E3 Spark Plugs News

Pro Wrestler John Cena’s flame-throwing, no-doors InCENArator built for the Gumball 3000.

It’s been called the world’s biggest, craziest moving car show.  Though constantly conjuring memories of the 1982 Burt Reynolds comedy The Cannonball Run, the Gumball 3000 is a decidedly more posh, yet perhaps equally wacky event – an annual favorite of E3 Spark Plugs. And this year, it’s celebrating its 15th year.

The 8-day competition across Europe revved up Saturday with launch party in Copenhagen, Denmark and will take competitors across the continent with stops in Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Italy and Monaco. Members of the 115 driving teams are quite the motley crew, consisting of film, music and sports celebrities, multi-millionaire Internet gurus, a Latvian soap opera star, a 3000-bout undefeated masked Mexican wrestler and two guys recently disqualified from NASA’s space program. Participating celebs include Pimp My Ride star Xzibit, rap star Eve, actor David Hasselhoff, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, pro wrestler John Cena and Swedish skiing phenom John Olsson, among others.

While the antics of such a cast of characters are sure to be entertaining, it’s the cars that are the real stars of the show. A few notables are Team Galag’s Batman-inspired Tumbler, Olsson’s Ultima GTR Rebellion R2K, Xzibit’s Bentley, a Rolls Royce Phantom, Morgan Aero SuperSport, Jaguar F-Type and Murcielago SV.

Often referred to as the rich guy’s Cannonball Run, the Gumball 3000 actually was inspired by films like  Two-Lane Blacktop, Vanishing Point, Bullitt and Le Mans. But we’re guessing its moniker was inspired by 1976′s The Gumball Rally, a film about a 3000-mile illegal road race across America with a disparate mix of international drivers driving exotic cars on public roads. Today’s Gumball 3000, founded in 1999 by British entertainment and fashion mogul Maximillion Cooper, also covers 3,000 miles and a host of colorful characters. But this show is set in Europe and is legally legit.

Also, organizers stress that it’s not a race, per se, but a road trip adventure. You won’t win a prize for being the fastest or flashiest. In fact the winners are the various charities that will benefit from seven celebrity auctions. Up for grabs: an electric light cycle just like the one featured in the movie Tron; Olsson’s XGames-winning skis; a Knight Rider steering wheel signed by the Hoff himself; and a day with Tony Hawk and your 10 best friends at Hawk’s personal training facility in San Diego, Hawk Headquarters and the new Birdhouse Skatepark, including a private session on the famous Boom Boom Huckjam ramp.

Who’s your favorite to watch in the Gumball 3000? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page.

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  Pro wrestler John Cena's flame-throwing, no-doors InCENArator

  

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  Gumball 3000 boss Maximillion Cooper and rap star Eve's Morgan Aero SuperSport

  

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  Tony Hawk's Alpine Edition Twisted Defender

  

The 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees will be announced Wednesday evening, May 22.

On Wednesday, May 22, the 54 members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Nominating Committee and Voting Panel will gather at North Carolina’s Charlotte Convention Center to whittle down the class of 25 nominees to five worthy inductees, including one nominated by fan vote. Come 6pm ET, the rest of the world will know who they’ve picked.

Of course a driver or two will make the list. More than half of the 20 current members were nominated based upon their behind-the-wheel talent. But like any well-oiled machine, it takes many different parts, people and functions to run a professional sport that challenges its participants, makes celebrities of its stars, entertains its fans and inspires the next generation of racing professionals.

The list of 2014 nominees includes 14 drivers, three team owners, two legendary engine builders, three track owner/operators and three from the executive ranks. Who do you hope will nab one of the five inductee spots? Peruse the nominee list below, then post your votes on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page. And be sure to log onto NASCAR.com at 6pm Eastern Time on Wednesday when the 2014 class is announced.

