E3 Spark Plugs News

Team E3 Racing winner Stephen Kildahl is the youngest competitor on the Super Boat International Offshore Boat Racing Circuit.

Estero, Florida’s Stephen Kildahl is, quite literally, an exception to the rule. That’s why he’s one of the inaugural class of Team E3 Racing Tier 1 winners.

Kildahl has been racing speedboats since age 16, when he received a special dispensation to compete on the Super Boat International Offshore Boat Racing Circuit. The rule book said competitors must be at least 18 years old, but Kildahl’s talent and skill were clearly beyond his years. And he’s since proven that the move was a good one.

In just four years, Kildahl has racked up 14 career wins, one world championship, two national championships and three Florida championships. And at age 20, he remains the youngest full time driver on the circuit by at least 10 years, regularly going deck-to-deck with racers boasting many more years of experience on the water. That’s quite an accomplishment, especially considering that many deem boat racing tougher than car, truck or motorcycle racing. After all, with boat racing, there is no solid surface or set course features. Everything changes with the winds, the tides, etc.

Team E3 Racing winner Stephen Kildahl accepting an award from a Cocoa Beach beauty.

“You never know what you are going to get,” Kildahl told a Tampa Bay Times reporter just before the Clearwater Super Boat National/Florida Championship last September. “Every day it is something different. Conditions can change from the beginning to the end of the race.”

Plus, while auto racers handle both the speed and the steering, powerboat racing is a team effort with one team member at the wheel and the other at the throttle. If one sees something the other doesn’t or makes an unexpected decision, it could mean the difference in winning, losing or even finishing the race.

For the 2012 powerboat racing season, Kildahl will be behind the wheel of a 30-foot Phantom with a 525HP racing engine. He and his new team, Scott Free Racing, expect to hit speeds of 90-95 miles per hour. So if you’re on the water, stay out of his way! And be sure to stock your own boat with a set of E3 racing spark plugs. If you’re on dry land, check the E3 Spark Plugs blog and Facebook fan page for updates on Kildahl’s racing career.

Team E3 Racing winner Rick Hudson is busy reading his ride for the upcoming UMP Modified racing season.

Rick Hudson knows his way around an engine and can certainly tell you a thing or two about horsepower. By weekday, he’s the Lab Operations Group Leader at Cummins High Horse Power Technical Center in Seymour, Indiana. But come quittin’ time on Friday, he’s likely at the tracks racing his Larry Shaw-built modified cart.

A Tier 1 winner in Team E3 Racing, Hudson impressed us here at E3 Spark Plugs with his racing talent, engine know-how and sportsmanship. He has raced go-carts since he was eight years old. Three decades, lots of wins and a few broken bones later, he’s in his eighth season in UMP Modified racing and has landed two fourth-place points positions and two sportsmanship awards.

In an effort to develop the best competition cart possible, Hudson took a set of E3 racing spark plugs he had raced with for a full season to the engineers at Cummins, Inc. where he works. Cummins is a global power leader with multiple business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service and related technologies including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. The engineers analyzed the set of plugs and gave Hudson the confirmation he was looking for.

“There feedback was really positive,” Hudson said. “Most years, I would just can last season’s plugs but with [E3 Spark Plugs] I would not hesitate to run them some this year as well. They work.”

UMP, United Midwestern Promoters, is a short-track racing sanctioning body that focuses on dirt track racing and currently sanctions eight different racing divisions on more than 100 tracks in 19 states and a Canadian province. Look for Rick Hudson’s name in the list of UMP champions one of these days. In the meantime, check the E3 Spark Plugs blog and Facebook fan page for updates on Hudson’s career.

Team E3 Racing's Jason Jiovani has developed a huge following in his home state of Florida.

“Hit the gas and get it sideways,” seems to be a professional motto for Largo, Florida’s Jason Jiovani, one of our first Team E3 Racing Tier 1 winners. Jiovani is in his seventh season in the competitive drifting world and has racked up a mantle full of top 10 finishes. This year, he’ll run the StreetWise Drift in the East Regional US Series and he’s eligible to run the PRO class of Formula D this season. He’s also a Brand Ambassador for NOS Energy Drinks along with friend and fellow racing/drifting competitor Rob Fleming, whom he credits with helping to “revive the heartbeat of drifting in Florida.”

As of press time, Jiovani drives a 1991 Nissan 240SX with a ~400RWHP GM 5.7 LS1 motor running TrickFlow heads and cam combo. Besides competing on the tracks, he also runs all day-to-day aspects of his race team, J1N Racing. These include funding, transport, marketing, partnership management and turning wrenches with help from sponsor All American Street Car Performance. But while he’s a hands-on team owner and racer, he’s quick to credit his team, which includes girlfriend/co-pilot/mechanic’s assistant Hazel, for his success.

