E3 Spark Plugs News

Tim Spurlock’s 1978 Ford F150 is the fastest mud bogging machine in the New Paris, Indiana area.

Tim Spurlock started wrenching with his dad as a kid and was just a teenager when he began building engines as a part-time, after-school business. Twelve years ago, he opened his own paint and body shop which since has grown to two locations with 15 employees. Clearly, his blood is tinged with motor oil. And maybe a little mud. Now, he’s riding high – and fast – as one of his area’s top mud bogging champions.

The latest Team E3 Racing Tier 2 winner has a penchant for rebuilding and restoring classic Ford trucks, particularly those from 1953-1979. So when he decided three years ago to build a full mud racing truck, he chose a 1978 Ford F150 that he highly modified for competition. That choice proved a good one.

“In the last two years I have been undefeated in two classes for our local series, won a class at every race I have entered in the surrounding three states – a total of 18 first place finishes in 2012 alone,” says the New Paris, Indiana resident who last year partnered with the New Paris Speedway to produce and promote a new mud bog series that has prove wildly popular with regional competitors. “People know my truck is serous and will be putting on a show when it hits the mud.”

While he certainly enjoys the winnings and bragging rights, Spurlock and his Old Blue Mud Racing team truly love hanging with fans at competitions, car shows and cruise-ins.

Team E3 Racing winner Tim Spurlock

“At competitions, we spend half the day in the pit area showing and discussing the truck with interested spectators,” he says.

Spurlock and his team often forfeit winnings to benefit area charities and causes. He loyally attends bogs with competitor payouts, where the funds benefit the local Hospice and Camp Millhouse, a summer retreat for children and young adults with mental and physical disabilities. And this year, he headed up the Michiana Mud Bog Series, a partnership between the New Paris Speedway, Ruffriders 4×4 and South Bend Sod Busters, expected to raise several thousands of dollars for worthy causes. Even when he’s off the competitive track, he’s still on the dirt, running off-road ATVs and dirt bikes and camping with his family.

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

Hey racers and racing crew! There’s still time to register for the 2013 class of Team E3 Racing Sponsorship Contest winners.

E3 Spark Plugs is looking for up-and-coming racing competitors and pit crew members who want to rev up their careers. And as long as it has an engine, it doesn’t matter what you race. Our inaugural class of Team E3 Racing members head for the finish line piloting everything from high-dollar speed boats to riding lawn mowers. Crew competitors have been racing team owners, pit crew managers and mechanics.

We want to hear from career hopefuls who understand not just the track side, but the business and promotions side of professional racing, too. If you’re chosen as a Team E3 Racing winner, you’ll get a publicity boost via the E3 Spark Plugs website blog and Facebook fan page. Plus, we’ll send you $500 in cash, 16 E3 Spark Plugs, and official E3 apparel and decals for you, your team and your ride.

But time is running out. To enter, make sure you’re a fan of the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page. Then, click the “Sponsorship Contest” tab, complete the form and click “Submit.” You’ve got until 11:59 p.m. on January 31 to enter (be sure to read all the rules and regs). We’ll announce the winners in February.

Good luck!

Daniel Craig plays it cool in this scene from the latest James Bond flick, Skyfall. But it’s stunt double Robbie “Maddo” Maddison that makes 007 look good in action.

While 007 and the beautiful Bond Girls are the obvious stars of any James Bond flick, E3 Spark Plugs will be eyeing another performer in the new film, Skyfall, as well. None other than Robbie “Maddo” Maddison, Australian Freestyle Motocross star, doubles as cinema’s favorite spy in a particularly impressive scene.

About a quarter of the way into the film, Maddison appears in a motorcycle chase scene that takes place along the nerve-wrackingly narrow roofline walkways of an Istanbul marketplace. Practice took place in an ex-military test facility filled with dirt piles that recreated the shapes of rooftops. But all those hours of practice couldn’t full calm Maddison’s nerves when the director called out, “action!”

“Going to the roof was probably the scariest thing for me,” he said. “Really tight lines and obviously no helmets on.”

Luckily, Maddison has experience on his side. He holds multiple records and is recognized as one of the best FMX riders of all time – a testament to his personal motto: “Face your fears – live your dreams.” He’s known for successfully landing some crazy stunts including jumps clear across Greece’s Corinth Canal and, this past New Year’s Eve, the San Diego Bay. After landing over 391ft in practice, he came just shy of his 400-feet goal, thanks to foggy weather, damp conditions and less traction. He landed 378 feet, nine inches in the tandem jump alongside American snowmobile racer Levi LeVallee.

