"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.
According to the folks at Allpar, company documents with pricing tables for the 2013 Dodge Dart GT show that it will carry the same $19,995 base price as the Dart Limited (not including the destination fee). Should that leaked information be accurate, the Dart GT will be less expensive than many people expected as it […] More »
The 1968 Dodge Charger is unquestionably one of the most powerful muscle cars in the history of the automotive world but for some – enough is never enough. A fine example is the heavily built Charger in the video below. Little is known about this 1968 Dodge Charger but from what we can see in the […] More »
The EPA has announced the fuel economy for the upcoming Dodge Dart GT and the most powerful option in the compact lineup offers fairly impressive figures with 23mpg around town, 33 on the highway and 27 miles per gallon combined. Those figures apply to the Dart GT powered by the 2.4L TigerShark 4-cylinder engine and the […] More »
While our Truckin’ Fast Wednesdays feature usually looks at a modern Ram or Dakota tearing down the quarter mile, this week we look at one of the most famous drag racing trucks of all time – the one that essentially started it all. Bill “Maverick” Golden was the first truckin’ fast Dodge driver, back in […] More »
The Chrysler Group has launched a new contest entitled “The Chrysler Custom Challenge” and while this contest is only open to Chrysler brand vehicles (no Dodge products), all Mopar fans are invited to vote for their favorite customized Chryslers submitted online. Those who have a customized Chrysler brand vehicle can submit it via Facebook and those […] More »
You should try to copy most of what we post here on DodgeForum at home but this week’s Tire Shredding Tuesday feature video shows a 1972 Dodge Demon doing something that we really wouldn’t recommend trying at home – literally at home. This video is called Nick Raschke 1972 Dodge Demon at 3rd Annual Raschke […] More »
The Dodge Dart rally team headed into the X Games Brazil for the first stop in the 2013 Global RallyCross season with two full time teams but both teams would fall well short of their expectations for the start of the GRC season. As unfortunate result of the seeding procedure, both Bryce Menzies and Travis […] More »