Chris Overfelt, Coach
Engine Assembly and Disassembly
Salem, Virginia
How much time would it take a small group of high school students to completely disassemble and reassemble a 350 small block Chevy engine, using only hand tools? Would you believe 16 minutes, 47 seconds? This was the world record time set by Team Vibrant Performance of the Burton Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT) of Salem, Virginia, at the 2018 Hot Rodders of Tomorrow National Championship in Indianapolis. It was the third title in the last 5 years for the innovative Motor Sports Program at the multi-disciplinary arts and technology program serving the 4 high schools of the Roanoke Valley Public Schools, led by the program’s founder and coach Chris Overfelt. Chris is a 1990 graduate of BCAT and, prior to creating the Motor Sports Program, taught courses in small engine mechanics and welding. The latter was a skill Chris picked up by the age of 6, helping out his father, master hot rod car builder and instructor Charlie Overfelt. Since then, Chris has gone on to build hot rods, street rods, and drag racers. He passes these skills on to his students as well, through activities such as guiding them through the construction of a 1928 Roadster, a drag car which students built in 2009 and run regularly at various car shows and competitions. Team Vibrant Performance will show their championship mettle at the 2019 Richmond Folk Festival, and much like we caution audiences before watching Deborah Pratt and Clementine Macon face off in our annual oyster shucking showdown, “Don’t blink, ‘cause you might miss it.”