1. Red Byron: NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock champion
2. Jerry Cook: Six-time NASCAR Modified champion; 342 wins
3. Tim Flock: Two-time NASCAR premier series champion; 39 wins
4. Jack Ingram: Two-time NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) champ; 31 wins; also three-time Late Model Sportsman champ
5. Bobby Isaac: Won 1970 Cup championship; 37 career wins, 49 poles
6. Dale Jarrett: 1999 Cup champion; 32 wins
7. Fred Lorenzen: Twenty-six wins in just 158 career starts, including Daytona 500 and World 600 winner in 1965
8. Benny Parsons: 1973 Cup champion; 21 wins
9. Larry Phillips: Five-time NASCAR Weekly Series champion; 226 wins in 308 starts
10. Fireball Roberts: Thirty-three career wins, including Southern 500 (twice) and Daytona 500
11. Wendell Scott: First black owner/driver to win in NASCAR’s Cup series
12. Curtis Turner: Seventeen career wins in premier series, including Southern 500; 38 wins in 79 starts in NASCAR’s convertible division
13. Joe Weatherly: Two-time premier series champion with 25 career wins; Modified champ (1953)
14. Rex White: 1960 premier series champ; 28 wins in 233 starts
15. Richard Childress: Former driver; 11 championships as owner (6 Cup, 4 Nationwide, 1 Truck)
16. Rick Hendrick: Thirteen championships (10 Cup, 3 Truck)
17. Raymond Parks: Won inaugural Strictly Stock championship
18. Maurice Petty: Seven Cup titles and 198 wins as head engine builder for driver Richard Petty
19. Ray Fox: Built some of the most durable, most powerful engines of the day before finding success as a car owner (14 wins). Engine and mechanical expertise helped Carl Kiekhaefer teams win 22 of first 26 races in 1956
20. H. Clay Earles: Founder of Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, the only track that has hosted Cup races every year since 1949
21. Les Richter: Former president and general manager of Riverside International Raceway
22. O. Bruton Smith: Chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns eight facilities that host 12 Cup points races annually
23. Anne Bledsoe France: Secretary and treasurer for sanctioning body during its formative years
24. T. Wayne Robertson: Former Senior VP for series sponsor R.J. Reynolds and president of its sports marketing arm; helped develop series’ all-star race
25. Ralph Seagraves: Former RJR official, instrumental in pairing sponsor with NASCAR to create Winston Cup Series; helped develop NASCAR Weekly Racing Series program

The Lamborghini Egoista concept, debuted at the company’s private 50th birthday celebration in Italy, is creating quite a stir.

In what’s being touted as an epic midlife crisis, iconic automaker Lamborghini unveiled a one-off design that beats any superhero ride you ever sketched in bout of boredom during your high school civics class. Officials debuted the aptly named “Egoista” (which translates to “selfish”) at its 50th birthday celebration in Italy – and immediately revved up a global controversy.

Drawing love-it-or-hate-it coverage, the Egoista was designed by the famed Walter De Silva and inspired by the look of Apache helicopters. It’s powered by a 600-hp V-10 and seats just one passionate and unapologetic driver.

Says DeSilva: “I wanted to pay homage to and think up a vehicle to underline the fact that Lamborghinis have always been made with passion, and with the heart more than the head… This is a car made for one person only, to allow them to have fun and express their personality to the maximum. It is designed purely for hyper-sophisticated people who want only the most extreme and special things in the world. It represents hedonism taken to the extreme, it is a car without compromises, in a word – egoista, or selfish.”

That whole heart vs. head thing is evident in the Egoista, many say. Reviews point out the stealth fighter jet-like cockpit, fitted LED warning lights rather than headlights, and a front end that one reviewer said “looks as if it could julienne a pedestrian.”

The orange-tinted cockpit canopy slides forward and requires the driver to remove the steering wheel, open the dome with an electronic command stand up in their seat, sit down on a precise point of the left-hand bodywork, then swivel their legs 180 degrees to exit the vehicle – Top Gun style.

“Whoever drives this assault on the pupils must be dominated by ego,” one auto journalist wrote. But we here at E3 Spark Plugs think perhaps one (many) doth protest too much. Admit it – aren’t you just a little bit envious that you’ll likely NEVER drive the Egoista? After all, Lamborghini officials are adamant that they’ll never build or sell the Egoista. So there! Egoista, indeed.

What do you think of the Egoista? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page.

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Eleanor, the modified 1967 Mustang GT500 who starred in “Gone in 60 Seconds,” is up for grabs.

She was the one – the ultimate dream ride for actor Nicholas Cage’s Gone in 60 Seconds character, Memphis. Now, she’s headed to the auction block.

In the 2000 film starring Cage, Angelina Jolie, Robert Duval and Giovanni Ribisi, Memphis (Cage), a retired master car thief, is unwillingly jolted back into the industry. To save his brother’s life, he and his crew are tasked with stealing 50 cars in one night. Among them is the gorgeous Eleanor – a sleek, silver 1967 Mustang GT500. But were it not for budget constraints, she might have been a much different lady.

