E3 Spark Plugs News

Seven-year-old Aidan Hinds is the latest Team E3 Racing winner.

Little Aidan Hinds could grow up to become an accountant, an architect, an astronaut – anything he wants. But chances are he’ll become a famous auto racer. After all, he’s already got a big head start. That’s why he’s the latest Team E3 Racing winner.

Hinds has spent nearly every Saturday night of his seven years at the Dirt Late Model race tracks with his dad, Kenny, and spends his evenings in the garage, learning all about the mechanics of sleek, powerful racing machines. Plus, racing runs in the family. Grandfather Richard Proffitt also was a racer. So by age five, young Hinds was ready to hit the tracks himself.

In 2011, the Aidan Hinds Racing team was founded in Loveland, Ohio and Hinds’ competitive mojo revved up quickly. In just his seventh race weekend, he took the pole position and outclassed the field throughout the entire weekend at the Kid Kart Nationals Restricted race held in St. Louis, MO. Clearly possessing a natural talent, Aidan went on to rack up an impressive 23 wins in his rookie season.

In his sophomore season, Hinds raced in seven states, running the Great Lakes Sprint Series and competing in the Ohio Valley Karting Association. A nasty flip in Camden destroyed his kart and sidelined him for three races. Still, he managed to finish the season fifth in the final GLSS point standings.

Hinds, who drives both a Birel B25 Chassis and a 2010 Haase Chassis, starts the 2013 season with 51 wins and an eye on two championships. He’ll continue to race in the GLSS Kid Kart Division and run the Route 66 and OVKA Series. He also plans to run dirt ovals and is developing a dirt racing team.

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

Jacob “Camokid” Putman is burning up the tracks. making a name for himself at just six years old.

Since the ripe old age of four, Jacob “Camokid” Putman has been chasing a very grownup dream, leaving competitors with more age and experience in the dust. Now, at 7 years old, he’s back for his second year of Team E3 Racing sponsorship and ever closer to a future pro racing career.

The Kid Cart champ who turns seven next month made his racing debut in October of 2010 at just four years old at Old Dominion Speedway (ODS) in Manassas, VA. With a solid fourth-place finish, he convinced his parents, competitors and track officials that he was a natural behind the wheel. He started the next season in Kid Kart 1, but so put his competitors to shame that officials recommended his parents move him up to Kid Kart 2. Head-to-head against older boys with at least two years of experience, he again proved his mettle on the track, finishing the season second in points at King George Speedway and landing the season championship at ODS

That same year, he also finished 8th of 13 karts at the Annual Kid Kart Nationals in St. Louis, MO, joined the Excel Racing team for the 2012 season and formed his own team, J&D Outlaw Racing, with friend and competitor Donald Whorton. The 2012 season also proved a great one for Putman, who again scored the ODS season championship winning nine races in a row. He also scored his first win in the Great Lake Sprint Series. The youngest competitor on the track, he finished his rookie GLSS season sixth in points.

Not bad for a first grader.

Putman starts the 2013 racing season with back-to-back ODS series championships and has his sights set on a GLSS championship. We here at E3 Spark Plugs have no doubt he’ll finish strong. After all, this is a kid who eats, breathes and lives racing – literally and virtually, his parents say.

“If he not on the track, he is at home on X-Box, Play Station, Sims or I racing,” said dad, Vince Putman, also a racer.  He noted that this will be Putman’s last year in Kid Kart, as he’s moving up to the big leagues in 2014.

Meanwhile, “Jacob does a very good job giving away E3 shirts and hats and flashlights and spark plugs to his competitors and lets them know E3 Spark Plugs or part of his winning formula,” Vince Putman said.

For that, we thank Jacob and welcome him once again to Team E3 Racing.

Jacob "Camokid" Putman is Team E3 Racing's youngest winner.

Team E3 Racing’s littlest winner yet clearly has a big future ahead of him in professional racing. Jacob “Camokid” Putman of Centreville, VA is a two-year veteran in kid kart racing – and he’s only six.

Putman first hit the competitive tracks running the Kid Kart race at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia at the tender age of four. His performance in that very first race proved a told-ya-so moment for Putman, putting to rest any skepticism about the boy’s commitment to and talent for racing. Track officials were so impressed that they encouraged Putman’s parents to immediately move him up to Kid Kart 2, affording their son the opportunity for a tougher challenge and better learning experience. The move meant that Putman would be racing against boys who all had at least two years of experience on him. And boy, were those older competitors shocked when Putman landed a second-place class finish for the season.

That same season, Putman also finished second in points at nearby King George Speedway, and the kudos kept on coming over the next year. Putman’s latest racing accomplishments include finishing the 2011 season as Old Dominion Speedway’s Track Champion. He also finished second in points in the King George Speedway series and took 7th place in the annual Kid Kart Nationals, as well as the inaugural Indy Karting Classic at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Not bad for a five-year-old.

Today, Putman is part of two racing teams including J&D Outlaw Racing, founded with his friend Donald Whorton – another young upstart burning up the tracks. And he starts the 2012 Kid Kart 2 season as a member of the Excel Racing team.

“I am really good at what I do,” says a very confident Putman, adding that E3 racing spark plugs have helped boost his racing cart’s speed. “My dad says I’m a natural and that I should win a few races this year. I am going to try and win them all.”

We here at E3 Spark Plugs have no doubt he’ll do just that.