"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.
You read that right – this week’s Truckin’ Fast feature takes a look at a 2009 Ram 1500 Quad Cab on the Bonneville Salt Flats embarking on a run that resulted in a top speed of 239 miles per hour. Two hundred…and thirty nine miles per hour in a Ram 1500 Quad Cab. “Wow” is […] More »
The folks at Kelly Blue Book have announced their 10 Coolest Cars for under $18,000 for 2013 and two are from the Chrysler Group. Having two cars on the list is a great honor but having had the pleasure of spending time in all but one vehicle on the list over the past year – I […] More »
The 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 is one wicked machine with 470 horsepower making for one great burnout machine. The owner of this particular has gone a step further in the making of his or her Charger burnout video – adding slow motion and backing the video up to give us a second look at the […] More »
This past weekend marked the inaugural New England Nationals in Epping New Hampshire and Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson was able to claim the first Pro Stock title handed out at the new venue. The Dodge Avengers got out of the gate strong with Jeg Coughlin taking the top qualifying spot with Allen Johnson coming […] More »
This week’s Muddy Mondays clip has been on YouTube for over a year now and it blows my mind that I haven’t come across it previously. While many of our clips feature a Ram or Dakota romping around in the mud, this video shows both a 3rd generation and 4th generation Ram 1500 (both of […] More »
When the original Dodge Viper GTS-R race program hit the track back in the late 1990s, it was a nearly unstoppable force that displayed success that has become legendary in the racing world. It was that same success that the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) group had hoped to achieve when they launched the new […] More »
This past weekend, the SRT Viper GTS-R teams returned to the 24 Hours of LeMans race but as has been the case in the American LeMans Series – they fell well short of the success seen by the previous generation Viper endurance racers. However, it should be noted that both of the Vipers finished – […] More »