While one would think that a $90 million budget could get producer Jerry Bruckheimer any ride he wanted, word on the street is that his first choice to play Eleanor was a Ford GT40. But the famed producer suffered a bit of sticker shock when the numbers came in. Turns out, the fleet of Ford GT40s needed to collectively portray Eleanor was too much.

Meanwhile, the Mustang GT500 also was in the running despite concerns over whether a ‘Stang could hang with the Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins already confirmed for the film. Fortunately, Bruckheimer decided to cast the GT500, but ordered a Hollywood-worthy makeover. The result was the Chip Foose-designed icon with a modified fiberglass appearance, PIAA driving lights, larger fender flares, side skirts, aggressive scoops, a 400-hp upgraded V-8 engine, side-exit exhausts and a monstrous nitrous kit, fired by a button reading “Go Baby Go.”

We here at E3 Spark Plugs couldn’t imagine Eleanor any other way. If you’re as big an Eleanor fan as we are, head to the Mecum’s Spring Classic auction in Indianapolis on May 18, where Eleanor (serial number 7R02C179710) will be sold to the highest bidder. Owned by Cinema Vehicle Services, she’s expected to go for around $300,000.

“Breaking Bad” character Jesse Pinkman’s 1983 Toyota Tercel is up for grabs after filming on the final season wraps.

Yo, Breaking Bad fans – Need a new ride? Jesse Pinkman can hook you up. Check it…

On a visit to any given used car dealership, you’d likely pass on the 1983 Toyota Tercel with the faded red paint job and no hubcaps. But this particular 30-year-old junker has an intangible value as the sometimes-star of the AMC hit TV show – the only show to ever make us root for the local meth dealer.

In reality, the ride belongs to Mike Faris Auto Wholesale in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But on TV, it belongs to Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), high school dropout-turned-meth dealing partner of Walter White aka “Heisenberg,” who just happens to be his former chemistry teacher. But for a few thousand bucks and a little patience, it could be yours.

The Tercel actually serves as an extra, should the main Tercel suffer an unfortunate and untimely end on set. But even as an extra, it’s getting the star treatment from fans looking to get their hands on a little piece of Hollywood history. Were it not cast in the show, the Tercel would have an estimated value of about $750 on a good day. But Faris is fielding offers starting at $2,000.

The top bidder will have to pony up a little patience, too. Faris won’t sell until the show wraps production and plans to use the cash for a very fitting charitable cause.

“When the new episodes start, we’re going to sell the car and use the proceeds toward drug-addiction treatment,” Faris said.

The final season airs this summer on AMC. Will you make an offer on the Breaking Bad clunker? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page.

Proceeds from the sale of “Breaking Bad” character Jesse’s 1983 Toyota Tercel will benefit drug addition treatment programs.

Are you attending the New York Auto Show? Show us your pics.

E3 Spark Plugs is stoked about the start of the New York Auto Show next week. Billed as “Ten Days of Triumph,” this year’s show revs up Friday, March 29 and runs through Sunday, April 7. Here are a few of the features we’re most looking forward to:

• Debut of the new 542-HP Jaguar XJR: The highest performance Jaguar ever is expected to demand a $130,000 price tag. Other NY Auto Show debuts this year include the 2013 Chevy Camaro, Corvette Stingray and Rolls-Royce Wraith.
• Gartel Art Cars exhibit: Including the Mercedes Art Car hand-painted by Lawrence Gartel, considered the “father of digital art.”
• EV Pavilion: An indoor ride-along track where fans can take a spin in a few of the newest electric vehicles hitting the market.
• Camp Jeep Outdoor Off Roading Ride Along: An outdoor track for Jeep enthusiasts.
• Dub Show Tour: The ultimate in custom cars, along with concerts and celebrity appearances.

Are you headed to the Big Apple for the show? Be sure to post your thoughts and pics on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page.

Team E3 Racing winner Shea Holbrook hit the Richard Petty Driving Experience at age 16 and never looked back.

Shea Holbrook recently experienced the “best five laps of my life,” she says. While walking the paddocks at the Homestead-Miami International Speedway during a Formula and Automobile Racing Association event, she spotted her dream car – an Audi Sport Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) racecar. As luck would have it, she knew the team and car owners, and thus scored the chance to take it out on the tracks for a few laps.

