"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.
If you are going to do a big nasty burnout, the safe confines of a burnout competition is the best place to do it. In this week’s Tire Shredding Tuesdays feature video – this Dodge Neon SRT4 is putting on one hell of a show in a burnout competition. We don’t know much about the […] More »
We have been talking about the possibilities of a high performance Dodge Durango SRT8 sine the newest generation of the SUV debuted a couple years ago but in the long run – does Dodge really need to offer an SRT variant of the Durango or should buyers who want a 470hp sport utility vehicle just […] More »
The guys in this week’s Black Friday feature might be accused of participating in redneck shenanigans but that doesn’t make this clip of a modded up 2001 Ram 2500 blowing smoke any less entertaining. I am a fan of reaching under the hood of my car or truck to rev the engine while the car is […] More »
What do you get when you combine a modern Dodge Challenger with the 8.4L V10 from the Dodge Viper SRT10? Pure freakin’ awesomeness – that’s what. You also get a modern Mopar muscle car that will tear up a set of tires just as well as it will tear up just about any type of race track […] More »
While the entire Street and Racing Technology vehicle family features seats and other bits around the interior clad in soft leather – the Chrysler Group is taking the optional luxury level of these high performance vehicles a step further with a new Laguna Leather package for the entire lineup. SRT has sought the help of […] More »
One of the biggest drivetrain announcements for the Ram 1500 since the introduction of the modern 5.7L Hemi is the upcoming arrival of a new V6 diesel engine – making Ram the first half ton truck in the US with a torquey diesel option. The new 3.0L V6 diesel will be offered in the 2014 […] More »
Even though the 2013 SRT Viper has just started hitting dealerships in full force around the country, production of the 2014 model year Viper is expected to start in July according to insider information gathered by Allpar. Summer is a normal time for production of a vehicle to change model years so it doesn’t come […] More »