E3 Spark Plugs News

E3 Spark Plugs is giving you the chance to see the tracks from behind the wheel of one of these. Enter to win a trip to the 2012 E3 Spark Plugs Utah Off Road Nationals Presented By Toyota at Miller Motorsports Park.

Itching for a change of scenery? How about the wide open expanses of Utah? And how about seeing it from the behind the wheel of a Baja Challenge race car? Or a Ford Racing Mustang GT? Or Jerry Daugherty’s new Pro 4 #24 off-road racing truck? Or from the window of the Lucas Oil corporate helicopter.

While all that may sound like a far-fetched dream, E3 Spark Plugs is making it a reality for one lucky winner and a guest of his or her choosing. Winning is easy. Just go to the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook Fan Page and fill out the contest submission form on the Off Road Contest Tab. Tell us why you want to win and who you’ll bring.

Here’s what you get if your name is chosen:

• Airfare for two and accommodations for three nights;
• Two tickets to the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing event at Miller Motorsports;
• A two-hour Mustang Experience, putting you behind the wheel of a Ford Racing Mustang GT;
• A Wide Open Utah ultimate high-performance off-road Baja-style driving experience;
• A ride in the E3 Spark Plugs Daugherty Off-Road Truck;
• A ride in the Lucas Oil Helicopter;
• Two tickets to one of the top Kart road courses in America.

Make sure you read the rules first. You must be at least 18 years of age and a resident of one of the 48 contiguous states or District of Columbia. The contest runs from March 31st, 2012 till May 25, 2012 and you’ll take your trip June 21-23. Good luck!

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.

A used car can be a great deal if you know what to look for in a vehicle history report. E3 Spark Plugs offers tips.

In the market for a used car or truck? E3 Spark Plugs has a few tips for reading and effectively deciphering a vehicle history report. One clue – it’s not just what’s on the report that’s important. What’s missing may be crucial to your car buying decision.

A good, comprehensive vehicle history report combines information from multiple sources, including states DMVs (Division of Motor Vehicles) or RMVs (Registry of Motor Vehicles), fire and police departments, vehicle inspection stations, auto auctions, fleet management and rental agencies, and auto manufacturers. All that info can seem a bit overwhelming. But a few basic tips will help you cut through the ink clutter and make an informed decision.

1. Devil’s in the description. The first order of business is to carefully read through the vehicle’s name, description and VIN number to make sure everything lines up. This is one way to protect yourself against buying a VIN cloned ride. Fraudsters often use the vehicle identification numbers from legally owned, non-stolen vehicles to pass off a stolen vehicle of a similar make and model. Go through the description with a fine-toothed comb to make sure the car your reading about is, indeed the car you’re looking at.
2. Look for too many trips to the shop. A paper trail showing that a vehicle’s former owner faithfully took it to the garage for recommended scheduled maintenance is one thing. But an excessive number of visits might signal that something’s wonky and that you’ll be paying for lots of repairs.
3. Look for too many owners. If a vehicle has been sold, sold and resold many times, there’s probably a reason – and it probably ain’t a good reason. It’s likely that each owner dealt with a few too many repair bills and decided to cut his losses and pass the car along to the next sucker. Don’t be that sucker.
4. Remember the old adage, “Location, location, location.” Some regions of the country are a bit more auto-friendly than others. For instance, salt can do a number on a paint job and accelerate rusting, particularly in a car’s undercarriage. So watch for vehicles that have spent lots of time in beach towns or in snowy regions where roads are salted during the winter. Excessive heat also can affect multiple car parts and systems including the coolant system, air conditioning and engine.
5. Keep an eye out for what’s not there. If a vehicle’s accident report is clean, yet its body work records show a replaced front bumper, hood and headlights, you might be looking at a car that was crashed and never reported.

Do you have a story about dodging a bad deal thanks to a vehicle history report? E3 Spark Plugs wants to hear it. Leave us a comment on our E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

"Where the Boys Are" became a massive box office hit and made spring break a mainstream cultural phenomenon.

The spring break season is well underway and college students are headed to the beaches in hoards. The kids these days, they think this annual collegiate-sponsored week of academic and social wantonness has always been around. Truth is, it came to be in the late 1950s and its wild popularity was ultimately inspired by a Michigan State University student with a candy apple red convertible.

It was the writings of an MSU English professor and novelist, and a subsequent now-classic film that helped launched this American cultural phenomenon into the international mainstream. Glendon Swarthout, PhD was teaching an honors English class in 1958 when he overheard a student – the kid with the red convertible sports car – talking up a planned trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida over the university’s spring break. Intrigued, Swarthout, a colorful character who fancied himself a reincarnation of Ernest Hemingway complete with the mustache, began asking his students about their plans for the week. Lo and behold, a group of students invited him to join them and he gladly accepted.

His week immersed in the bikinied and swim trunked coed scene proved an eye-opening experience that gave Swarthout unprecedented insight – and a great book idea. By this time, the professor and novelist had already seen two of his writings turned into films. His novel, They Came to Cordura (1958) became a film of the same name starring Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth.  His short story A Horse for Mrs. Custer had hit the silver screen as Seventh Calvary (1956) starring Randolph Scott and Barbara Hale. His next novel, Where the Boys Are, would become a New York Times best seller and the subsequent movie of the same name starring crooner cutie Connie Francis the defining cinematic touchstone of a generation.

To fully understand why, you’ll have to read the book, in which main character Merritt and her friends set out to enjoy a week of heady fun, all the while wary of the goings-on in the world around them – namely, the Cold War, nuclear bombs and sexual experimentation. As with most screenplays adapted from novels, the film version of Where the Boys Are is a cleaned up, less controversial, commercial product, but it became a record-breaking box office hit.

