01
Hands-on challenges
Diagnose, disassemble and reassemble at stations designed around entry-level HET and automotive work, like the mock brake system Brown's Industrial ran in 2025.
Bonnyville, Alberta · Est. 2025
Think you have
what it takes?
Put your skills to the test. Meet employers. Build your future.
Wrench Warriors is an entry-level, hands-on competition for future Heavy Equipment Technicians and Automotive Service Technicians. Work real shop stations in front of the employers who are hiring, and leave with tools, an apprenticeship, or both.
$12,000in tools on the line in 2026
3apprenticeships on the line
18–30open to ages
What it is
A shop floor.
Real employers.
One day to prove it.
No résumé needed. Contestants rotate through stations built around everyday Heavy Duty and Automotive technician tasks, run by the Lakeland shops that are hiring. It's part competition, part job interview, and all hands-on.
02
Meet employers
Overdrive Heavy Duty, Brown's Industrial and Ducharme Motors are on the grounds watching you work, and the apprenticeships on offer are theirs.
03
Win a head start
Top finishers are offered thousands of dollars in professional tools and a paid apprenticeship. In 2025 those apprenticeships came with schooling and dorms covered. Everyone leaves with contacts.
04
Learn on the day
You don't need to ace every station. The techs running them are there to help, and 2025 contestants said as much. You go home better than you arrived.
05
Race weekend energy
Wrench Warriors runs inside the Bonnyville Gear Grabbers race weekend, with drag racing on the runway and a crowd on the fence line.
06
Built by the Lakeland
Started in 2025 by local shops, CAREERS: The Next Generation and the Gear Grabbers car club to give mechanically minded young people a foot in the door.
This is to give a platform for people that are mechanically inclined but are having trouble getting a foot in the door.Rob Dumelie, Overdrive Heavy Duty Services
What's at stake
Tools in your hands.
A job to use them.
In 2026 the committee put a professional tool package and an apprenticeship at a local shop behind every podium spot. This is what was offered at the last event.
1st
First place
$5,000in tools
+
HET apprenticeship
With Brown's Industrial, Cold Lake.
2nd
Second place
$4,000in tools
+
HET apprenticeship
With Overdrive Heavy Duty Services, Bonnyville.
3rd
Third place
$3,000in tools
+
Automotive apprenticeship
With Ducharme Motors, Bonnyville's Ford dealer since 1959.
Snap-on, Mac Tools and Matco Tools support the event. Prizes are confirmed by the committee each year and may change.
Who can compete
No ticket required.
Just interest.
- You're between 18 and 30 years old
- You're not already registered in an apprenticeship
- You're interested in heavy equipment or automotive work, whether that's a garage habit, a high-school shop class or a job you're hoping to land
- You can be at Bonnyville Regional Airport for the day of the event
Eligibility is set each year by the committee. 2025 was open to under-25s, and 2026 widened it to 30. Not sure if you qualify? Ask, we'd rather have you at the fence than at home.
How it works
Sign up early
Registration closes a few weeks before the event, and the competition needs a minimum number of contestants to run. Put your name down below and the organizers will be in touch.
Show up ready to work
Closed-toe boots and clothes you don't mind getting greasy. Everything else is at the stations.
Run the stations
Rotate through the challenges while techs from the partner shops score your work and help you along.
Awards on the grounds
Winners are announced at the event, and the apprenticeships go to the podium finishers.
Hiring partners
The shops behind
the apprenticeships
These are the businesses that put their own openings on the line. Win, and you're on their payroll.
Founding partner
Overdrive Heavy Duty
Heavy duty truck, tank and trailer repair in Bonnyville. Sponsored the first-place apprenticeship in 2025 and second place in 2026.
Founding partner
Brown's Industrial
Cold Lake heavy equipment and industrial services. Ran the brake station and sponsored the 2026 first-place HET apprenticeship.
Joined 2026
Ducharme Motors
Family-owned Ford dealership in Bonnyville since 1959. Brought the automotive track and the third-place apprenticeship to the 2026 event.
Organizers, hosts & tool sponsors
Past events
Wrench Warriors
in action
Runway, sunshine, and a brake stand with a crowd around it. Here's what the day looks like.
2025 champions
They signed up.
They got hired.
The first Wrench Warriors put two people into heavy equipment apprenticeships with schooling and housing covered. That's the whole point.
First place, 2025
Scott Ross
Heard about it from a co-worker and signed up on the spot. Won a one-year Heavy Equipment Technician apprenticeship with Overdrive Heavy Duty, plus a toolbox and roughly $5,000 in tools.
Second place, 2025
Drew Hamilton
A recent graduate who took second place and an apprenticeship with Brown's Industrial.
It wasn't what I expected, but it wasn't too tough, and everyone was helpful.
After the event
What an apprenticeship
actually looks like
Whether you win or not, here's the road from the fence line to a Red Seal ticket in Alberta.
Heavy Equipment Technician
Four periods of about 1,500 hours on the job plus eight weeks of classroom training each. You're paid from day one, starting at 60% of journeyperson wage and rising every period. Red Seal endorsed.
HET trade profile on Tradesecrets →Automotive Service Technician
Four periods of about 1,530 hours plus nine weeks of school each period. Same structure, same Red Seal, on cars and light trucks instead of iron.
AST trade profile on Tradesecrets →Still in high school?
The Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) lets students 15 and up earn credits, wages and up to 1,000 apprenticeship hours before graduation. CAREERS: The Next Generation places RAP interns across the Lakeland.
RAP through CAREERS →Get involved
Put your name
on the list
Contestants get first word when 2027 registration opens. Businesses can sponsor, judge, host a station or hire.