Drifting champ Jason Jiovani races and runs all aspects of his J1N Racing team.

When Jiovani’s not behind the wheel, he’s often still on the tracks, volunteering at amateur events as an instructor, course designer and competition judge. On school days, you’ll have to call him “Mr. Jiovani.” And you’ll have to sit still, pay attention and cut it out with the spit-balling right now, young man. Mr. Jiovani supplements his racing career with a substitute teacher gig in Pinellas County schools. While school’s out, he’s a bit more fun, working as a summer camp counselor.

Jiovani’s wrapping up his off-season preparations and is set to hit the tracks with a whole new car look in the next few weeks. That new look will include a loud-and-proud E3 Spark Plugs logo. If you’re a drifting fan, be sure to look for Jiovani on the tracks. And if you’re an up-and coming auto sports competitor, be sure to stock your ride with a set of E3 racing spark plugs for a strong, clean ride and competitive advantage.

Stunt Wars Sliding 2011 – J1Nracing.com from Jason Jiovani on Vimeo.

Batmobile-inspired Nissan DeltaWing

If you think your eyes are tricking you at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, you’re only half wrong. Yes, that was a Batmobile of sorts that you saw whiz by. But you won’t find the Caped Crusader behind the wheel.

Nissan’s new DeltaWing caught E3 Spark Plugs‘ eye on Thursday when it made its public U.S. debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring event at the Sebring International Raceway. With brother Dario, Scots race car driver Marino Franchitti slid behind the wheel of the black, winged #0 and took it for two impressive practice laps. The car had been driven in the U.S. only once before, in a private run in California last week.

“We are here to demonstrate that a race car can consume half the fuel, use half the tires and weigh half as much,” said designer Ben Bowlby, head of a consortium of racing firms and suppliers who helped build the DeltaWing.

Originally designed as a possible alternative to IndyCars (Indy racing passed on it), the DeltaWing boasts a 300 hp, 1.6 liter turbo engine and two front tires that measure four inches wide, as opposed to the typical 14-inche racecar tires. Its rocket shape and low profile, as well as the fact that it’s roughly half the weight of a regular Le Mans race car, give it less aerodynamic drag. The driver’s position near the rear axle creates a rear weigh bias, making the front of the car easier to turn.

The DeltaWing quickly quieted critics who had doubts about whether the narrow tires could produce significant cornering force. Franchitti’s two practice runs went smoothly and the famed racer afterward said he was amazed at the DeltaWing’s easy handling. But the Batmobile-inspired ride still has something to prove before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans event in June. It’ll have to pass a crash test, meet all imposed safety standards and demonstrate a minimum level of performance. If all goes well, endurance racer Don Panoz will drive the DeltaWing throughout the race as an unclassified competitor.

Win or not, “By participating in this project, I will be living a dream,” Panoz says.

What do you think? Does the DeltaWing stand a chance in the Le Mans? Is it the next-generation race car? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

Tom Mix's 1937 supercharged Cord 812 convertible roadster, in which he was killed in a 1940 crash, appears at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance this weekend.

If you’re in the North Florida area this weekend, E3 Spark Plugs recommends hitting the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. The 17th annual event starts today and runs through Sunday. On the marquis this year are several gorgeous classics owned by some of Old Hollywood’s most iconic stars.

Among the stars of the 2012 event is Natalie Woods’ Mercedes-Benz 300SL, which has been meticulously restored right down to the hose clamps, the period-correct Becker in-dash radio, and Woods’ owner documents in the glove box. The German roadster bears a traditional factory-approved silver-blue color. But it didn’t always look like it does today.

“She had it painted pink,” says Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance founder and Chairman Bill Warner of Woods’ unconventional color choice. “Pink with a lipstick red leather interior, as if driving a 300SL around Hollywood didn’t attract enough attention.”

Another head-turner on display this year is Ginger Rogers’ 265HP 1929 Model J Dusenberg, the unofficial car of the stars throughout the 1930s. Gary Cooper, Clark Gable and Tyrone Powers drove them, too. But Rogers’ ride was quite unique. It was the first Murphy-bodied Duesenberg and the first from the Pasadena, Calif. custom coach building emporium to have a disappearing convertible top. Though the original is long gone, current owner John Groendyke has carefully replicated the car’s reptile-pattern embossed leather upholstery. If you’re a true film buff, you may recognize Rogers’ Model J from the 1933 film The Gay Divorcee, the second of the Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire musicals.

