Jimmy Brigance knows the value of ASE certification, and it is one he works to pass on to his students.
And it is a value he is now being recognized for. Instructor and Master Technician Brigance, of Stigler, Okla., was named the 2018 Motor Age Training/ASE Master Automobile + L1 Technician of the Year. He received his award at the ASE banquet late last year. “I was really proud and impressed of all the people they were honoring, not just me. There are a lot of people in our industry who don’t understand how important as ASE certification is,” Brigance said. “We joke that you have to have a license to give someone a haircut, but not to fix someone’s car. Being certified is just the right thing to do.”
An Automotive Service Technology Instructor for more than 8 years with Kiamichi Technology Center in Stigler, Okla., former working technician Brigance continues to work on his education and set a positive example for his students.
Brigance because his career as a child, working in his father’s two-bay general repair shop in Oklahoma. “I helped him whenever I could, and in the summers. His shop is still open, but he pretty much sticks to tractors and lawn mowers now,” he said. Once he got older, Brigance began working at Williams Chevrolet Pontiac in 1995 when he was in college working on his automotive repair associates degree. “I started as a general tech and specialized in automotive transmissions until about 2010. In 2005, I started taking college courses for education because I decided it was time to transition to something else, something different,” he said.