Arapahoe Community College wins 2026 AAPEX Student Competition

High school students enrolled in college automotive courses tore down and rebuilt a V8 engine in 39 minutes and 11 seconds; each took home $10,000 in prizes

Las Vegas—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, shaved more than an hour off the winning time from last year’s competition. The duo tore down and rebuilt a V8 engine in front of a live audience that was hundreds of people deep in just 39 minutes and 11 seconds.

“It’s absolutely surreal,” said Schafer Eirich in an interview immediately following the competition. “We’ve been working towards this for so long; we saw it [the inaugural competition] last year and we knew in that moment we needed to do this.”

The competition tests the basic auto technician skills the students are learning. Each team starts with a small-block Chevy V8 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; the fastest team wins.

“They’re amazing,” said Bob Parmley, the team’s coach and automotive instructor. “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 support of aftermarket businesses that sponsored the event, the winning team took home an estimated $10,000 in prizes each, including professional tool sets.

The road to AAPEX

The Arapahoe team says they practiced two or three times a week for the last eight months. There were challenges, however.

First, John Parmley was hospitalized prior to the competition to have his appendix removed. He was unable to practice during the crucial week leading up to the competition.

Second, 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.

Finally, when they arrived at the student competition, both young men said they were hit with nerves about the task at hand. Eirich described feeling “nauseous,” and the team was expressly worried about competing against an older team from Ferris State University.

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, Euro Clinic, in Santa Clara, Calif. He has been a dedicated volunteer and the driving force behind this competition two years in a row.

Participating schools and aftermarket sponsors

Nine teams from seven schools participated 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: