Oklahoma High School Students Take Top Engine Builder Title

Painless Performance held its first “Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge” Division 4 Championship on Saturday, May 8, 2010, at the Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas. Team MSD–Eastern Oklahoma County Tech Center from Choctaw, Oklahoma, took first place with a time of 60 minutes and 15 seconds.

A total of eight high school auto tech teams participated. The teams are made up of invited auto technology classes from local high schools. Each team consists of five students and the instructor/coach. The individual schools set standards and guidelines for involvement.

Grades, attendance and skill are all part of the making of a team. Through this event, these students get an opportunity to showcase their talents and knowledge gained during classroom sessions and workshops. It provides opportunities for students to develop and build teamwork, demonstrate their skills, enthusiasm and ingenuity and build their confidence and commitment to excellence.

			DIVISION 4 HOT RODDERS OF TOMORROW ENGINE CHALLENGE RESULTS: 1st Place  – Team MSD - Eastern Oklahoma County Tech Center - Choctaw, Oklahoma - 60:15 2nd Place – Team Royal Purple – Hereford High School - Hereford, Texas - 76:48 3rd Place – Team Comp Cams – Pampa High School - Pampa, Texas - 113:07 4th Place – Team Auto Meter – Magnolia West High School - Magnolia, Texas - 123:05 5th Place – Team Be Cool – Ennis High School - Ennis, Texas - 123:14 6th Place – Team Edelbrock – Birdville Tech Center #1 - North Richland Hills, Texas - 125:24 7th Place – Team Moroso – Birdville Tech Center #2 - North Richland Hills, Texas - 145:36 8th Place – Team Hedman Hedders – Canyon High School - Canyon, Texas - 146:25

Kim Klevenhagen, the Director of Development from the School of Automotive Machinists, offered scholarships to the top three teams at this event. The first-place team received $5,000 to each team member (five students), the second-place team received $3,000 to each team member (six students) and the third-place team received $2,000 to each team member (seven students). A total of $57,000 was offered in scholarship money.

Team MSD–Eastern Oklahoma County Tech Center will represent Division 4 at the national championship dubbed “Showdown at SEMA” at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas November 2–5, 2010. There, they will compete against Division 2 winner (Team ARP) East Ridge High School from Chattanooga, Tennessee; Division 3 winner (Team PRW) Fremd High School from Palatine, Illinois; Division 7 winner (Team Edelbrock) North Orange County ROP from Anaheim, California; and the winner from Division 8 (Lane Automotive Car Show May, 29, 2010) championship plus a wildcard team—the best second-place team nationwide. The current wildcard is from Division 7 (Team Autometer) Loara High School from Anaheim, California.

The event itself resembles the teardown between rounds at a drag race. The engines are identically prepared small-block Chevys. Students must properly disassemble the engine using only hand tools, utilizing proper detorque and disassembly procedures. The team returns behind their bench and waits for the judges to call them back before reassembling once again with correct assembly procedure and torque specs, all while being viewed by judges and spectators. The team with the fastest time, including penalty minutes, wins.

The Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Championship was held last year during the 2009 SEMA Show. Read more about the intense Showdown at SEMA and to see which team earned scholarships from the Ohio Technical College and the University of Northwestern Ohio.