Literary controversy and commercial film cheesiness aside, what we here at E3 Spark Plugs love about Where the Boys Are is the abundance of vintage rides that get some screen time, mostly 1940s and 1950s convertibles and what appears to be a 1930s-era S&S 12-column funeral coach. Heck, you could fit a dozen of your dearest friends in some of those roomy rides. So which would you pick for a spring break excursion? Post your picks and pics on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page.

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.

The Hiriko EV folds up, taking even less parking space than the Smart For-Two. Mass production is slated to start next year in Spain.

Not long ago in the E3 Spark Plugs blog we introduced you to Terrafugia’s Transition Roadable Aircraft, a revolutionary integration of the personal car and light-weight aircraft expected to hit the market later this year. Essentially a flying car, the Transition reminds us of that most iconic of futuristic concept rides – The Jetsons’ family space car/jet. And now, we’ve got another likely Jetsons-inspired ride that’s set for production in Spain next year.

Unfortunately, this one doesn’t sprout wings and fly. But what it does is pretty impressive. Remember The Jetson’s opening sequence, where George flies his space ride onto the conveyor belt leading to his office, pushes a button and the ride folds up into a briefcase? Well, the Hiriko EV isn’t quite that futuristic, but it comes pretty darn close.

Debuted at the Brussels Auto Show earlier this year, the Hiriko is a single-door, two-seater smart car that uses a hub-mounted electric motor at each wheel and a joystock-operated steer-by-wire system. But the most interesting feature is a rear suspension design that allows the vehicle to fold up, rotating the cabin vertically. While the folded-up Hiriko EV won’t fit in your briefcase or laptop bag, it will fit into a space roughly one third the parking space of a Smart For-Two.

The Hiriko was developed by a consortium of business and government entities from Spain’s Basque region working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Twenty test vehicles are being built right now and, if all goes well, developers expect the first assembly plant to begin mass production next year, churning out 9,000 units a year by 2015. Most likely will go to rental and car-sharing organizations while we all wait to see if the global masses warm up to the concept. Not everyone is convinced.

“I don’t get it. How does it fold?” says one commenter on an Autoblog.com story about the Hiriko EV.

“When it gets between a Buick and a garbage truck,” another commenter replied.

Judging from articles and comments posted online, the consensus is that the Hiriko EV could be a great choice for those driving primarily in small towns and EV-focused communities, and for lousy parkers who couldn’t get their sedans and SUVs squarely between two white lines if their lives depended on it, but an impractical and potentially dangerous choice for open-road driving or big city commuting. Some mention a similar fold-up concept car that proved a blip on the pop culture scene sometime during the 1970s and quickly disappeared. We’re looking for info on that one.

What do you think of the Hiriko EV? Would you buy one? If so, would you drive it everywhere or only in certain areas? Post your thoughts on the E3 Spark Plugs Facebook fan page. And meanwhile, enjoy this TV joyride back to the future…

Scott Evans' 1965 Mustang Shelby Cobra was stolen while he was in Japan, serving in the Marines. Twenty-five years later, he was back behind the wheel of his automotive first love.

We at E3 Spark Plugs are a pretty likeable crew. But if there’s one type of person we just can’t stand it’s a car thief. According to the National Insurance Crime  Bureau’s recently released Hot Wheels Classics report on that American automotive icon, the Ford Mustang, it’s the 2000 model that most attracts a certain scourge of society. The study shows it’s the Mustang model most likely to end up jacked, stripped, VIN-falsified and sold. The classic models get plenty of attention from thieves, too. But now and then, it’s the rightful owners that get the last laugh.

Case in point: Scott Evans and his 1965 Shelby GT350. In 1982, Evans was in the Marines serving his country in Japan when he got some sobering news from his father, who had helped him buy the car in 1971. Evans’ prized ride had been stolen from his childhood home in Havelock, N.C. (Yes, we notice the irony here.)

Evans promised his father, who has since passed away, that he would one day find the car. And he did – A quarter of a century later.

The thieves took Evans’ Shelby to a restoration shop where they altered the VIN plate and sold it to a guy in Long Island, N.Y., who sold it to another gentleman three years later. The second buyer passed away and the Shelby was willed to his son. In 2007, the son and then-current owner got a call from the director of the Shelby American Automobile Club, who had stumbled across records and developed a hunch that the car, now in the family for more than two decades, was stolen.

Evans, of course, was elated to learn that his automotive first love had been found. But getting it back would prove a bit of a hurdle. The car had been taken out of NCIC (National Crime Information Center), the FBI’s online database of criminal information years before and had to be reentered and active in the system before police could take it from its current owners. A bit of sleuthing by the SAAC verified the bogus VIN. But there were a few other telltale signs that only Evans would have recognized – a cracked steering wheel spoke, a homemade rubber bumper he crafted to keep the gas cap from scratching the car’s paint job, and his name written in black in on the top of the transmission.

Evans paid $1,600 for the car in 1971. And while he was under no legal obligation, he did the honorable thing and paid the most recent owner $12,000 to cover the cost of the new engine he’d just had installed. To would-be buyers, Evans’ mint-condition Shelby is estimated to be worth anywhere from $250,000 to upwards of $400,000. But we have serious doubts Evan’s plans to part with the car anytime soon. After all, you just can’t put a price on a first love.

E3 Spark Plugs congratulates Evans on the highly unlikely return of his car, and the team who pulled off the near-impossible to write a 25-year wrong. Check out the short documentary about the reunion below. And if you’ve got a great story about a stolen classic coming home, we want to hear it. Post your stories and pics 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.