By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

In a really vicious wreck on the track, the best thing a race car can do is come apart. A multiple-barrel-roll thrill-ride featuring a car that’s dumping flaming debris and fluids all over the track might look really scary, but it usually means the driver’s just fine–by contrast, when a car is brought to an abrupt but unspectacular halt after hitting a guard wall or a dirt embankment and the window net doesn’t come down, it’s usually a sign of big trouble. Same as in highway crashes, the old truism holds that energy dissipated through flying car parts and rending sheetmetal is energy that the driver’s body will not have to absorb. In stock-car racing’s past, many of the fatal wrecks are those that don’t really look all that dramatic at the time–Dale Earnhardt’s tragic last-lap crash at Daytona in 2001 comes to mind. And perhaps ironically, it was this very incident that changed the sport’s entire approach to driver safety, and paved the way for cars that now crash very differently from the way they did even a few years ago. Read more…

Continue reading "Surviving A Wreck That Would Have Been Fatal: Luck Or Engineering?" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Today’s pic is from Brandon’s Chevrolet 1500 ride page!

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Clamped.

I just wanted to repost this in case you missed it. Two incredible cars in the same blue color (great color choice for these cars). Apparently they are owned by the owner of Harrods UK and were parked outside the store. Pretty crazy. Via Top Gear

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

While trolling the grounds at Beech Bend Raceway during the 2010 Holley National Hot Rod Reunion we spied what looked to be an old race car out of the corner of our eye. Closer examination revealed the car to be an awesome barn find that the owner has gotten back into running condition. This former Super Stock Demon was raced all over the country and has some really cool history behind it.

According to the owner, the car was built into a racer from the brand new and it was built right. Petty Enterprises handled the modification of the rear suspension, Bob Lambeck built the small block, and someone (Chrysler we presume) handled the acid dipping of the body to reduce weight.

After seeing active competition all across the country, including the 1972 Winternationals, the car ended up sitting in a driveway, on an open trailer for more than 30 years! The owner rescued the car and then the horsepower gods began to smile at him when he started investigating the history of the machine. Continue reading at BangShift.com

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Continuing on with my look at the rally competition from X Games 16, we move on to elimination action on Saturday afternoon. As we’d soon find out, the biggest hurdle for the drivers wouldn’t be their fellow competitors, but the course itself. After coming down the ramp into the coliseum, the drivers would do an immediate U-turn back up the hill. The steep transition through the arches and into the bowl would be one of the hardest parts of the course to memorize, and a constant problem. And thus the jump would turn out to be a non-obstacle–compared to the difficulty of memorzing the course. See more at Speedhunters.

-By Mike Garrett

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

There’s a lot to be said for making do with what you’ve got. And while this Lada-based Mustang wannabe might hit all the wrong notes, it’s certainly not for lack of trying. See more pics at English Russia, via Carscoop.

Continue reading "Lada Faux-Stang" »

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

I rolled into Sears a few weekends ago to hit up Tool Territory for a set of Allen drives, and what do I see but a pristine MkI VW GTI. Holy cow! Must take pictures. The owner pops up while I am snapping and gives me a bit of detail–he’s the third owner, and the second owner (of a body shop, too) gave it the fresh coat of paint a few years back. This car is gorgeous inside and out, including the immaculate (and requisitely loud) red interior. Minus any sound deadening post-manifold, it sounds as good as it looks. With 142K on the odo, this is one snazzy bunny! More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Mall Parking Lot Find: Mint GTI!" »

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

In Australia, police crushed a known street racing offender’s vehicle that was deemed a public danger. Unlike Canada’s preemptive crushing policy, this offender was caught three times street racing before being sent to the “Crushinator”. Do you think street racers should be crushed preemptively, the first time they get caught, or after a three-strike offense, or not at all? Read more about the crushing at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

But is it one of the original movie cars, which might actually command such a price? Or just a very detailed clone built after the fact for exhibition? The ad carefully side-steps this issue, but it’s worth a look.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

At first glance, I thought this pic was AwkwardFamilyPhotos material, showing a litter of quadruplets in a tense truce over a shared 5.0 convertible. Then I realized they were all the same kid. Extra points for getting your car into your senior photos! See more on Tyler’s ride page.