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Articles by Steven Smith
Under the Hood of Dodge’s Rumored Return to the NASCAR Cup Series
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. You know what “silly season” is, right? For those who don’t, it’s a usually harmless, seemingly annual phenomenon that occurs in sports—NASCAR, for example—around the time the current season begins to wind down and talk turns to next year. Often, peculiar things happen that may seem silly on the surface, but are destined to affect next year’s competition.
Following the IHRA’s Demise, 12 of Its Tracks Will Sell to the Highest Bidders
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. A website called Tranzon.com, which bills itself as “A Better Way to Sell Real Estate,” is at this moment hosting 143 property auctions in 31 states. They range from a 10,400-acre coastal rainforest ranch in Belize to a series of row houses in Philadelphia to a pet hotel in Houston.
We Survived a Week in America’s Cheapest New Car: The Hyundai Venue SEL
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. It wasn’t possible for me to talk about the cheapest new car available to the American consumer in 2026, the Hyundai Venue, and not be reminded of the cheapest car from 40 years ago, when I was still pretty green at automotive journalism.
IMSA closed out 2026 with Petit Le Mans, and it was a humdinger
What an odd, and consistently interesting, the season finale for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship turned out to be. Although there was only one genuinely scary crash, the race was a bit of a mechanical bloodbath: This Motul Petit Le Mans, held as it has been since 1998 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, set a record with 17 yellow-flag caution periods, plus a 30-minute, full-stop red flag to clear the track of standing water following a rainstorm.
After Flying the U-2 and SR-71, Tony Bevacqua Got His Kicks in Corvettes
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Before we discuss Tony Bevacqua’s love of the Chevrolet Corvette, it may be helpful to learn a bit about his background.
Expect a (Damp) Full House at IMSA’s Petit Le Mans Finale
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. One of the longest seasons in all of sports winds up on Saturday with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta—the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans.
New ’27 Rogue Hybrid Fills a Vacancy in Nissan’s SUV Lineup
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. I don’t get no respect. —Rodney Dangerfield, comedian, 1969 Yes, of course: When you think of premium smaller SUVs, the first two typically mentioned are the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4, not the Nissan Rogue. After all, the CR-V and RAV4 have been around for about 30 years now, sold under the same name, which helps continuity. And both have been, and remain, good products.
Velocity Restorations: Big Dreams, Bigger Risks, Huge Rewards
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Cantonment is a Florida Panhandle town north of Pensacola, where something important happened in 1962. For Cantonment, anyway. It was the opening of the Southern Plywood Corporation, a state-of-the-art plywood factory housed in what was then called a “sprawling” series of buildings covering 135,000 square feet.
In this corner: NASCAR racer Carson Hocevar, and his merchandise trailer
Is Carson Hocevar the next Dale Earnhardt? Absolutely. And no way. Let me explain. Earnhardt began racing in the NASCAR Cup Series in 1975, and he won his first of seven championships in 1980, driving for Rod Osterlund.
Siya Kolisi names his two toughest opponents – including England star
Siya Kolisi has battled some of the most intimidating players in world rugby, but two rival back-rowers have made a particularly lasting impression on the Springboks captain. The double Rugby World Cup winner has faced almost every major rugby nation during his decorated Test career, leading South Africa through two successful global campaigns and their recent 3-1 series victory over the All Blacks.
Calm and Composed: The Pleasing Purr of an RX-7’s 1.3 liters
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. As a so-savvy car collector, I’ve long followed the personal mantra of “Buy high, sell low,” which began with my 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1, for which I accepted $1200 as trade-in on another muscle car, then another, then a Ford Ranchero, then another muscle car… That trend ended when I voluntarily left the actual workforce to pursue a career in journalism. I’ve been poverty-stricken since.
How Darryl Cuttell’s Would-Be IHRA Empire Came Crashing Down
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. If we define “failure” for a long-struggling drag racing series as passing ownership of said series along to somebody else because you no longer want to deal with it, here’s the shorthand for the 56-year history of the International Hot Rod Association: Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. We boldfaced that last fail because that’s the one going on now, and it dwarfs the rest.
A Dozen Can’t-Miss Honda Racers Are Headed to Monterey
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Why Are These Four Wolfpack Rides Customs the End of the Line?
