"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 particular Muddy Monday happens to fall on Veteran’s Day 2013 so I thought that it would be fitting to find a good mudding video with some American pride. Fortunately, I found this clip of a super modified 1st generation Dakota mud truck tackling a serious mud hole with an American flag waving proudly from […] More »
Last Friday we brought you all the unfortunate news that the Dodge Dart rallycross program will be discontinued for the 2014 racing season. A Chrysler representative confirmed that the company will not be participating in the Global RallyCross series next year and while Chrysler has actually quit altogether – taking a year off could very […] More »
Last week, Travis Pastrana and Bryce Menzies took to the Global RallyCross track for the last time of the 2013 season and while they had their best combined outing of the year – the results were bittersweet. As reported on Friday, Dodge will not participate in the GRC in 2014 and while it could just […] More »
I originally sat down to write a piece about how Travis Pastrana and Bryce Menzies had their best outing of the 2013 Global RallyCross season last night at the season finale in Las Vegas but a more crucial piece of news has derailed my intentions. During last night’s broadcast, an interview with Travis Pastrana revealed […] More »
Do you have a set of aluminum wheels on your Dodge or Ram that have lost their sparkle, with pitting, stains and other imperfections that cause the wheels to be less impressive than they were when you bought them? There are plenty of products on the market that can promise to bring your wheels back […] More »
When I look for the image to feature for the DodgeForum Photo of the Week, I look for Dodge products that are unique in some way. There is no question that the bright yellow 2002 Dodge Stratus R/T Coupe shown above is about unique as it gets, considering that yellow wasn’t a factory option so […] More »
This week’s Black Friday feature takes an interesting look at a Cummins Turbo Diesel powered 2nd gen Ram on the dyno but rather than some of our videos which show the Ram filling the dyno shop full of smoke, this shop is smart enough to send the smoke out through a couple of hoses. These […] More »