Not to miss is a 1937 supercharged Cord 812 convertible roadster with an eerie history. Only 196 were made and this particular one was owned by cowboy film great Tom Mix. Known as the original Hollywood good guy in the white hat, Mix was one of America’s first Western movie stars. In fact, he practically created the Western movie genre single-handedly and was so respected among his peers that he was chosen as a pall bearer at Wyatt Earp’s funeral.

In October of 1940, Mix was driving the Cord along Arizona Route 79 and stopped at the famed Oracle Junction Inn to place a call to his manager. Less than an hour down the road, Mix apparently missed signs that warned of a bridge under repair ahead. He crashed into the construction site and was killed when an aluminum suit case filled with money and securities flew forward from the backseat and hit Mix in the head.

The car remained in its crashed state until it was bought at auction in 2010 and underwent an intensive 18-month frame-off restoration. How does it look now?

“Exactly as it did 15 minutes before the crash,” says owner Bob White. “Our biggest challenge has been determining what it looked like in 1940 and then reproducing those parts because everything had to be handmade.”

Mix’s Cord is one of just three with a rare set of options including an external-mounted spare tire. The other two belonged to actress Barbara Stanwyk and jazz singer Al Jolson.

Also on display at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is Rita Hayworth’s Ghia-bodied Cadillac and Roger Miller’s Cobra Daytona Coupe – the one that settled a score for Cobra creator Carroll Shelby against Enzo Ferrari. Just six were hand-constructed for the 1964 and 1965 World Championship racing season, which Shelby nearly won in 1964. Instead, he was out maneuvered by Ferrari, who lobbied to have the final race of the 1964 season cancelled, a move that beat Shelby’s Cobra by default. Shelby’s response: “Next year, Ferrari’s ass is mine.”

Miller drove the car to victory the very next year, unseating Ferrari as the World GT Champion.

Do you plan to attend the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance? Be sure to post your pics on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

11-year-old Annabeth Barnes (with father, Darren Barnes, a retired pro racecar driver) struggles to balance being a future pro racer and a regular kid in "Racing Dreams."

It’s been described as Talladega Nights meets Catcher in the Rye. And it’s E3 Spark Plug’s latest must-see film pick. Racing Dreams is a highly acclaimed documentary co-executive produced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson chronicling the efforts of three tweens as they pave the way to their NASCAR dreams.

This coming-of-age story follows Annabeth Barnes (11), Josh Hobson (12) and Brandon Warren (13) as they compete for the World Karting Association’s National Series championship – widely regarded as the Little League of professional racing. These kids are still several years away from being old enough to get their learner’s licenses. But they’re regularly booking it at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour on the go-cart tracks.

Barnes of Hiddenite, North Carolina is the daughter of retired pro racecar driver Darren Barnes. It’s clear that racing is in her blood. She’s the youngest person ever selected for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity and spends nearly every weekend at the track. But she struggles to balance her love and natural talent for racing with her desires to be a regular kid.

Hobson, who lives in Birch Run, Michigan, first revved his racing engines at age five and spends his off-time studying the driving styles and interview techniques of NASCAR drivers in a years-long bid to become the consummate racing professional.

"Racing Dreams" is co-executive produced by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

For Creedmore, North Carolina’s Brandon Warren, racing isn’t just a passion. It’s also an escape and an outlet for coping with a difficult home life. Warren lives with his grandparents and is a charismatic comic one minute, an angry young man with a fiery temper the next. He’s in the running to win the same championship that he lost the year before when he was disqualified for rough driving.

Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Marshall Curry, Racing Dreams is as much about young love, family struggles and the pressures of growing up as it is about racing. Both humorous and heartbreaking, it has racked up multiple awards on the film festival circuit including Best Documentary awards at the Tribeca Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival and Jacksonville Film Festival; Audience Award props at the Florida Film Festival and the Indianapolis Film Festival; and the Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago Film Festival. The film made its television debut this week on PBS’ POV and can be seen in its entirety on the POV website through March 24. DVDs are available on the Racing Dreams website.

E3 Spark Plugs sends props and best wishes to Annabeth, Josh, Brandon and all the other young drivers chasing their pro racing dreams.

RACING DREAMS TRAILER 166m from N/A on Vimeo.

King of the Motos must might be the toughest off-road motorcycle challenge yet. Photo by Dirt Rider Magazine.

Here at E3 Spark plugs, we’ve seen a lot of crazy off-roading excursions and competitions. But this one really got our engines racing. Last week, 21 brave, or just plain naïve riders suited up for the inaugural King of the Motos motorcycle race. When the mud stopped flying, the rocks stopped rolling and the dust settled, only six were left standing.

