"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.
Now that the Dodge Caliber has been out of production for a couple years and the older units are going on 6 or 7 years old now, we are seeing more and more of them turn up in the used car market. Fortunately for new-to-them car shoppers, the lack of popularity around the Caliber has […] More »
The internet is packed full of videos of ultra high horsepower vehicles but there is just something magical about a 1,500 horsepower Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe. No information is offered on what all was done to this Viper to bump the power from 600 to 1,500 shy of the twin turbo setup but a look […] More »
As modern Dodge products go, the Caliber hatchback has proven to be one of the less popular vehicles offered in the past 15-20 years but the disagreement over the styling didn’t stop the SRT division from building a high performance Caliber SRT4 – nor did the negative reception by some stop people from buying up […] More »
The Chrysler Group announced their financial results for the third quarter of 2013 earlier today and with net income of $464 million, Chrysler’s gradual climb out of the grasp of bankruptcy a few years back continues to great momentum. Chrysler posted revenues of $17.6 billion in the third quarter of 2013 which is an increase […] More »
This week’s Truckin Fast Wednesday takes a trip off of the paved asphalt of the quarter mile – instead shifting to a race between a 1978 Dodge Ram and a Chevrolet K5 Blazer up a sand dune. The video is short but watching this big block powered 1st gen Ram beat the smaller and lighter […] More »
While the massive indoor Mopar display at next week’s 2013 SEMA Show in Las Vegas will have dozens of modified Chrysler Group vehicles, the company offered a small group of journalists a sneak peak at a handful of these vehicles – including the gorgeous Ram 1500 “Sun Chaser” shown here with Chrysler Group design boss […] More »
While watching a Ram truck slip and slide through some thick, squishy mud is among the most amusing aspect of offroading, dealing with deep water can also be a serious obstacle when storming through the wilderness – and that is where a snorkel intake comes into play. A snorkel air intake moves the intake point […] More »