"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
Spring is hitting those areas around the world which receive harsh winters and with the spring thaw comes a chance to go play in the mud – which makes the newest Photo of the Week more fitting as rebeltaz83’s picture of his 2003 Dodge Dakota has clearly been making the most of some thick mud. […] More »
The power and efficiency of the 3.6L Pentastar V6 has helped vastly improve the take rate of the “base” V6 for the Ram 1500 but over the past few years, prospective Ram 1500 buyers couldn’t get a loaded up Laramie model (shown above with Hemi badges) with the Pentastar. That is about to change. […] More »
In March 2014, the Chrysler Group sold more Ram trucks than General Motors sold Chevrolet Silverado pickups. This was also more units than Toyota sold of the popular Camry, allowing the Ram truck to jump to the second spot in US auto sales for the month, trailing only the Ford F Series pickup. According to […] More »
We watch a whole lot of Mopar burnouts here on the DodgeForum Front Page that are every bit as smokey as the one performed by the Dodge Challenger R/T below but none of them use slow motion to so perfectly give us a look at what happens during a burnout. We have even featured slow […] More »
We learned back in November that the Chrysler Group was reincarnating the Dodge Scat Pack program but the company didn’t reveal any solid power figures for the three different stage kits. Today, the company issued a press release with power figures and pricing for the Scat Pack kits for the Dodge Challenger R/T and the […] More »
A great many of the hard working trucks that we feature on Black Friday are either roughed up work trucks or covered in mud and that makes sense, as this Cummins powered Dodge Ram pickups are far more than just show pieces. However, this week’s featured heavy duty diesel Ram looks very near as clean […] More »
Do you have a 1st generation Dodge Dakota with a problematic sound system and you want to address the issue, but you arent sure exactly what you are getting into? Troubleshooting a wiring problem – especially with something as non-crucial as the speakers – can be a real headache so the easiest way to go […] More »