For Luke Lawrence, winning equipment from Launch Tech USA worth thousands came down to a matter of minutes.
The technician and his father, Travis, operate Advanced Auto Glass in The Dalles, Oregon. They attended the AGSC Member Mixer the evening of September 19, and Luke decided to purchase tickets for the raffle. The raffle grand prize was the Launch Tech USA X-431 ADAS Mobile Plus LDW Standard Package calibration system and X-431 Turbo III diagnostic tool, plus a box of tools from FrogItOut tools.
James Chapman got Luke Lawrence’s initial reactions after his win.Moments after he purchased his tickets, the drawing began. James Chapman was the night’s designated emcee. As he began calling the raffle number, Luke Lawrence scrutinized his tickets. Right away, he noticed the numbers starting to match up.
“My first thought was, ‘oh, I’m going to just miss this,’” he says. “Then I saw my very bottom ticket had the number. I looked over and said, ‘Dad, we just won!’”
Lawrence raised his hand and went to the front of the room to claim the prize. As Chapman congratulated him and presented him with a box full of the smaller tools, Lawrence still couldn’t quite process what had happened.
“It didn’t really set in until the next day,” he says. “It was all so surreal that night.”
“It was awesome, it was a pretty good shock,” Travis Lawrence adds.
Now that they’re back at their shop, both father and son are excited to start using the system. Luke is particularly fascinated by Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) calibrations and is eager to learn more from the Launch Tech USA tools and education.
“This is my favorite part [of the job], doing recalibrations and the more technical aspect of it,” he says.
Despite his shock, Luke Lawrence was all excitement as he examined the rest of his prize from FrogItOut.Luke and Travis both anticipate expanding their knowledge thanks to the certified Launch Tech USA trainer, José Gomez, who will be guiding them through the system’s use.
“I like training people so I can also see calibration through the eyes of newcomers,” Gomez says.
Gomez looks forward to orienting both on the Launch Tech USA X-431 ADAS Mobile Plus LDW Standard Package calibration system.
“It’s exciting to introduce people to Launch, because they get updates sooner,” says Gomez.
Luke Lawrence says that this is something he’s looking forward to with Launch Tech USA as well, adding that Advanced Auto Glass is a rural shop and any opportunity he and his father have to build their network of resources is a plus.
Jacques Navant, the AGSC’s president and a Launch Tech USA representative, helped orchestrate the valuable raffle prize.
“Any time we can promote membership with the AGSC is a good thing,” says Navant. “What we’re trying to do is make the auto glass industry safer every day … and knowing [Luke and Travis] will be trained properly from the get-go is very appealing to me.”
“And everyone wants to be Santa Claus, right?” Navant adds. “It’s nice to give away something that huge that’s going to change the course of their business.”
The Lawrence family applied for Advanced Auto Glass to become an AGSC registered member company at the mixer.
“I think it’s good to be part of a group of people that take pride in their work and want to make sure they’re doing their work the right way,” Luke Lawrence says.