Author Archive: Eric Rood
Would You Rather, Push-It-Off-A-Cliff Edition: Ford Tempo or Chevy Cavalier
Prompted by a discussion I ran across on Facebook that was, thankfully, not political, I decided to pitch this one to the BangShifters. The real name of this one is “Would You Rather, Set It On...
Absolutely Crazy: Motorcycle Racing on a Street Circuit at Macau
This weekend marks the 63rd running of the Macau Grand Prix, which is kind of like the Eastern Hemisphere’s answer to the Monaco Grand Prix. There’s considerably less glitz and glamor—Macau is...
One of Craig Breedlove’s Rocket Cars is Up for Sale on eBay
I won’t pretend to know much about this car, but most of you will know who Craig Breedlove is. One of the pioneers of rocket-powered cars in land-speed racing, Breedlove and his first pair of...
A 500 Horsepower, V8 Prius Might be the Only Acceptable Prius
The Toyota Prius draws the derision of racing and auto enthusiasts everywhere and the hybrid certainly has its share of stereotypes. However, there are at least a couple of Priuses (Prii?) that...
Fire Is No Joke: Gary Sheehan Recounts the Frightening Seconds During Which His Race Car Was On Fire
Fire. You’d be hard-pressed to find a word that frightens race car drivers more. United States Touring Car Championship competitor Gary Sheehan found that out November 12 during the final USTCC...
Kiwis Race Muscle Cars, Too: New Zealand’s Classics-Racing Series is as Fantastic as Any
One of the great things about the muscle-car era Down Under is that it really carried on in the late 1970s while the United States suffered through the Malaise Era. As a result, the Australian Holden...
Check Out These Ford Escorts and Sierras Racing at Hal Far in Malta
As our fearless leader Brian Lohnes is quick to point out, drag racing takes place all over this country. This includes a number of unlikely countries, but Hal Far Raceway on the tiny Mediterranean...
Steamed-Up: When the Besler Brothers Built a Steam-Powered Airpane
George and William Besler, the sons of a railroad magnate named—wait for it—George William Besler, were not the last innovators to try powering cars with steam engines, but they are among the...
This Skip Barber Series Racer Goes Last to First in Just Two Laps at Road Atlanta
It’s been a while since we’ve pulled up a good last-to-first run in a road race, so here’s one of teenage driver Jackie Ding ripping through a Skip Barber Winter Series field at Road Atlanta in...
Watch Onboard From a Wild Top Doorslammer Run in Australia
The Top Doorslammer class in the Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) is not unlike NHRA Pro Mod racing with lookalike bodies draped over full chassis. The cars go deep into the 5s and...
Supercars Championship Rivals Go Hard Wheel-to-Wheel in New Zealand
Headed into the 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, many fans anticipated a year-long battle between Red Bull Racing Australia teammates Jamie Whincup and Shane Van Gisbergen. Supercars...
BangShift-Approved: GM Advertised the 1966 Chevy Impala Using Demo Derbies and Junkyards
Car advertising has changed a bit in 50 years. Maybe people had longer attention spans for sales pitches in 1966 or maybe ad agencies were more willing to go out of their way to do weird stuff, but...
Watch Harold Johnson Absolutely Wring the First Purpose-Built Airliner
Lost in the shuffle of Henry Ford’s legacy with the Ford Model T is another interesting innovation: Ford built one of the first—possibly the first—airplane designed specifically for passengers....
Russian Rally Driver Hits Wall on First Stage, Carries On to Podium Finish
Rally crews and, perhaps moreso, rally cars stand up to heavy beatings. Alexey Lukyanuk and his codriver Alexey Amautov demonstrated this earlier this year on the very first stage of the Azores...