Colorado Students Tear Down & Rebuild a V-8 in Record Time at AAPEX Competition
Nine teams from seven schools competed, with the winning duo each earning professional tool sets to help launch their careers…
A pair of high school students, who are concurrently enrolled in automotive classes at Arapahoe Community College, won the 2026 AAPEX Student Competition. John Parmley, 16, and Schafer Eirich, 18, tore down and rebuilt a V-8 engine in front of hundreds of people in just 39 minutes and 11 seconds, shaving more than an hour off the winning time from last year’s competition.
“It’s absolutely surreal,” said Eirich in an interview immediately following the competition. “We’ve been working towards this for so long; we saw it [the competition] last year, and we knew in that moment we needed to do this.”
The competition tests the basic auto technician skills these students are learning. Each team starts with a small-block Chevy V-8 engine and must dismantle the engine, including the pistons, crankshaft and camshaft. A judge then confirms the team has met the disassembly standard, and the team races to rebuild it. The engine must turn when assembled, and the fastest team wins, according to a press release from AAPEX.
“They’re amazing,” said Bob Parmley, the team’s coach and automotive instructor at the community college. “To build a champion team like this, it takes two guys who are willing to show up and work hard and take critical feedback.”
Through the generosity of aftermarket businesses that sponsored the event, the winning team took home an estimated $10,000 in prizes each. This included professional tool sets, which address one of the unique barriers for entry-level technicians and complicate the talent shortage: unlike other skilled trades, auto technicians must bring their own tools.
How the Winning Team Overcame Additional Challenges
The Arapahoe team says they practiced two or three times a week for the last eight months. Finding time to practice—given that they are both in high school, taking college classes and participating in school sports—was only one of the challenges the team faced.
Parmley was hospitalized before the competition to have his appendix removed and was unable to practice during the week leading up to the competition. Then, the competition setup was a little different than they had expected; for example, they had practiced with two piston ring compressors, allowing the pair to work in tandem, but the competition only permitted each team to have one.
The Arapahoe team finished first in their qualifying round but second overall, behind Ferris State, as the final round began. Less than 40 minutes later, competition judge Charles Sanville, who is known in the industry as The Humble Mechanic, observed the engine turn and signaled they had won.
“I’m still stunned by how fast these kids were,” said Bernard Tansey, a co-judge, event organizer and emcee. “The team’s preparedness and communication with each other and their coach was unparalleled. It’s obvious they put a lot of practice in, but with hundreds of people cheering just 10 feet away, it adds a level of stress and pressure you don’t get in a shop.”
Tansey owns an independent repair shop in Santa Clara, California, called Euro Clinic. He has been a dedicated volunteer and the driving force behind this competition two years in a row, the release noted.
Secret Service & ASE Recruit Aspiring Automotive Technicians
The U.S. Secret Service joined the National Institute of Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) in a co-located booth again this year at AAPEX. The law enforcement agency needs ASE-qualified technicians to work on its vehicles and exhibits at AAPEX to support recruiting efforts.
When the winning team was asked about their career aspirations, Eirich looked toward the Secret Service booth, which was adjacent to the competition area, and said, “That’s everything I want in a career tied together. That’s pretty cool.”
Participating Schools & Aftermarket Sponsors
Nine teams from seven schools competed in the event, which is about double the schools and triple the teams that participated in the inaugural student competition last year. Participating schools in the 2026 AAPEX Student Competition are as follows:
- Advanced Training Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Arapahoe Community College, Littleton, Colorado
- College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Ferris State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Heritage High School, Palm Bay, Florida
- Humble High School, Humble, Texas
- North Kansas City High Schools, North Kansas City, Missouri
AAPEX says the entire event is made possible through the generosity of volunteers from the Auto Care Association Tool & Equipment Community and aftermarket businesses, including:
- Carlyle Tools
- Dorman Products
- Duralast Parts (by AutoZone)
- Lisle Corporation
- Milwaukee Tool
- Snap-on Incorporated
- SP Tools USA
- SureWerx