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. They are only four cars in an auction that features hundreds. And while we firmly believe that every car has a story—that’s what we do here, after all—these four, called the Wolfpack Rides collection, may be over-the-top outrageous, but their combined story is, well, poignant. They go up for sale this afternoon at the Mecum Auction in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Don Garlits: Father of Swamp Rat, UFO Enthusiast, and Unequivocally the Greatest Drag Racer Ever
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. We’re standing near the entrance of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, located in Ocala, Florida. It’s a comprehensive, full-day history lesson, packed with dozens of famous drag racing cars, many of them driven by Garlits, known to fans as “Big Daddy”—we’ll explain how he got the very appropriate nickname in a moment.
His Car Went Up In Flames, But Robert Wickens Is Ready to Race
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. As disasters go, this one didn’t merit a blip on an international scale, but to a small, second-year racing team, it was catastrophic. On April 18, the DXDT Racing team competed in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the third IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship race of the season, held on a tight little course carved out of the streets of downtown Long Beach, just south of Los Angeles.
That Time When Even Our Tires Celebrated Our Country’s Milestone Birthday
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. As may be appropriate for the 250th birthday of our country, allow me to present the tale of my profoundly patriotic car. You can salute me later. It was 425 miles from my home to the University of Missouri in Columbia, where—against all odds, and I am not joking about that—I had been accepted into journalism school, which was taught in the junior and senior years.
Porsche Replaced the Cayman GT4 with the 911 GT4. Will We See It on the Street?
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. He isn’t that well known in the U.S., even by people deeply involved in racing, but if you’ve ever sat across the table from Stéphane Michel Ratel, it doesn’t take long to realize that ideas come to him as rapid-fire as the cars in the multiple competition series he has founded. Wait, you’re saying: Isn’t this story about Porsches? Indeed it is.
The Story of the Small Truck: Past, Present and Future
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Want a small truck? As you’ve likely learned, pickings are slim. It was that way in the 1970s, until Japanese manufacturers dipped a toe into the water, both for their own brands and for domestic OEMS. Then there was some significant movement in 1982 and ’83, when American carmakers figured out how to make money in the segment building their own small pickups.
One-Owner 2002 Subaru WRX Has “First Car” Written All Over It
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. You have an 18-year-old son or daughter. (This is hypothetical; we have no actual knowledge that you have an 18-year-old out there somewhere, so calm down.) He or she is about to depart for college. And he or she is going to need a car. You’d rather not spend new-car money, so what might be a reasonably priced first car for your kid? Man, don’t get us started.
NASCAR at Coronado and IHRA Triple Crown Leg 1: The (Very Weird) Weekend That Was
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. No doubt it sounded like a great idea to NASCAR, and indeed it was, but the three-race weekend held outside San Diego on the 3.4-mile Qualcomm Circuit at Naval Base Coronado served up more than its share of surprises. Some good, some… well, you decide.
Mid America Motorworks Decimated by Tornado, but Owners Aren’t Crying Uncle
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. If you are a fan of the Chevrolet Corvette, and you haven’t heard: A tornado touched down in Effingham, Illinois, and had it been equipped with GPS and laser guidance, it could not have scored a more direct hit on Mid America Motorworks, a mecca for Corvette owners since it opened in 1974.
2026 BMW M2 CS Test Drive: Talented Track Rat
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. It was my own fault, a realization that occurred 30 seconds after I bought the extra-large Slurpee frozen drink from 7-Eleven. That’s when I remembered that the car I was driving does not have one single cup holder. Oh, there’s a wide spot molded into the door down near the floor, but it’s way too low to be of any use in a car so tightly packaged. I shouldn’t be surprised.
Richard Gadson’s Drag Racing Dream Comes True—Finally
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. The good news arrived in 2024: Richard Gadson finally got his shot to ride for a top-notch NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing team.
Live, via Tape Delay: Memorial Day Sunday Races with Felix, Kimi, and Daniel
Felix Rosenqvist beats David Malukas to the checkered flag by 0.0233 seconds during the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 24, 2026. Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. There are only a couple of times a year that you are likely to find my television on from morning to night. One is when I’m trying to fool burglars into thinking I’m home. The other is on Memorial Day Sunday.