The grueling 65-mile race took three hours to complete and sent competitors across sand-filled washes, through largely impassible boulder fields and over massive hills throughout the Johnson Valley OHV (off-highway vehicle) terrain in Lucerne Valley, California. It’s a new addition to the Griffin King of the Hammers and it mercilessly pits the nation’s top motocross racers against rugged earth usually reserved for custom-built four-wheeled crawlers.

The inaugural King of Motos featured an invitation-only class of riders – most of whom ended having to walk their rides out of the rocks. Mechanical breakdowns or pure pain and exhaustion claimed 15 riders who braved the first-ever event that combined high-speed Baha-style desert racing with extreme terrain, including 10 miles of rocks. The no-holds-barred competition placed no performance limitations on bikes but also provided no pit support. Nor did the course include many marking, forcing riders to rely on GPS units to make sure they were heading in the right direction.

Two hours, 57 minutes and 19 seconds after the start, it would be British endurance specialist Graham Jarvis who crossed the finish line first and claimed the $10,000 prize. It was a winner-take-all event, so there were no runner-up prizes save for sheer props. So, E3 Spark Plugs sends mad props to Kyle Redman, Destry Abbott, Mike Slawson, Cody Webb and Jimmy Jarett.

Planning your own off-roading excursion? Pick up a set of E3 motorcycle spark plugs or ATV spark plugs and leave your buddies in the dust.

Heath Frisby wins gold and makes history with the first ever front snowmobile flip at the 2012 Winter X Games. Photo by Mark Kohlman/ESPN.

E3 Spark Plugs sends big props to Colten Moore and Heath Frisby for their winning rides at the Winter X Games, which wrapped this weekend in Aspen, Colorado. Moore took the gold in the Snowmobile Freestyle event. And Frisby added a second Snowmobile Best Trick gold medal to his collection of seven Winter X Games medals.

Both wins were surprises. Many fans were shocked to see Moore make it into the finals, after a spectacular crash during the first heat of the elimination round. He let go of a double crab in midair and hit the ground, ducking his head and flipping onto his back in the nick of time. Chalk it up to the impressive aerial awareness he’s developed via exhaustive training over a foam pit and a decade of riding ATV quads.

Moore shored up his win with some serious FMX-styled tricks including a cordova backflip and a superflip Indian air. His skill and showmanship racked up a top score of 93.66, which he immediately celebrated by Tebowing in the snow.

“I knew I had to come out here and stomp the best run of my life, and that’s just what I did,” said a breathless Moore just after his winning run. “I’ve never rode so good in my life. I’m so pumped right now I can’t even breathe.”

Joe Parsons won the event’s silver medal and Moore’s brother, Caleb Moore, took home the bronze. Both Moore brothers are relatively new to snowmobiling, first taking up the sport only three years ago.

Heath Frisby delivered another big surprise, handily winning the gold and making sport history by pulling off the first ever frontflip on a snowmobile. He and his team tried to keep hush about his best trick competition plans, but word got out early in the afternoon. So, Frisby confirmed his plans – and worked up some serious fan hype – by posting a YouTube video of himself completing the trick over a foam pit in a practice run.

Frisby perfectly nailed the trick in his first of two runs. The feat proved impressive enough to beat Moore’s tsunami Indian flip and Parsons’ no-footed can-can backflip. Even more impressive than his history-making trick and top score is the fact that Frisby had the nerve to go for it just moments after seeing competitor and friend Justin Hoyer wipe out in a failed double backflip attempt and get carted off on a stretcher.

“Guys, it’s alright. I’ve been waiting a year to do this,” Frisby told concerned onlookers after seeing a video replay of Hoyer’s wicked crash. “I am my own deal. This is a totally different trick and I’m ready.”

Within minutes, he proved those words to an instantly whipped-up crowd and got an on-field onslaught of high-fives from fellow competitors.

E3 Spark Plugs congratulates Moore, Frisby and all the winners at this year’s Winter X Games. If you plan to hit the slopes soon yourself, make sure you stock your sled with a set of E3 snowmobile spark plugs for a competition-worthy ride.

Check out Frisby’s history-making flip…

And Moore’s gold-winning, FMX-styled run…

Got what it takes to join Team E3 Racing? Zoom over to the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page and find out.

If you’re an up-and-coming motorsports racer, why not put the power of E3 in your ride and on your back? Starting February 1, here’s your chance to be part of Team E3 Racing!

