Richard Mclellan Named 2026 ASE Master Automobile Technician of the Year

Richard Mclellan, a master technician at Christian’s Automotive and Tire in Albuquerque, has been selected as the 2026 ASE Master Automobile Technician of the Year by The Pronto Network, the parent organization behind the Parts Plus and Pronto brands. The award goes to one technician a year across the entire national network. Richard will be recognized at the ASE Service Professionals Banquet in Nashville this November. He has held Master certification for roughly thirty years, and for the customers who bring their vehicles to our shop on 2nd Street NW, the standard that earned this award is the same standard applied to every repair order that comes through the door. Before the end of most days, Richard has taken a look at almost every car in the shop.

• Richard Mclellan is the 2026 recipient of The Pronto Network’s ASE Master Automobile Technician of the Year Award, selected from technicians across a national network of service centers
• Earning ASE Master certification means passing eight separate exams. It took Richard three to four years to complete them all, and he has kept them current for three decades
• Certification is not just a plaque on the wall. State law, insurers, and parts networks all require certified technicians on staff before a shop can do certain work at all

What This Award Recognizes

The Pronto Network created the ASE Master Automobile Technician of the Year Award to recognize technicians who have earned and maintained full ASE Master certification while working at a network service center. It is now in its thirteenth year, and the network names a single recipient annually. Selection is not a popularity contest or a customer vote. It requires documented, current certification across the full A Series of ASE exams, verified against ASE’s own records. The award is presented at the ASE Service Professionals Banquet, the industry event where the national institute honors technicians, service consultants, and instructors.

Thirty Years in the Trade

Richard started in the trade in the 1990s as a machinist, and that mechanical foundation still shows in how he works through a diagnosis today. Completing the eight Master certification exams took him three to four years. Ask him what those tests meant then and now, and his answer says a lot about the job. Early on, he says, it was a lot of studying for the test. Over time, the principles behind those tests became part of how he approaches every repair. These days he spends his study time on new vehicle technology, keeping up to speed on battery and hybrid systems and the charging issues that come with them.

What ASE Master Certification Actually Requires

Automotive Service Excellence, better known as ASE, is the independent nonprofit that has certified automotive technicians since 1972. Its tests are written by working technicians and educators, and they are not open book. To be called a Master Automobile Technician, a technician has to pass all eight tests in the A Series:

• A1, Engine Repair
• A2, Automatic Transmission and Transaxle
• A3, Manual Drive Train and Axles
• A4, Suspension and Steering
• A5, Brakes
• A6, Electrical and Electronic Systems
• A7, Heating and Air Conditioning
• A8, Engine Performance

Passing one of these is an accomplishment. Passing all eight means a technician has proven competence in every major system of a modern vehicle, from the driveline to the electrical architecture. Every certification must be renewed every five years, which means a Master technician is not someone who studied once and framed the result. It is someone who has kept current with the technology as it changed underneath them.

Why Certification Changes the Repair You Get

Certification is often treated as a marketing badge. In practice it is infrastructure, and Richard is direct about why newer technicians still need it. New Mexico requires a certified refrigerant handler on staff before a shop can legally service your air conditioning. Programs like AAA Approved Auto Repair and parts networks like Parts Plus require certified technicians on staff before a shop can carry their name. Employers expect it, because certification is the clearest proof that a technician’s knowledge has been tested against a national standard rather than assumed.

The gap between a certified technician and an unqualified one has never been wider. A no-start condition used to be fuel, spark, or compression. Today it can be a communication fault on a data bus, a body control module refusing to authorize a start, or a failed sensor sending a plausible but incorrect value. Diagnosing that correctly is exactly what the A6 and A8 exams test. The practical result for a customer is fewer parts replaced on a guess, fewer return visits for the same complaint, and a repair bill that reflects the actual problem. Our diagnostics work and our general repair work both depend on that foundation, and so does ADAS calibration and our work on luxury, European, and performance vehicles.

What One Technician Says About a Whole Shop

A shop does not employ a nationally recognized technician by accident. It happens when the shop pays for training, buys the scan tools and the calibration equipment that the training requires, and gives technicians time to diagnose properly instead of pushing them to guess quickly. Christian’s has operated in Albuquerque since 1989 on that model. As an AAA Approved Auto Repair shop, Christian’s stands behind every service with an exclusive 5-Year Warranty. Richard’s recognition is his own, earned through his own testing and his own work. It is also evidence of what the shop around him is built to support.

Away from the shop, Richard is proof that master technicians are wired a little differently. He races flat track motorcycles, took third place at Arizona Bike Week this spring, and lines up at Durango over Labor Day weekend. He rides trials, runs track days, and scuba dives with his wife. He calls himself a bit of an adrenaline junkie. It fits the job description. Precision under pressure is the whole trade.

Recognition in Nashville This November

Richard will accept the award at the ASE Service Professionals Banquet in November in Nashville, Tennessee. He will be recognized alongside technicians from across the country who have met the same standard.

Book With the Team That Earned It

If you have been putting off a repair because the last shop could not tell you what was actually wrong, this is the team to bring it to. Schedule an appointment online, or contact us with questions about your vehicle.

Christian’s Automotive and Tire
8811 2nd Street NW
Albuquerque, NM 87114
(505) 899-2400