be celebrated, and this chance to compete against their peers allows us to do exactly that!

“I’m grateful to my good friend, Burl Richards and the Auto Body Association of Texas (ABAT) for coming up with this great idea and helping us implement our own version of the competition at NORTHEAST,” he continues. “Associations are all about bringing shops together because there’s strength in numbers, and when multiple groups come together to share ideas and strategies like this, it makes the entire industry better and stronger.”

As McNee mentioned, the idea originated with the Auto Body Association of Texas (ABAT) which has held a similar competition the past two years with a lot of success, and AASP/NJ thought it was high time to recognize some of the Garden State’s top talent. To ensure the Bodywork Bowl goes off without a hitch, the association has solicited the aid of ABAT Executive Director Jill Tuggle who graciously agreed to help get the competition off on the right foot.

“These types of competitions provide a great opportunity to recognize talent in the shops, and I’m very excited to see this concept grow outside of our region,” Tuggle shares. “It’s particularly gratifying to see it at NORTHEAST because ABAT has a lot of friends in New Jersey and at Greco Publishing, NORTHEAST event managers. ABAT is happy to partner with other like-minded organizations because we want our industry to have as many successes as possible; we want to win together, and one of the ways we do that is by celebrating the amazing technicians, painters and estimators who work so hard in their facilities every single day. This is the perfect forum to do that, and I can’t wait to see how the Bodywork Bowl grows in 2023 and beyond!”

Estimators will demonstrate their skills using CCC-sponsored estimating equipment to write off of an estimate originally produced by Collision Advice’s Mike Anderson, through collaboration with CCC. Winners will be selected by a team of judges, including Anderson and Danny Gredinberg of the Database Enhancement Gateway. Painters will test their talents by spraying panels and demonstrating blending techniques with the use of virtual spray booths and guns, sponsored by AkzoNobel, while body techs will apply seam sealer and demonstrate their aptitude for welding on equipment sponsored by Chief Automotive Technologies, Collision Equipment Consulting, Inc., GYS/Chisum USA, Pinnacle Automotive Equipment, Reliable Automotive Equipment, Solidus Equipment and Spanesi Americas. The painting and welding competitions will also be judged by high-profile industry experts who will be announced soon! The winner in each category will receive a $500 monetary prize to take home.

AASP/NJ is grateful to the multiple vendors that have already committed to sponsoring the inaugural Bodywork Bowl, including CCC, AkzoNobel, Chief Automotive Technologies, Collision Equipment Consulting, Inc., GYS/Chisum USA, Pinnacle Automotive Equipment, Reliable Automotive Equipment, Solidus Equipment and Spanesi Americas.

Register for NORTHEAST at aaspnjnortheast.com now, and stay tuned for the chance to sign up to compete in the very first Bodywork Bowl…if you think you’ve got what it takes!

Want more? Check out the March 2023 issue of New Jersey Automotive!