Scott Atherton, president and CEO of the American Le Mans Series, was keynote speaker Wednesday at the National Automotive Technology Competition at the New York Auto Show, where 29 teams of two representing senior high school students from various states around the U.S., competed in the EPA-sponsored event. Top teams received college scholarships for their award-winning efforts.
Atherton emphasized the ALMS's unique and distinct position in the automotive and motorsports marketplace. That comes from its focus on technical innovation by manufacturers that participate in the world's premier sports car series as well as its recognition as the "global leader in green racing."
“What we are doing really matters,” Atherton told the audience of event competitors and dealer association, trade and auto manufacturer representatives. “This is not about simply making cars go faster. And it's not really about sports. It's about working with an industry to be a catalyst of change – to become part of the solution. The automotive industry has been one of this country's essential lifeblood industries over the last century, but it is an industry that has been rocked to its core and needs to rebuild.
“It cannot rebuild without educating the next wave of automotive engineers and technicians – those learning and coming to understand that the performance attributes that defined the automobile for decades no longer apply...that the way of designing and building cars that was state-of-the-art just years ago, is archaic and unsustainable by the demands of today.”