So what is 007′s stunt double riding in those daring scenes? A dressed-up 250 CRF Honda, which Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell calls “out of the box, one of the best bikes you can get.” Check out this behind-the-scenes video to see Maddison in action. Next up, we’ll take a look at a few of the coolest Bond cars ever.

Love creepy, campy horror movies with gags, gore and great rides? “Monster Man” is one of E3 Spark Plugs picks for frightfully fun Halloween flicks.

Halloween brings out the crazy costumes and harrowing horror films. But it’s not just houses that are haunted. Some of the best creepy, campy and downright funny fright flicks feature cars hell-bent on devilish destruction. Here are a few of E3 Spark Plugs‘ top scary car flick picks for this Halloween season, starring a classic hearse, a monster-driven monster truck, an 80s-tastic streetcar and a shape shifter than can take on just about any automotive form.

• Super Hybrid, 2011: When a mysterious, sleek black car is brought into the Chicago police impound garage after a deadly late-night accident, the on-call mechanics soon realize that something’s not quite right. The parts don’t feel metallic and it apparently runs not on fuel, but on blood. As it starts to terrorize the crew, the true horror is revealed – this shape-shifter can take the form of any make and model, turning the plot into a deadly game of hide (in plain sight)-and-seek.

• The Hearse, 1980: Starting over after a messy divorce, the lovely Jane Hardy moves into the home she inherits from her late aunt in the small town of Blackford. Going through her aunt’s things, Jane soon learns the secrets that the woman had kept from family, but that were all too well known by the local townsfolk – she was devil-worshipping, witchcraft-practicing old lady. That’s a bit of information Jane might have appreciated pre-relocation. Pretty soon, she finds herself followed by a creepy, classic hearse and a mysterious driver. Turns out that upon her death, the hearse carrying the aunt’s body crashed, but no sign of the driver or of the coffin were ever found. Could it be that she and her post-mortem escort are back? Or might the young hottie Jane has begun dating actually be the crazed, creepy chauffer?

• The Wraith, 1986: Big hair and big scares abound in this 80s-tastic horror flick starring a young and handsome pre-meltdown Charlie Sheen. Set in an Arizona desert town, the local thugs led by PackardWalsh (Nick Cassavetes) force drivers to drag race and jack their rides. Dead-set on winning any and everything he wants, Walsh stabs to death the neighborhood decent kid, Jamie, and moves in on Jamie’s girlfriend, Keri. Enter the mysterious new guy, Jake, a motorcycle driving king of cool with a sleek, black car that can’t be beat on the drag racing scene. Jake makes his own romantic moves on Keri and takes Jamie’s sweet brother under his wing. Pretty soon, Walsh’s criminal gang starts dropping like flies. By the way, watch for the roller skating waitress – an unknown and uncredited hottie named Brooke Burke.

• Monster Man, 2003: This one ain’t for the cinematic snobs. If you don’t take your horror too seriously, Monster Man is a guaranteed laugh. Geeky Adam and knucklehead Harley hit the road in their 1970 Chevrolet Kingswood bent on crashing the wedding of Adam’s ex-girlfriend, Betty-Ann. They stop in at a bar and Harley makes fun of patrons watching monster truck rally on TV. Bad move. Soon after they leave, a giant monster truck shows up and drives them off the road. The bumbling duo makes the mistake of siphoning gas from a seemingly abandoned RV and thinks their luck is back on track when they pick up Sarah a hot hitchhiker dressed for a night at the club. Another bad move. The ensuing antics include severed body parts, hotel road kill, a deformed monster truck-driving psycho and a revelation that the lovely Sarah is not what she seems – plus a fantastic, finned 1962 Cadillac hearse. Gags, grossness and gore galore.

What’s your favorite movie about a haunted ride? Post your killer car flick picks on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

Ed Church got back the one that got away – the 1958 Harley Davidson motorcycle he reluctantly sold three decades ago.

Here at E3 Spark Plugs, we love a great reunion story. But for Ed Church and his beloved 1958 Harley Davidson motorcycle, it’s the reunion that almost wasn’t.