Over the next three months (Feb-April), we will award four WINNERS from each tier listed below a Race Sponsorship and load them up with Official Team E3 Racing Sponsorship Prizes!

• Tier 1: 12 Fans win $500 cash, 25 E3 Spark Plugs and Official E3 Race Day Gear/Decals
• Tier 2: 12 Fans win one (1) Set of up to 8 Plugs and Official E3 Race Day Gear/Decals
• Tier 3: 12 Fans win Official E3 Race Day Gear and Decals

In addition to being officially sponsored by E3 Spark plugs, being a part of Team E3 Racing means we can help you grow your fan base by following your standings throughout the 2012 racing season, posting your videos and pictures and featuring you on the E3 website and social media channels!

So how do you become part of Team E3 Racing? Zoom over to the E3 Spark Plugs’ Facebook fan page, “Like us” and sign up via the Team E3 Racing tab. Fill in your name, age, contact information and T-shirt size. Give us the lowdown on your racing career thus far, including your ride’s make and model and info on your current series, standings and significant winnings. And hit us with your best pitch as to why YOU should be part of Team E3. We’re expecting lots of entries, so you’d better be convincing!

E3 Spark Plugs’ patented DiamondFire technology means a stronger, smoother, cleaner ride. Developed with help from some of the nation’s top scientists and engineers, E3 spark plugs are proven to boost your engine’s performance, mileage and fuel efficiency without mucking up the environment. In fact, E3 is the ONLY spark plug to be included in a federal rule making for emission standards.. Just like the best motorsports racers on the podiums, E3 spark plugs are “Born to Burn.”

Legendary automotive designer Dean Jeffries gets a little distracted while repainting his first car, a 1947 Mercury convertible. Photo from the Dean Jeffries Collection for Matt Stone's new book, "My First Car."

Everybody remembers their first. Their first car, that is. In fact, not much conjures up sweet nostalgia like retelling a story of the set of wheels that marked the beginning of freedom. That’s why we here at E3 Spark Plugs so enjoyed reading Matt Stone’s My First Car, a 224-page hardbound book packed with 124 photos and stories that’ll make you laugh, cry and reminisce.

There’s probably no other rite of passage that teenagers look forward to more than holding the keys to their first car. In My First Car, Stone retells the automotive initiations of some of the world’s most recognized names. Hollywood actors, automotive industry giants, racing greats and pro athletes share both poignant stories and early photographs of their first rides. Among them is iconic actor and auto collector Steve McQueen, the original King of Cool. McQueen’s first motorized thing he could call his own was an Indian motorcycled outfitted with a sidecar.  But what he coveted was an MT TC. During a Columbus, Ohio stop for his off-Broadway play Time Out for Ginger, McQueen spotted a 1948 MG with a $750 price tag. But this was long before McQueen hit fame, and he had all of $450 in pay and poker winnings with him.

“I put down $450 … and I told the owner I’d send more money from each overnight stop we made,” McQueen tells Stone. “It was finally delivered to me in Chicago. That’s when I asked for a raise and got booted out of the play. So, I jumped into my MG and drove it all the way to New York.”

The love story didn’t last long. McQueen sold his MG after three axles broke and the spokes kept shredding out of the wire wheels. He decided to stick with cycles for a while. Fate at play, perhaps? Otherwise, we might not have that infamous Triumph TR6 Trophy getaway scene from The Great Escape.

Other samplings from My First Car:

• Hugh Hefner’s 1941 Chevy Coupe that “reminds [him] of the car Columbo used to drive” and that died in the middle of the road on the very day that Playboy first hit the stands.
• Andy Warhol’s used Rolls-Royce, in which he collided with a taxi while learning to drive at 56 years old.
• Mario Andretti’s 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop in bright red with a white top, which the family landed in part because a teenage Andretti convinced his father that the louder pipes helped save gas.
• Sir Sterling Moss’ three-wheeled 1936 Morgan, which he initially drove illegally (just shy of his 16th birthday – the legal driving age in England at the time) and mounted a box on the back for his pet ferret.

Moss is quick to point out the top enduring benefit for a young man with a great ride.

“The great thing about having a car was that you could pick up the crumpet [girls] a lot easier than if you had a bicycle, of course,” he says, though he admits that his first ride was a bit rudimentary. “It was quite useful from that standpoint.”

In all, 67 famous drivers share their stories. No doubt, this book also has prompted many a conversation about readers’ first cars. What’s your first car story? E3 Spark Plugs, makers of the most energy efficient and eco-friendly car spark plugs on the market, want to hear it. Post your story and photo on our Facebook fan page.