I’ll spare you the sleigh bells, slurred toasts and hymns sung slightly out of tune, but for longtime, hardcore stock car racing fans, the argument can be made this is in fact the most wonderful time of the year. With Michigan out of the way, the magical mystery tour that …

Editor’s note: Senior writer Matt McLaughlin is off this week to celebrate a milestone birthday. Which one? We’ll let him tell it when he returns if he so chooses. In the meantime, please enjoy one of his classic columns from the past, the first of a two-part series paying tribute …

I guess I’ve gotten a bit slovenly in cleaning out my inbox at the end of every hard day’s night. Time-to-time I’ve been told I can be a bit obtuse. Well, I’ve been told I can be a bit obtuse more than I’ve been told I tend to be oblong …

Rather unexpectedly, NASCAR’s top three touring divisions have welcomed some first-time winning drivers and teams lately.  On Thursday night (July 11) at Kentucky Speedway, Tyler Ankrum drove his David Gilliland-owned Toyota to victory, a first for both the rookie driver and the team. It was only Ankrum’s 12th start in …

Back at the turn of the century, my sister and then-brother-in-law lived in rural Vermont. I took a lot of road trips to visit them and a lot of road trips while I was visiting, rather a necessity in that nothing of consequence was near their home unless you want …

It would seem the generation(s) that came after mine haven’t embraced the automobile with the rabid obsession of me and my contemporaries. I have several nieces and nephews who, though in their mid-to late 20s, still don’t have a car … or a driver’s license for that matter. I got …

NASCAR’s Gander Outdoor Truck Series often provides the best racing of any given weekend’s slate. But if you go by the ratings and attendance at the truck events, the series seems to be teetering on the precipice of obscurity few envisioned when the series made its bombastic debut back in …

Editor’s Note: This article was originally run on the Father’s Day weekend of 1996, and Matt runs it again every year at this time in memory of his Dad. A belated Happy Father’s Day to one and all … The 1973 Daytona 500 probably doesn’t top most fans’ lists as …

Last week, someone (Bill B) asked in the comments section below my column if that particular column about Pocono had run a week late. Uh, no Bill, that one was fresh off the grille. (And yes, the crash at Pocono that ended Bobby Allison’s career was in 1988, not ’89 …

Say what you will about Pocono Raceway and the “unique” challenges it offers both racers and meteorologists, but I’ve never heard it called a “cookie cutter” layout like all those 1.5-mile tri-ovals modeled after Charlotte that now dominate the Cup schedule the way dandelions take over a spring time lawn. …