October 2023 - 28

20 23
DEREK MOHART'S
TOP 5 FAVORITE TOOLS:
* Milwaukee Tool 1/2 " electric impact
* Milwaukee Tool hood lamp
* General stethoscope from Amazon
* Snap-on tap and die set
* Milwaukee Tool 1/4 " impact
Chris Chesney, vice president of training and
organizational development for Repairify,
nominated Mohart for this year's Motor Age
and PTEN Best Young Tech Award.
The award is designed to honor technicians
aged 35 or younger who are moving
the service repair industry forward, excel in
their current role, and are passionate about
their work.
p Derek Mohart
Derek Mohart
claims the title of
2023 Best Young Tech
Mohart stood out for his can-do attitude, penchant for
problem-solving, and ability to quickly find ways to improve
clunky work processes.
By Emily Markham, Editor
D
erek Mohart has spent his
entire life around cars.
Growing up, he notes that his
dad owned a variety of different vehicles
from a 1932 Hudson Essex to an '88 Chevy
Crew Cab with an 8' bed and everything in
between. He spent a lot of time as a kid helping
his dad with those vehicles. However,
when it came time to head off to college,
Mohart never dreamed of going to school
to become a technician.
" I went to [University of Missouri] for
pre-med in biochemistry, " he says. " I was
planning to be a radiologist. "
With this career path, he was going to
follow his mom into the medical field, but
after a year full of science and math classes,
Mohart found he was losing interest. Over
the summer, he went home and started working
on his truck and fell in love with doing
upgrades and putting aftermarket parts on
it. That's when his passion for the automotive
industry really started to grow.
This passion has taken Mohart far in
his journey as a technician. With his cando
attitude, penchant for problem-solving,
and ability to quickly find ways to improve
clunky or outdated processes, it's no wonder
28 PTEN OCTOBER 2023 www.VehicleServicePros.com
FINDING A PLACE IN THE INDUSTRY
Mohart, age 28, has had an interesting
career pathway thus far. After graduating
from Ranken Technical College with
a degree in High Performance Racing
Technology, he worked a job diagnosing
and rebuilding transmissions as well as
doing custom engine work. From there,
he began work as a subcontractor for
Anheuser-Busch where he performed
maintenance, repairs, and diagnostics on
Cummins compressed natural gas (CNG)
engines. During that time, he also received
his Class A CDL. A little further down the
road, Mohart became the lead technician at
a restoration facility when he was only 23
years old. The young technician dipped his
toe into many different facets of the automotive
industry before he began working
at his current place of employment, asTech.
At asTech, Mohart started as an inshop
technician managing a fleet of cars
by using an asTech device and submitting
the vehicles for diagnostics to the company's
remote technicians. He also worked
to expand his industry knowledge. He
went from having two ASE certifications
to 12, becoming a certified ASE Master
Technician, along with procuring his
B2-B5 and C1 certifications.
" As time went on, Derek started learning
all the OEM scan tool software and became
http://www.VehicleServicePros.com
October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2023