Church bought his Harley, which he described as “the most beautiful think I ever saw,” back in the late 1960s when he was a high school sophomore in Montana. This was back in the day when the choices were limited to Harleys and Indians and “the whole rite of passage as a young man was trying to start one,” Church says.

He proudly rode his Harley for 13 years before change arrived in a tiny, pink package. The birth of his daughter forced the sale of his beloved bike – a story all too familiar to many a speedster dad.

“I knew I had made a mistake,” Church says of selling the bike, a gut-wrencher that would stick with him for the next three decades.” I always wondered what would come if I ever found it again, but I never had much hope.”

Ah, but then came eBay. The wonders of technology not around back when Church’s Harley seemingly rode off into the sunset would provide a whole new chapter in this automotive love story. Nearly 32 years to the day that Church sold his bike, he saw it again – in the dim light of a computer screen on an eBay listing. He recognized it right away, and the VIN confirmed it. But the reunion Church longed for would prove elusive.

“I bid what I thought it was worth and I didn’t get it. I lost it,” Church said. Figuring the odds of one more chance were slim to none, Church tried to put it out of his mind. But a year later, the bike again popped up on an eBay auction.

“This time, I bid what it was worth to me,” Church said. And soon, he was back on the bike that had haunted his thoughts for decades. “You never stop at a stop sign that somebody doesn’t want to tell you about the one that got away… I’m the guy that got it back.”

Church tells his story in an eBay video feature. Grab a hankie, give it a watch and post your own stories of “the one that got away” on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

Here in Northeast Florida where E3 Spark Plugs is headquartered, blood runs red and black, orange and blue. Locals are gearing up for the annual Florida-Georgia game this weekend. Ok, formally, it’s the 2012 Georgia vs. Florida Football Classic this year. The name flip-flops according to which team won the last game. It’s a pigskin rivalry that’s continued for over a century and one of the few that has its own Wikipedia page.

The game between the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs has been played nearly every year since 1915, though the rivalry can be traced back to 1904 between UGA and one of UF’s predecessor institutions. And since 1933, it’s been held in Jacksonville every year but two, making it one of the few remaining neutral-site rivalries. It’s one of the River City’s major yearly events, attracting upwards of 85,000 fans, many of whom tailgate for days prior in the RV City staging area near EverBank Field.

On game day, many fans parade around in outrageous outfits and face paint jobs to show their colors. But our favorite display of collegiate football loyalty is in some of the decked-out vehicles we see pour into the stadium parking lots. Here are a few of our favorite  team-themed cars from games past and online. Post your pics of team-themed rides on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

Spherical drive system motorcycle prototype created by three San Jose State University engineering students with mad creative skills. What say you, E3 Spark Plugs fans – Would you drive one?

You’ve heard the saying, “no need to reinvent the wheel.” But that’s just what a group of engineering students at San Jose University in California are doing. And we here at E3 Spark Plugs are wondering if this might be the next big thing in automotive design – theoretically, anyway.

Inspired by the self-balancing technology used in developing the Segway personal transport and a Tokyo-built balancing robot (and perhaps that Audi RSQ concept from I, Robot), three mechanical engineering students set out to apply the same principles to a motorcycle device. Max Ratner, Henry Li and Andrew Parmar went through a slew of design sketches before firing on the one you see above, featuring two tube cage-enclosed massive spheres in place of boring ol’ tires.

“This is more of a proof of concept,” Parmar said, acknowledging that the prospect of roadways full of sphere-cycles is more likely to be seen in a Hollywood sci-fi flick long before it’s experienced in reality. “We want to show that something like this is actually possible.”

The prototype’s industrial rubber-covered carbon fiber and fiberglass spheres are controlled by three electric motors and some pretty cool software. Potential pros are zero turning radius and the ability to immediately change direction and move perpendicularly, which would take some serious angst out of parallel parking and perhaps help avoid crashes. Some say it could make riding safer as the spheres can’t suddenly turn sideways and jackknife as on a traditional bike. Shperical wheels also could have practical applications for other machinery types such as forklifts. But there’s still a lot of work to be done, particularly when it comes to making the spheres safe on wet and bumpy roads.

“We’re taking it one step at a time,” said Ratner, whose team still is tweaking the software. “Road applications are farther down the road and will require further R&D.”

What do you think? Are spherical wheels the future of automotive design? If safety issues were addressed, would you drive on them? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page. And just for kicks, here’s that spherical-wheeled Audi RSQ in I, Robot action.

