Five high school students from Oklahoma took Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ Fel-Pro Gaskets brand back to a familiar destination – the winner’s circle – by claiming the 2017 national championship in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge during the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis. The annual event challenges teams to disassemble and reassemble performance engines as quickly as possible without errors, resembling the teardown and reassembly processes commonly performed between rounds of professional drag racing.
Team Fel-Pro, comprised of five high school students enrolled in automotive technology programs at Tulsa Tech, Broken Arrow, Okla., won the title with an average time of 17:03, three seconds faster than the defending champion, Burton Center for Arts & Technology, Salem, Va. Team members will receive thousands of dollars in scholarship opportunities from leading post-secondary automotive technology institutions.
“Hot Rodders of Tomorrow is important to us because it builds awareness of the skills required for engine building among high school and trade school students and promotes hands-on learning and interest in automotive repair, with timed competition,” said Ann Skrycki-Mohler, brand manager, Fel-Pro, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. “These students train and compete all year to gain speed and accuracy, in many cases rebuilding their engines over 100 times in practice and competition during the season.
“Team Fel-Pro and the scores of other teams entered in this year’s competition are influencers to the careers available in the automotive and performance industries. That’s good news for the businesses that rely on highly skilled and dedicated engine machinists and vehicle technicians.”
Forty-five high school teams from across the U.S. competed for spots in the “Elite Eight” competition at PRI, one of the world’s largest trade shows for professionals involved in building, maintaining and racing performance vehicles. Team Fel-Pro qualified for the event by finishing fourth during a semi-final round held during the Specialty Equipment Markets Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas in November. For the Fel-Pro brand, this is the second team competition win, with the first coming in the inaugural Hot Rodders of Tomorrow event in 2008.
The Fel-Pro Gaskets brand is one of the most popular and trusted brands in the North American auto care and performance industries. Manufactured for nearly 100 years in Skokie, Ill., Fel-Pro gaskets and related products are installed each day within thousands of automotive service bays and machine shops and are a leading choice of do-it-yourselfers. Fel-Pro performance gaskets are used by many of the most successful professional stock car and drag racing teams as well as thousands of sportsman racers and street performance enthusiasts.
To learn more about Hot Rodders of Tomorrow, please visit www.hotroddersoftomorrow.com. More information regarding Fel-Pro gaskets is available at www.FelPro.com. Like Fel-Pro on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FelProGaskets and follow the brand on Twitter (@FelProGaskets) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/FelProGaskets).
About Federal-Mogul
Federal-Mogul LLC is a leading global supplier of products and services to the world’s manufacturers and servicers of vehicles and equipment in the automotive, light, medium and heavy-duty commercial, marine, rail, aerospace, power generation and industrial markets. The company’s products and services enable improved fuel economy, reduced emissions and enhanced vehicle safety.