“The sensation of driving the ‘Batmobile’ came over me because everything is pushed back a few feet,” Holbrook writes in her racing website blog. “I’ve never felt more comfortable in a racecar than driving this one. Cool, calm and collected I roll out of the pits. Getting a feel for the car, aggressively grabbing the upshifts with my foot to the floor and then punching the downshifts as fire lights under my butt (exhaust comes out the side of the car rather than the rear) I feel at ease.”

Holbrook’s passion for racing is evident just from reading that quote. And it’s clear that she’s a natural at her sport. That’s why she’s the latest Team E3 Racing Tier 1 winner.

Holbrook first discovered her passion for driving at age 16. While her friends were just happy to get their driver’s licenses, she was ratcheting things up with a Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Daytona International Speedway. And that was it – She was hooked. Soon, Holbrook was racing high performance driving events throughout Florida and gunning for her Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) license. She since has been road racing competitively nationwide, with event ranging from sprint races to 25-hour enduros.

The gorgeous Groveland, FL resident holds several firsts in her racing career. In 2008, she became the first female alternate for the 2008 VW Jetta TDI Cup, and in 2011, she became the first woman to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach in a touring car during the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge season – making her one of just four women to ever win at the track alongside Katherine Legge, Dancia Patrick and Simona De Silvestro. Other bragging rights include the Sobre Rodas Talent of the Year Award in 2007; Women in the Winners Circle (Lyn St. James Foundation) recipient of the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Scholarship in 2008; Optima Batteries Best Standing Start Award and the Sunoco Hard Charger Award in 2011; and Living Legend Honoree Award at the Live Your Legacy Summit in 2012.

Holbrook is a formidable competitor off the tracks as well. She’s an accomplished national competitive water skier holding numerous state, regional and national titles. But she’s got a soft heart when it comes to charity. Her team, Shea Racing, partnered with Frito Lay Corp. to raise $12,500 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and has helped to raise thousands of dollars for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, which benefits Duchenne muscular dystrophy – a condition that affects her own family. As if that’s not enough, she recently earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Interpersonal and Organizational Communications with a minor in Marketing from the University of Central Florida. For her accomplishments was featured in the Women in Motorsports SuperCars Super Show Exhibit and Teen Vogue magazine.

From all of us here at E3 Spark Plugs, congratulations and welcome to the team, Shea!

Alex Prunty is a third-generation stock car racer and second-year Team E3 Racing winner.

He’s a third-generation racer back for his second year as part of Team E3 Racing. Twenty-year-old Alex Prunty clearly has racing in his blood, as the seventh member of his family to take the wheel on the competitive tracks.

The Prunty family’s racing dynasty started with Grandfather Doug Prunty, who ran his one and only season in 1961. All five sons followed and Alex hit the tracks in 2009, racing a donated 1990 Nissan Stanza XE-turned-racecar. Turns out a host of engine and electrical issues were no match for the Prunty men’s mechanical prowess or Alex’s dogged determination. He landed his first feature win in just his sixth race at Wisconsin’s Slinger Super Speedway.

The very next year, Prunty would do his family proud, taking the Slinger Super Speedway Slinger Bees Track Championship – the family’s 11th.

Next, Prunty raced the Late Model division thanks to another donated car. The wrecked ride had been owned by Prunty’s uncle, Dennis, who sold it to Pete Wiedmeyer, who promptly wrecked it in the 2008 Slinger season opener. The car spent the next two years hidden away in Wiedmeyer’s shed until he donated it back to the Prunty family in 2010. Resurrected into a sleek, strong racer, the car helped Alex finish the 2011 season second in point standings and take the Rookie of the Year title. During the 2009-2010 racing seasons, racked up 14 feature wins – more than any other division competitor.

In 2011, Prunty sped things up, moving into the Limited Late Model division. This past season proved his most successful yet. He broke a track record with five feature wins, setting fast time every week but twice and taking the 2012 season championship title. Off track, he studies Engine Research and Development at Moraine Park Technical College, a move sure to make him an even tougher competitor.

E3 Spark Plugs is proud to welcome Prunty back to Team E3 Racing for the second year and looks forward to helping him defend his 2012 season championship title while continuing to build the business and promotional side of his racing team and his promising racing career.

The Concours D’Elegance and Festivals of Speed take place this weekend at Amelia Island.

