"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.
Typically, our DodgeForum.com Muddy Mondays video shows a Dodge or Ram pickup (or SUV or in some cases- even a jacked up classic Charger) conquering a massive mud pit. This is not one of those videos. This week’s Muddy Monday clip shows what happens when mudding goes wrong… very wrong. Even though the 3rd gen […] More »
Since the dawn of the Viper era back in the early 1990s, budget minded Mopar lovers have been begging for an “entry level” version of the Viper with less power and a price tag that would compete with the base Chevrolet Corvette. There have even been rumors that the company was working on Viper with […] More »
While the SRT brand has technically existed for a few years now, the launch of the 2013 SRT Viper officially ushers in the era of an actual SRT-branded vehicle and with it comes the first SRT-branded commercial. We have previously seen Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep brand commercials on TV and online showing the likes of the […] More »
Watching a Cummins Turbo Diesel powered Dodge Ram turn the sky black with thick diesel soot is awesome but the effects are magnified when one of these trucks puts on a smoke show indoors. In this week’s Black Friday feature video, we see a 1997 Ram 2500 being tested on a Dynojet dyno and in […] More »
We’ve got some bad news for those Dodge lovers looking forward to the next generation Dakota midsized pickup slated for 2016. According to Dodge brand CEO and President Reid Bigland, the new Dodge Dakota project has been cancelled. It should be noted that Mr. Bigland is the boss at Dodge and his comments about the […] More »
When I began searching for the feature video for this week’s Mopar Muscle Thursday, I searched for “fastest Viper quarter mile” and not surprisingly, a ton of videos showed the Dodge and SRT Viper rocketing down the quarter mile. But the one below caught my eye because of a few simple details. First, this Viper rips […] More »
The Chrysler Group has announced the pricing for the Mopar 13 – a limited edition Moparized version of the 2013 Dodge Dart – and with just 500 units being made getting your hands on one of the murdered out turbo Darts won’t come easy… or cheap. The Mopar 13 is priced at $26,480 including the $995 […] More »