"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.
The intake manifold found on the 5.2L and 5.9L Magnum V8 in the 2nd generation Dodge Ram pickup had a high, rounded top that earned it the nickname of the “Kegger intake”. A popular modification that can be done with very little expense to gain a touch more higher end power from the 318 and […] More »
The beauty of a Cummins Turbo Diesel engine in the Ram Heavy Duty lineup is its monster torque and that torque converts into the kind of power needed to destroy tires. In this week’s Tire Shredding Tuesdays feature, we get to watch a later 3rd gen Ram 3500 dually absolutely cremating all four rear tires […] More »
Have you ever heard a fellow Dodge lover talk about his BR Dodge Ram, DS Ram 1500, JK Jeep, KJ Jeep or ST Stratus like the one shown above and wondered what that meant? Those two letter codes are assigned by the Chrysler Group engineering team as the chassis designation so in the same way […] More »
This week’s Muddy Monday clip features a stock1st generation Dodge Durango attacking an increasingly more treacherous offroading area that proves to be a bit much for this factory issued sport utility vehicle. Unfortunately, the video ends before we get to see whether the driver was able to dig out but the early stages show just […] More »
We are in the midst of the hybrid automotive era and while seemingly everyone has at least one super efficient hybrid in their lineup – Dodge does not and neither does any other Chrysler Group brand. The Fiat 500e brought electrification to the Chrysler Group lineup but with the exception of the poor selling and […] More »
As our weekly Black Friday segment goes, this week’s video doesn’t offer quite as much thick, black diesel soot as many of the Cummins powered Rams that we typically feature but the burnout performed by this 3rd gen Ram Heavy Duty is just too awesome to pass up. I originally found this nasty Cummins Ram […] More »
If you are thinking to yourself “wait a second…the Harley Davidson Edition is a Ford package” – you would be right but what is a Ram owner who loves Harley Davidson motorcycles to do to satisfy their desire to fly the Harley name when he is driving his truck? Make his own Harley Davidson Edition […] More »