"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.
This week’s Tire Shredding Tuesday takes a look at a brand spankin’ new 2013 SRT Viper taking part in a “burnout show”. According to the information provided, this burnout show is held by a local Chrysler Group dealership and the Viper in action is a new stock vehicle (which I sincerely hope wasn’t sold as […] More »
The modern SRT Viper race teams struggled in their early races of the 2012 and 2013 American LeMans Series but after this weekend’s 3rd place class finish in the 2014 Rolex 24 hour race at Daytona International Speedway, it looks like the Viper teams have finally figured out the winning equation. Sure, the #91 Viper […] More »
This week’s Muddy Monday feature takes a look at a second generation Dodge Dakota regular cab/short bed pickup in action against a deep, water mud pit. The video starts off showing this Dakota as he goes through the deep water and pops quickly up the other bank but just before the back wheels leave the […] More »
The 2014 Rolex 24 hour race at Daytona International Speedway was a big deal for the modern SRT Viper race teams as it marks their return to the famous endurance race after a 13 year hiatus. The race was also a big deal for General Motors as the 2014 Rolex 24 brought about the on-track […] More »
Generally the images that I pick for the DodgeForum Photo of the Week focus on vehicles that are either super clean or super modified but I picked this week’s photo due to the artistic nature of the Dodge Ram captured in the image. This black 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 is owned by DF member gin_son911 […] More »
This week’s Black Friday feature takes a look at one of the coolest Dodge Ram pulling trucks Ive seen with plenty of soot pouring out of the exhaust stack poking through the hood as it executes a full pull. A great many pulling trucks I have seen online are obviously purpose built so they look […] More »
We have a very diverse crowd here at DodgeForum.com with people from all walks of life in the United States, Canada and other countries around the world and our 2nd generation Dodge Dakota section has a relatively young thread discussing what our Dakota owners do for a living. While this thread is fairly short since […] More »