Cherished Buick Has Spent 113 Years with the Same Family
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. “We guarantee that all Model 25 Buick Touring Car Motors will develop more power and speed than any stock Foreign or American Motors of equal size. Buick Power and Speed are the inevitable result of correct design, good materials and careful workmanship.” —Buick Motor Company, 1913 David Noznesky is about to go mano a mano with that motor in his 1913 Buick.
Cherished Buick Has Spent 113 Years with the Same Family
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. “We guarantee that all Model 25 Buick Touring Car Motors will develop more power and speed than any stock Foreign or American Motors of equal size. Buick Power and Speed are the inevitable result of correct design, good materials and careful workmanship.” —Buick Motor Company, 1913 David Noznesky is about to go mano a mano with that motor in his 1913 Buick.
Cars from Jack Roush’s Collection Headed to New Mecum Auction
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Mecum Auctions is staking out Nashville as one of its new outposts and is kicking off its inaugural event there, set for September 23-26, with at least one batch of vehicles that should draw some attention. They’re from the Roush Automotive Collection, with the Roush being Jack Roush, the legendary tuner, car builder, engine guru, pilot, and NASCAR team owner.
Remembering 2-Time NASCAR Champ Kyle Busch, Gone Too Soon
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. The kid was 17, and I first met him on the front straight of USA International Speedway, a three-quarter-mile paved oval just outside Lakeland, Florida. The American Speed Association was about to drop the green flag on its 2002 season. This was the first of 20 races. The kid, kind of lanky and more than a little cocky, had come highly recommended.
Speed Read: The Memorial Day Race Weekend Is Upon Us
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. I was going to start this story with, “You’ve never really been in a crowd until you’ve been in an Indianapolis 500 crowd,” since upwards of 350,000 people are expected there on Sunday.
Watch as Paralyzed Racer Robert Wickens Attempts to Conquer the Nürburgring
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. On the eve of the 2026 edition of the annual 24 Hours of the Nürburgring—or, as it is properly known, the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring—Hyundai is presenting a free-to-watch YouTube documentary on the 2025 race, with the focus on their driver Robert Wickens, who was paralyzed from the waist down in an IndyCar crash on August 19, 2018.
The Twisted Tale of the Corvette That Nobody Wanted
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Jordan Vandergriff’s First NHRA Win Ends in a Run Not to the Finish Line, But the Starting Line
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox.
NASCAR Leadership Changes—a Little
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. It was only last year, and it’s already hard to remember how contentious the antitrust lawsuits between two NASCAR teams and NASCAR management got, now that both sides have settled into a comfortable, Kumbayah state of symbiosis. But lest we forget, the France family—which founded and, until today, managed the series since it was founded some 78 years ago—took it on the chin.
“The Cars That Made Us” Works as Education and Entertainment
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. In the so-narrow subclass of TV entertainment called “Car Collections of the Comics,” to the surprise of no one, funnyman Jay Leno rules. But perhaps a surprising close second is the warehouse full of cars owned by comic/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, which, we understand, may or may not be opened to the public soon. (What, you thought Jerry Seinfeld was in second place?
What can we learn from cars made in the 1960s? A lot.
Stick with me here: I have a point to make, but it'll take me a couple of minutes to get there. In January of 2003, I was the editor of a newspaper's weekly automotive section. I don't remember why, but I do recall that I was in need of a column topic that week, and quick.
What Can We Learn from Cars Made in the 1960s? A Lot.
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Stick with me here: I have a point to make, but it’ll take me a couple of minutes to get there. In January of 2003, I was the editor of a newspaper’s weekly automotive section. I don’t remember why, but I do recall that I was in need of a column topic that week, and quick.
The Art of Racing: Helmets Lifts the Visor on Racing’s Fastest Art Form
2 hours ago NEED TO KNOW Kim Kardashian is sharing some of her favorite moments from Coachella, with a nod to Lewis Hamilton The F1 racer made a subtle appearance in Kardashian's Instagram post on Thursday, April 16 She previously appeared in an Instagram Reel alongside Hamilton on April 6, and a source told …
The Art of Racing: Helmets Lifts the Visor on Racing’s Fastest Art Form
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. The snapshot you see here—the little boy holding a helmet worn by Formula 1 icon Ayrton Senna—speaks volumes, and we mean that literally, about the reason we’ve spoken to the all-grown-up-now Joe Twyman.
