There is a good chance that many of the guys reading this were playing in the mud when they were 12 years old but they weren’t doing it quite like Michael Overstreet – a 12 year old (who I struggle to call a boy considering his driving skills) who is shown in the video below driving his dad’s monster Cummins powered Ram in some seriously deep mud and water. I would like to say that at 12 years old I would have gladly taken the controls of a heavily modified Cummins Ram like the beastly Dodge in this week’s video feature but the odds are good that I couldn’t have done anywhere near as well as Michael.
Now I should point out that this Ram does get stuck and rarely do we feature Dodge Ram trucks getting stuck on Muddy Monday but considering that this truck is driven by a 12 year old kid, this video was too good to pass up. The worst part is that a Chevy S10 (that is very obviously even more heavily modified than the Ram that is the star of the video) is called upon to pull the Cummins Dodge out of the deep mud pit but right after the Ram is pulled free of the slop, we see the Chevy struggle to get over the next muddy rise. On the other hand, young Michael is able to power this nasty Ram over that hill with no problem before the video ends.
"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.
