"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.
When you talk about Modern Mopar Muscle, there is no way that the Dodge Viper can be excluded so when you combined a Dodge Viper SRT10 Roadster with the incredible Viper powered V10 Dodge Tomahawk – it really can’t get much more Mopar Muscular than that. This week’s Mopar Muscle Thursdays feature is a short […] More »
While a well driven 2011 Ford Mustang GT with the 412hp 5.0L V8 should easily beat out the average 2011 Ram 1500 Quad Cab in a quarter mile drag race – the Mustang in the video below is not well driven and the Ram is not your average Quad Cab pickup. Thanks to a host […] More »
In the high performance Mopar universe the Dodge Caravan is probably one of the least respected vehicles but with the help of a Neon SRT4 engine and a massive turbocharger – this particular Caravan puts on one of the greatest smoke shows that I have ever seen from something that wasn’t an NHRA drag car. […] More »
While last week’s Muddy Mondays feature showed a 2nd gen Dodge Dakota stuck in a muddy field, today’s feature video shows that a properly driven Dakota has no problem navigating a serious amount of mud. This new video, which is almost nine years old according to the date stamp on the video, shows a near […] More »
This past weekend brought about the 8th annual Spring Festival of LXs and with such a massive group of Charger, Challenger, 300 and Magnum owners located in one SoCal location, the Chrysler Group used the show to debut the new limited edition SRT Charger 392. Unfortunately, this new package doesn’t add any go-fast goodies but […] More »
In our previous Black Fridays feature, we have looked at a bunch of smokey Cummins Turbo Diesel powered Ram pickups tearing up the competition on the drag strip but this week we look at a CTD sittin’ in front of the barn…sooting up a storm for the sheer joy of creating gobs of smoke. While […] More »
The 2014 Dodge Durango will debut next week at the 2013 New York International Auto Show but the Chrysler Group issued the first teased of the refreshed ute this morning with a shot of a new taillight. It is clear that the new Durango will feature a similar “race track” taillight design to that seen […] More »