"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.
If you’ve ever had a vehicle with a non-functioning fuel gauge it can prove to be a tremendous headache – especially if your Dodge Dakota happens to run out of gas because you forgot to keep track of how many miles you had driven since your last fill-up. Fortunately, there are a few common problems […] More »
This week’s Mopar Muscle Thursday feature video takes a look at the 2013 SRT Viper GTS on a short autocross course driven by yours truly. This video was captured at the Chrysler Chelsea Proving Grounds during a new product testing day and while this video is fairly brief, it provides a great chance to hear […] More »
One of my favorite kinds of threads to feature are model specific member’s rides pictorial threads because it gives us a look at all of the ways the different members can make their car or truck more distinct and this week we look at the 1st generation Dodge Dakota pictorial show off thread. With the […] More »
While the Dodge Ram is easily one of the best trucks sold on the market both in new and used form, the Ram is no more immune to problems than any other truck out there. These common problems might be nothing to worry about or they could be a reason to avoid buying the truck […] More »
This week’s Tire Shredding Tuesday feature takes a look at a Dodge Charger SRT8 in the hands of an automotive publication doing a big, smokey burnout. We can presume from the fact that this Charger is a media test car that it is completely stock riding on stock rubber but with “only” 425 horsepower – […] More »
A grille guard on your Ram can serve a great many purposes from enabling you to shove stationary object out of the way without hurting the truck to simply providing a place to line up a bunch of aftermarket fog or driving lights but with so many on the market, which is the best? The […] More »
When you ask pretty much anyone who is familiar with the SRT lineup which vehicle in the best, it is a good bet that most people would quickly bring up the mighty Viper. However, if we take that question a bit further and look at the overall functionality along with the price of each current […] More »