"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 next gen Dodge Challenger is expected to arrive in the next two years – should Chrysler continue on with the Challenger being a big, brawny muscle car or should the company try to scale it down to more closely compete with the Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Mustang? We look at the pros and […] More »
The 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 is an amazing piece of automotive machinery but the Hennessey Performance HPE650 package takes the brawny Jeep super-sport ute to a whole new level – with an incredible output of 650 horsepower allowing a 0-60 time of just 3.9 seconds. The HPE650 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 package begins with […] More »
The only thing better than watching a diesel-powered Ram fill the skies with black smoke is watching a diesel-powered Ram fill the skies with black smoke before blanketing the area in a cloud of thick white smoke as result of a monster burnout. Luckily, this video shows exactly that – with the 5.9L Cummins Turbo […] More »
The Dodge Dart has already made a big impact on sales in the first ten months on the US market but the Dodge brand is still in need of a true compact car with an equally compact price to compete with the Ford Fiesta and Chevy Sonic. Fortunately, they already have a great piece of […] More »
The Dodge brand is a major player in the soon-to-be-released “Fast and Furious 6” with the new Dodge Challenger and Charger playing major roles in the movie alongside a vintage Dodge Charger Daytona. To celebrate this partnership, Chrysler has launched a new microsite showing off the featured vehicles. The Chrysler Group has also produced a […] More »
While most folks are quick to associate Mopar Muscle with big old American V8s, the Chrysler Group has put together an impressive resume of high performance 4-cylinder cars that offer both stunning performance and incredible potential. Just like the crazy fast Dodge Neon SRT4 in the video below. The stock Neon SRT4 was one of […] More »
Back in January we talked about the “Hellcat” 6.2L Hemi that is expected to serve as engine of choice in the next generation of the 8-cylinder powered Street and Racing Technology vehicles beginning with the new Challenger in 2014. Rumors originally indicated that the Hellcat Hemi would pack roughly 600 horsepower and 550lb-ft of torque […] More »