The 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run, a coast-to-coast ride featuring only pre-1930 motorcycles. Photo by J. Geary Morton.

For 16 consecutive days, 101 die-hard bikers took to America’s highways for a scenic coast-to-coast vintage motorcycle ride. Riders completing the 2012 Cannonball Motorcycle Endurance Run rolled 3,900 miles from the home of the newly opened Motorcyclpedia museum in Newburgh, New York to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco – all on motorcycles made before 1930.

Along the way, riders cruised through a dozen national parks and forests, the Great Lakes of Michigan, the Mississippi River, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore, the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, the Rocky Mountains, the High Desert in Oregon, the Avenue of the Giants and the Pacific Coast Highway. What a ride!

Erwin “Cannonball” Baker, 1912.

The event commemorates Erwin “Cannonball” Baker’s historic 1922 coast-to-coast ride on a -cylinder Ace motorcycle that set a record at 22 hours and 52 minutes. Baker was a vaudeville performer who turned to racing after winning a dirt-track motorcycle race sometime around 1904 and went on to become a famous motorcycle and automobile racing driver and organizer, as well as the first NASCAR commissioner. He was known for his some 140 record-setting point-to-point drives during which he was paid to promote products of various motorcycle and automobile manufacturers.

This winner of this year’s Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run is Brad Wilmarth who rode a 1913 Excelsior. He’s one of just 19 riders who completed the trip on perfect points, having covered every mile of the course within the time limit for each class. A rowdy but respectable group of 101 riders from throughout the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Poland and the U.K. participated.

Did you ride in the Cannonball this year? Or do you have a vintage motorcycle you’d like to show off? Post your pics and stories on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

Listen up, remote control fans – the new E3 Spark Plugs-logoed Team Losi Racing TEN-SCTE Nitro 4WD RTR is revving up the hobby car scene. It’s on the market with an asking price of $529.99 on HorizonHobby.com. But we’re offering you the chance to get one absolutely free!

The Team Losi Racing Nitro is a scale replica of the E3 Pro 4 Unlimited #23 racing truck driven by Jerry Daugherty of Live Fast Play Dirty Motorsports. Daugherty and son Aaron, along with teammate Patrick Clark, run the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series. The Nitro comes packed with a load of features including:

• 3.4 Nitro Engine Performance Tuned Pipe
• Aluminum Threaded Big Bore Shocks
• Waterproof Electronics
• Off-Road Beadlock-Style Wheels
• 7.4V 1000MAH LiPo Receiver Pack
• Spektrum DX2L Transmitter

To get yours, visit the E3 Spark Plugs’ Facebook fan page and click the “Giveaways” tag. Complete the form and tell us eloquently but briefly (seriously – you ain’t Tolstoy) why you want to win. The contest closes September 28, so get your entry in soon. We’ll announce the winner in late September. In the meantime, take a gander at the pics below and check out the video to see the E3 Spark Plugs / Team Losi Racing Nitro. Also, for more information, please visit the TRL Racing website. Good luck!

Shawn Lawless' Rocket is the first EV to breat 200mph in a quarter mile.

It’s long been said that electric vehicles just can’t match the speed of gasoline-fueled rides. But longtime motorcycle racer and builder Shawn Lawless just put that notion to rest. Earlier this month, his Rocket EV bike hit 201 miles per hour in 6.94 seconds in an exhibition sprint at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Originally built in 2010 with help from the famous Orange County Choppers in a two-episode television special, the Rocket made history as the first EV to break the quarter mile in less than seven seconds. The driver was Larry “Spiderman” McBride, a 30-year veteran in racing supercharged, nitro-burning motorcycles (His moniker comes by way of an announcer’s comment at the 1980 NHRA U.S. National about McBride’s style of crawling around on his motorcycle to keep it in the groove).

The Rocket boasts a 150-pound, 1.2 k Wh battery and runs on a 13-inch DC motor with a custom Zilla controller. Lawless and his crew, which includes McBride and his brother Steve McBride of Cycle Specialties, have been tinkering with the bike since its 2010 debut. But a recent engine overhaul made way for the record-breaking feat.

E3 Spark Plugs congratulates Lawless, McBride and company. To get the best performance from your bike, make sure you stock it with a set of E3 motorcycle spark plugs.