The folks at Chrysler have once again put together a fun new
TV commercial for the 2013 Dodge Dart with the pulse pumping background music
from Kanye West/Jay-Z’s “Watch the throne”. Following in the tradition of the Dart ads with titles like How to
Change Cars Forever and How to Make the Most Hi-Tech Car, this newest spot
featuring rally racer Travis Pastrana is named “How to Test Your Car for Fun”.
This video explains that you test your car for fun by first start
with an all new award winning car (which happens to be a white 2013 Dodge Dart
Rallye) followed by finding the most hardcore driver in America (who happens to
be one Mr. Travis Pastrana).Pastrana is
introduced between a pair of top fuel dragsters doing massive smokey burnouts
which is ironic, considering that drag racing is the one form of racing that Pastrana
has not tackled professionally.
From there, the last 20 seconds of this new Dodge Dart
commercial shows Travis Pastrana doing what he does best – tearing around a
dirt road in the 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye. In the background, deep voice guy continues talking about the various
traits of the new Dart like the European chassis, the 6-speed manual
transmission, dual exhaust and a wide stance before prompting Travis to floor
it, drift it, punch it and – best of all- jump it.Unfortunately, the jump (shown in the still
above) pauses with the Dart Rally hanging in mid air but with the magic of TV –
we can assume that Travis landed the Dart just like he does in the world of
Global RallyCross.(The image below
actually shows Bryce Menzies jumping the Dart race car at the Global RallyCross
finals while he was filling in for Travis Pastrana due to a shoulder surgery.)
The video ends with Pastrana proclaiming that he is happy
with the 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye while deep voice guy explains that those steps
are how to test for fun.It sure looks
like fun to me – although I don’t expect that many Dart owners will be driving
their turbocharged compact sedan quite like Mr. Pastrana.
"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.
