E3 Spark Plugs News

Known collectively as Powered by the Complex, friends friends Terry Panciera, Joshua Coleman and Stephen Shean are the latest Team E3 Racing winners.

You can bet these guys have the nicest lawns in all of Bristol, Connecticut. That is, if they ever get around to mowing their own yards. Known as Powered by the Complex, friends Terry Panciera, Joshua Coleman and Stephen Shean are masters of the riding lawn mower. In fact, the PBTC team is the current New England Lawn Mower Racing Association (NELMRA) points champion. They’re also the latest Team E3 Racing Tier 1 winner.

Sanctioned by the US Lawn Mower Racing Association, NELMRA is a nonprofit organization that holds lawn mower races in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey.  Members race at family-friendly events  like fairs, festivals, car and tractor shows and charity fundraisers. Mind you, neither PBTC nor their competitors are laboring under the misapprehension that lawn mower racing will make them millionaires a la their NASCAR counterpoints. But that’s not the point.

“We are a combined effort at having fun, while succeeding at mower racing,” Panciera says. In fact, racers compete for points, trophies and bragging rights rather than purse money. Any money made available to racers typically is shared equally between competitors for gas and other racing expenses.

PBTC credits E3 Spark Plugs for helping them win races land championships.

Over the past season, PBTC raced a total of 17 races in the US Lawn Mower Racing Association and the American Racing Mower Association (ARMA). They fielded three mowers in three separate classes and credit E3 Spark Plugs for helping them land championships in two classes. They also nabbed a Rookie of the Year award, plus second and third points standings in an additional class. For the 2013 season, the team plans to race their existing 1997 MTD and 1985 True Value mowers, adding a 1975 AMF and 1998 True Value, each of which can hit speeds of up to 60 miles per hour depending upon the track and race class they’re running. They’ll compete for the ARMA Northeast Regional National title in three classes.

From all of us here at E3 Spark Plugs, congrats and welcome to Team E3 Racing!

Team E3 Racing's Jesse Grose races in the Florida Karting Championship series.

At 18 years old, Jesse Grose is already a four-year veteran on the competitive kart racing scene. He first hit the tracks at age 14 and today competes in the Florida Karting Championship series with P.D.B. Racing Team America, a sister team to the famed European factory team based in the Netherlands. He’s also a new member of Team E3 Racing.

Grose currently is 9th in points (out of 27) after a strong first-round finish the Florida Karting Championship. He’s got two wins, four top-five finishes and six top six-finishes over the past few years in the series.

Team E3 Racing's Jesse Grose races for the PDB Racing Team America.

Grose also is a regular in the Formula Kart Productions’ Florida Winter Tour and TAG Senior events. He also races street circuit events in Florida, including the Inverness Grand Prix and the Grand Prix of Palm Beach, known as the most prestigious kart race in the Americas. And he aims to launch a career racing cars in the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Pro Formula 1000 championship at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, recognized as one of the world’s best road courses.

“I am very proud to say that I am an E3 Spark Plugs brand ambassador,” says Grose. “I am striving to make a career out of being a professional race car driver … I am on my way! It’ll be a rough ride, so buckle up and watch me GO!”

We’re watching, Jesse. And we’re proud to have you on Team E3 Racing! Watch the E3 Spark Plugs blog and Facebook fan page for news on Grose’s career.