Cleetus Conquers NASCAR! (Well, in the Sense That He Didn’t Actually Crash…)
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Why no C8 Corvette, not even the Grand Sport, will get a manual gearbox
Possibly you know that Oldsmobile introduced the “Hydra-matic,” a kind-of-automatic transmission in 1940, then improved it enough to call it a true automatic by 1948. Surely that was the beginning of the end of manuals, right? Wouldn't most drivers prefer to just flick a lever and go? As it turns out, most would, although well after the technology was proven, four categories of dissenters kept manuals in play for decades.
Why No C8 Corvette, Not Even the Grand Sport, Will Get a Manual Gearbox
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Possibly you know that Oldsmobile introduced the “Hydra-matic,” a kind-of-automatic transmission in 1940, then improved it enough to call it a true automatic by 1948. Surely that was the beginning of the end of manuals, right? Wouldn’t most drivers prefer to just flick a lever and go?
What Happened at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, Plus the Family Spat That Followed
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. There’s always something wrong with the climate at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It’s too cold, it’s too hot, it won’t stop raining and everything is soggy, or it’s so dry the track is literally surrounded by wildfires, and there’s smoke and white ash in the air. Not this year.
Exclusive: C8 Corvette Grand Sport Revealed at Sebring with Roger Penske’s Help
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Thursday afternoon we were on a roped-off taxiway at the Sebring Regional Airport, close enough to Sebring International Raceway to hear cars on the track, practicing for today’s 74th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Roger Penske is 89, and according to Forbes magazine, his net worth is upwards of $6 billion.
Cadillac’s on the Pole for Saturday’s 74th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. It’s been nearly two months since the January kickoff for the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. It always seems to take forever for the second race in the IMSA season to get here, but it finally has: The 74th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is Saturday.
NHRA Gatornationals: The best stories are buried deep in the box score
A post shared by NHRA (@nhra) It has been a few days, so it has likely sunk in by now: That Josh Hart—a stereotypically mild-mannered, polite, unassuming, balding 42-year-old from Ocala, Florida, who had recently been dismissed by some in the drag racing community as a flash in the pan—not only won his class at the National Hot Rod Association's season opener last weekend, but absolutely dominated.
NHRA Gatornationals: The Best Stories Are Buried Deep in the Box Score
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. It has been a few days, so it has likely sunk in by now: That Josh Hart—a stereotypically mild-mannered, polite, unassuming, balding 42-year-old from Ocala, Florida, who had recently been dismissed by some in the drag racing community as a flash in the pan—not only won his class at the National Hot Rod Association’s season opener last weekend, but absolutely dominated.
Class of 2026: The new members of the Motorsports Hall of Fame
As father-son talks go, this one was unusual. It was between Kenny Roberts, the three-time MotoGP world champion, and his son, Kenny, Jr., referred to since birth as Junior by most everyone. Their talk was recounted Tuesday night at the annual Motorsports Hall of Fame of America dinner in Daytona Beach, Florida, a very exclusive club which Kenny Senior joined in 1990. He was in Europe when a young Junior told him, on a phone call, that he wanted to be a motorcycle road racer, too.
1969 McLaren M8B Wins 2026 Amelia Concours de Sport Best in Show
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. Not many cars frighten Dario Franchitti, a four-time IndyCar season champion, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, and two-time Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona winner. But this one kind of does. Franchitti, the 2026 Amelia Concours d’Elegance honoree, was eyeing the car that had just won Best of Show, Concurs de Sport: A Papaya Orange 1969 McLaren M8B Can-Am racer.
The Amelia Concours Celebrates the Legendary Career of Dario Franchitti
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox. There is no argument: Topping the show at the Indianapolis 500 simply isn’t possible. No event has more fans in attendance (about 350,000), no racing facility is larger than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and when it comes to pomp and pageantry, the Indy 500 is unparalleled. Dario Franchitti, a three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, has never actually noticed any of it.
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