"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.
When the June 2012 sales report from the Chrysler Group was issued around this time last year, it included a line item for the new Dodge Dart with one single vehicle being delivered and when the June 2013 report being issued this week – the Dodge Dart has officially been reaching customers for 12 months. The […] More »
The 1978 and ’79 Dodge Lil Red Express Ram D150 pickup is regarded as one of the – if not the- original high performance pickup but this week’s Truckin Fast feature video looks at a Lil Red Express truck that packs far more power than the Chrysler Group had likely ever envisioned. The YouTube user who […] More »
The 2013 SRT Viper set another monthly sales record this past month with 65 examples of the newest American supercar heading to dealerships around the country. The previous record was April, when there were 60 Vipers shipped to fortunate new owners with an additional 3 shipped in March and 1 unit in April. In total, […] More »
After qualifying in the top spot for this past weekend’s Toyota Summernationals in Englishtown New Jersey, Matt Hagan roared through the field for his second win of the season. This win allowed Hagan to take top spot in the Funny Car championship standings as the season nears its halfway point. Matt Hagan and his Mopar Magnetti […] More »
While many of the Mopars that we feature on Tire Shredding Tuesdays are more about “go” than “show” – this week’s video looks at a 1968 Dodge Charger in action after winning a big custom car show. Not much is known about this ’68 Charger shy of the fact that it is located in Sweden, […] More »
While most of the muddy trucks that we feature as part of our weekly Muddy Mondays segment show folks with their Dodge or Ram trucks and SUVs out playing in the woods, this week’s piece takes a great look at a very official mud bog event. This super modified first generation Dodge Durango is in action […] More »
It is all but official that there will eventually be a Street and Racing Technology variant of the sporty new Dodge Dart. There is even a leaked image of what many believe to be the Dart SRT4 shown above. While we don’t have any idea when it might actually arrive, it is one of the vehicles that […] More »