Hey speed enthusiasts – Got plans for the weekend? If you’re in the area, E3 Spark Plugs recommends you take a joy ride to Amelia Island, Florida for the Festivals of Speed and Concours D’Elegance.

The Festivals of Speed revs up with a Luxury Lifestyle Cocktail Reception at the tony Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort on Friday evening. Smooth jazz, premium handcrafted cocktails, luxury product displays and some casual conversation with fellow car buffs.

But the real draw begins on Saturday with the Festival of Speed’s display of dozens of the world’s most exotic cars, motorcycles and watercraft on the resort’s 9th fairway. This year’s event celebrates 50 years of Lamborghini and a full century of Aston Martin. Special displays will feature some of the most beautiful Aston Martins and hottest Lamborghinis around. And it all benefits the Spina Bifida Organization of Jacksonville.

Throughout the weekend, the Concors D’Elegance goes on at the uber-ritzy Ritz Carlton and the Golf Club of Amelia Island at Summer Beach. The area’s most exclusive auto show this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Porche 911 and the Ford GT40, as well as the cars of Harry Miller, the designer and builder called “the greatest creative figure in the history of the American racing car.”

Miller was most active in the 1920s and 1930s and his cars were much more than beautiful works of automotive art. They were powerful, too. Miller-built cars won the Indianapolis 500 nine times and others using his engines won three more. In fact, Millers accounted for 83 percent of the Indy 500 fields between 1923 and 1928.

On display this weekend are two Miller-built race cars, Edsel’s Ford, a prototype of the first Cadillac to bear the Coupe de Ville not displayed in public in 64 years, and the only original Lamborghini Miura Roadster ever built. Some new rides will be displayed as well, including the 2014 Corvette Sting Ray.

The 2013 event’s honoree is Sam Posey, a retired American racecar driver and sports broadcast journalist.

Will you attend the Festivals of Speed or the Concours D’Elegance Amelia Island? Post your pics and thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page.

Christmas Abbott is busting through the gender barriers in professional racing, making history as the first NASCAR pit crew member.

NASCAR pit crew members are a rare breed. They’ve got to be seriously strong, crazy fast, precision-minded and able to endure long hours in hot, chaotic conditions. And until now, they were all guys. Enter Christmas Abbott, a petite but powerful crossfit champion and former Olympic weightlifting trainer who recently became the first female to dare to brave the crew pit.

Several celebrated women have slipped behind the wheel to compete on the tracks – most notably Danica Patrick, who earlier this month became the first woman ever to claim the Spring Cup pole at the Daytona 500. But Abbott, a 5’3″, 115-pound blonde beauty, is the first to join a NASCAR pit crew. Defying the odds – and the whispered bets that she won’t make it a full season – Abbott inked a deal to serve on the NASCAR crew pit, changing tires for driver Jennifer Jo Cobb in the Camping World Truck Series. Her job involves whipping around the No. 10 Ford with an air gun in hand, unbolting five lug nuts, ripping a 60-pound tire off the car, bolting on a new one and doing it all one more time – all in 12 seconds or less.

While the idea is enough to make many women cringe and head for the day spa, for Abbott, it’s a walk in the park. After all, she’s been in far more daunting situations, and she started early. At age 10, she joined her neighborhood boys’ baseball team, much to the chagrin of her teammates and only after her mother’s threat to bring the local media to tryouts if her precocious preteen wasn’t given a fair shot.

“They chucked the ball at me,” she recalls with a laugh. “A lot.”

At 22, she again defied the gender odds, following her mother, a general contractor, to Baghdad. She spent her days at a military laundry center smack dab in the center of a war zone, sorting fatigues stained with desert sand, sweat and blood. She worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week and dodged IEDs (improvised explosive device) in the roadways. But it was there that she was introduced to crossfit and set out on a physical regime that would make her a celebrity in the fitness world and later catch the attention of NASCAR exec Ted Bullard. He invited her to try out for the crew pit gig and the rest is history in the making – though Abbott has no delusions that success will come easy.

“NASCAR fans are die-hard and they will call out your B.S.,” said Abbott, who sports a tattoo of a gun on her hip to remind her of her days in Iraq and reportedly is in talks with Hollywood execs about a reality TV show. “I want to go to the highest level.”

E3 Spark Plugs congratulates Abbott on her history-making achievement. We’re watching and expecting major success!