"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 people at Motor Trend recently conducted a head to head comparison between the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the 2013 SRT Viper GTS and while the two cars were nearly identical in every imaginable performance measure – the ZR1 was able to turn a significantly faster lap around Laguna Seca Raceway. While things like […] More »
The Chrysler Group has just announced that the 2013 Dodge Charger sedans fitted with all wheel drive will benefit from a new Sport package that will be available for the SXT, SXT Plus, R/T and R/T Plus. Chrysler has introduced this package after seeing the popularity of the Charger Blacktop package that adds a dark […] More »
The people at Ward’s Auto have issued their list of the 10 Best Engines for 2013 and for the 3rd straight year, the Chrysler 3.6L Pentastar V6 is honored as one of the best engines available in the US market. This is great news for the Chrysler Group, considering that nearly every model under in […] More »
While my opinion may or may not be shared by the majority of Dodge loving NASCAR fans who read this – I want to extend a hearty “Screw You” to the folks at Penske Racing. Mind you, I am not directing that at the guys who build the Penske cars or the guys on the […] More »
November 2012 was a good month for the Chrysler Group with four of the five brands showing positive year over year growth compared to the same month last year. Chrysler, Fiat, Dodge and Ram all showed growth while the Jeep brand stumbled a bit with a decline of just 3%. However, for Dodge and Ram […] More »
It is hard to talk about the Ram heavy duty truck lineup and yesterday, the Chrysler Group announced a massive milestone for the tried and true diesel engine as the folks at Cummins built the 2,000,000thCummins Turbo Diesel engine for the Ram HD. Cummins first began building “light duty” diesel engines for the then-Dodge Ram […] More »
To those DodgeForum.com members who are lucky enough to daily drive a new Ram 1500, it probably comes as no big surprise but the folks at Motor Trend have announced that the redesigned 2013 Ram 1500 is their Truck of the Year. The 2013 1500 beat out a small field of trucks that fit the […] More »