"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.
While the SRT4 variant of the Dodge Neon gets more attention in the enthusiast world than the non-turbo models, our newest DodgeForum Photo of the Week focuses on a slick looking 2004 Neon SXT owned by DF member showsxt. While there have been some performance modifications made to this Neon SXT including a header, dual […] More »
This week’s Black Friday clip takes a look at a 2nd generation Dodge Ram 3500 dually powered (of course) by a Cummins Turbo Diesel engine and not only does this truck spew enough thick, rich diesel soot to turn the sky a murky shade of grey – but it also blackens a pretty substantial portion […] More »
Are you looking to change the rear end gearing in your 2nd generation Dodge Ram and you arent sure what to go pick for your application? We have a thread in our 2g Ram section where members have posted whar gear ratio they run in their truck along with some insight as to why they […] More »
Today’s Mopar Muscle Thursday clip takes a look at a gorgeous 1964 Plymouth Savoy on the drag strip in match racing action at the 2008 Chrysler Classic race in Columbus. I happened to be part of that race and along with that weekend, I have seen this particular 64 Plymouth run many times and it […] More »
Do you have a problem with or question about the transmission in your Dodge Ram pickup? We have a 40 page thread in the 2nd gen Ram section where members peppered a professional transmission technician with an incredible number of questions and he answered them as they came in. Unfortunately, Monte C hasn’t been around […] More »
For the first time ever, Motor Trend has named a back to back champion in their Truck of the Year balloting and that truck is the Ram 1500. The 2014 Ram half ton pickup beat out 8 other vehicles including the Ram Heavy Duty, the Ram ProMaster, the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Sierra, the Toyota […] More »
On our Truckin Fast Wednesday feature, we look at Dodge and Ram trucks participating in all sorts of high performance activities from drag racing to dirt racing to racing around an oval but today we watch a Dodge Dakota drifting at Rockford Speedway – marking the first time that we have really seen a Dodge […] More »