While the Dodge Rampage is a very different vehicle from today’s Ram or Dakota pickups, the tough little Rampage is technically a truck. It has a cab and a bed so while it is a front wheel drive, 4-cylinder powered vehicle that is based on the Dodge Omni – it is still a Dodge pickup so it fits into our simple criteria for Truckin Fast Wednesday. We have featured a Rampage once before and while that clip looked at this compact pickup on action on the quarter mile, this week’s Rampage action is a quick clip of what the kids might call drifting.
It is hard to tell if this Dodge Rampage is actually all that Truckin fast but the driver wields the little truck like a high performance drift car – speeding past the camera before pulling the e-brake, whipping the rear end around and smoking the tires as he headed back in the direction from whence he came. This little Rampage does a 180 like a champ, which is especially impressive when you consider the fact that it has over 305,000 miles on it. I also appreciate the fact that the video description explains that this Dodge truck owner is “not tryin to be cool, just havin fun in the middle of nowhere.” Enjoy!
"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.
