Feb. 25, 2023—Growing up hearing about his grandfather's drag-racing feats in his '71 Ford Torino Cobra, I'Rule Faison, 23, has long been passionate about cars and solving problems. But his path to being a Volkswagen dealership technician wasn't a direct one. In fact, he had his sights set on being an engineer and was accepted into the engineering program at Virginia Tech. But he had to leave the program for financial reasons.
"I was working more than I had time for schoolwork," he says. "I was a little disappointed, but I realized sometimes, things just don't go your way and you have to make the best of it. You know, I'm really glad I made the decision to go to NASCAR Tech."
Faison received the Humble Mechanic scholarship from TechForce Foundation. The scholarship helped pay for his education at Universal Technical Institute's (UTI) NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, North Carolina. YouTube influencer "Humble Mechanic" Charles Sanville, a UTI graduate himself, began his career at Leith Volkswagen, in Cary, N.C., coincidentally where Faison began working after graduating in Sept. 2022. Faison first worked at Toyota and Infiniti dealerships while attending school.
"Right now, I kind of do a lot of everything. I've removed and replaced an engine and transmission and done a lot of diagnosis. I pretty much do what every upper-level technician does; I'm being trained that way. I have a really good trainer who helps me get my bearings around Volkswagens and their little tricks. I'm planning to go to Volkswagen school in the very near future as well."
The dealership is set up with technician teams, Faison says, with a team leader set up as the mentor. Faison and a couple other NASCAR Tech graduates began at the dealership after being recruited by the former service manager.
"We were on guarantees, and we basically just learned from them," he says. "We kind of shadowed them, but we also did work for them until we were able to work on our own. We're still constantly learning from them. These technicians have been there for 10, 15, almost 20 years, and they can show us the ropes with every little thing that can happen with these cars."
Faison said the former service manager wowed him at the career fair during his second or third week at school.
"We got to talking, and he really left an impression on me... and I did the same for him. He was really interested in me, and I could tell that he and the people that he hired were good people, more focused on making sure we focus on repairing the vehicle to the best of our ability to minimize comebacks and stuff like that."
So, what's been his most challenging repair so far?
"As far as repairs go, doing a water pump on a Volkswagen Golf GTI, because there is very little space to work with. I have pretty big arms and big hands, so it was really tough to fit my arms and hands in between the radiator and engine to get the water pump off because of where it sits on the intake manifold. But as far as the difficulty in figuring out a problem, I currently have a Volkswagen CC that isn't able to start but starts up randomly at certain times. There's something wrong with the CAN bus, and we're trying to figure out what inside of the CAN bus is wrong. It's taking me a while to figure it out."
Does he have a favorite tool?
"I totally love my electric ratchet, my Milwaukee 3/8", because it just makes things so much easier when taking bolts off, not having to just use a [regular] ratchet. If you can get that bit inside those Torxes, and if you could twist it a little bit, just press a button, it just takes it out for you. I love that tool so much. And I would recommend any up-and-coming technician to buy that tool because it'll make your life so much easier in a lot of different places when you when you have to take a lot of bolts off at the same time. As long as you have the right bit and bit size for it, you can take pretty much anything off very quickly."
What's a fun fact many may not know about Faison? If he hadn't found his calling working on cars, he might have donned a chef's hat.
"I'm a big foodie, and I love to cook. That would have been my next choice of profession if working on cars didn't work out. I love cooking, especially Asian dishes, but I've been expanding into Indian dishes."
What's next?
Faison plans to become a Volkswagen master technician.
"The company has put a lot into me, so I kind of want to put a lot into Leith as the dealership owner, but also the Volkswagen brand. Not a lof of people like to work on Volkswagens because they think they're a little too complicated."
But he's also an enthusiast with a particular affinity to Hondas. So, Faison would like to modify cars in the future, such as turbocharging his daily driver, an Acura TSX. He'd like to build and campaign a drag-racing car. So, what does he think about the increasing presence of EVs?
"Honestly, at first, I wasn't really too happy, because I'm not too big on not hearing my car when I'm driving. But the more EVs that come out, the more I'm starting to kind of appreciate them. I know some of my family use them, and it's nicer because they don't really go too far. And they're really good for short-distance traveling pretty much every day. They can just plug it in the charger, and they're starting to make more charging ports available. I've come to grips with the fact that we're kind of going EV. I love how fast they are: quick acceleration, instant power, you don't have that torque and power buildup; it's just there. So, from an enthusiast standpoint, it's really cool. I'm really looking forward to what we're going to have coming out for EVs."
Does he have any words of wisdom for fellow up-and-coming technicians?
"Anyone who's looking to conquer the automotive industry, just definitely apply yourself. Some people kind of look down on the automotive industry, but it's a great career. If you apply yourself, you can be very successful. Whether you're going to school or you're just going straight into a dealership or a shop, gain all the knowledge you can either about the basics or about the dealership, the brand that you're working with, or both, because it can definitely take you a long, long way."
