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Steve Parker
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For complete information, please see Steve’s full bio at www.SteveParker.com.

I am back --- and this time, by gosh, I mean it.

At a time when Chevy is offering to buy back each of the 6000 Volt gas/electric hybrids sold, when LED head- and tail- lights are causing brain seizures and a Ford dealer in Los Angeles sold 140 cars, the biggest single day in their corporate history, the day after Thanksgiving ... how long could I stay away?

Go ahead and ask --- Where the heck have I been since the start of 2011?

The easy (and true) answer: I was inside one or another of some of the great metropolitan hospitals in the Los Angeles area, including St. John's in Santa Monica, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles/Beverly Hills and Huntington in Pasadena. Huntington reminded me more of the Hyatt Grand Champions in Palm Desert than any hospital, and I spent my first hour in the lobby looking for the pro shop.

Battles with my Crohn's Disease, DVT blood clots, peripheral neuropathy and malignant squamos cell skin cancer, among other things, not only made work all but impossible, but at times life itself looked to be a long shot in my case.

But heck, Newman-Haas racing announced just today that they're getting out of open-wheel racing in the USA starting with the upcoming 2012 season! And IndyCar says Brian Barnhart is out as that group's leader! You'd HAVE to be dead to not find all this fascinating (and hilarious, if it didn't take so much money away from so many blue-collar people like the rest of us).

And bless 'em, thanks to Tony Stewart, who won't even visit the White House since he got a good look at Barack Obama, NASCAR had a year-ending rush which provided some genuine excitement and a classic Ford/Chevy war right out of the past.

I still continue to believe (and more than ever) that there are special paddock and parking passes waiting at hell's pit entrance for Bernie Ecclestone and Tony George ... and most ALL racing promoters, too.

But it'll take more than Fiat buying Chrysler and another massive GM embarasment thanks to Bob Lutz to keep me away. Please leave messages for me on this blog and let me know what you want to hear about from my end of things, and what you have to tell me. And drop by DRIVING CRAZY, our group over on Facebook. to read and contribute stories, photos and videos.

My email is: motoring342@gmail.com and my cellnumber is 310-321-2153.

So don't be a stranger, okay?

Steve is a two-time Emmy Award winner who started writing about cars, trucks and motorcycles in the mid-1970s. If you’ve flipped through any of the major (and certainly the minor) magazines serving those industries as well as most airline in-flight publications, you’ve read his work.

Currently, apart from his Huffington Post Blog, Steve's column, Tornante, runs each Tuesday in the Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper (www.smdp).com).

Also, Steve is a consultant and contributor to the NBC automotive program, Whipnotic, and the show's companion website (www.Whipnotic.com).

He's also written for collectible magazines, sports mags of all types and ghost-written books with and for auto industry legends.

The Brooklyn native grew-up in Rockville Centre, NY, where his interest in both cars and broadcasting was sparked by listening to Jean Shepherd on WOR radio.

Steve has worked with many icons of the motoring and racing worlds, including the late Mickey Thompson, who set numerous Land Speed Records and brought Baja-style racing to nearby sports stadiums including the Los Angeles Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium.

Also, he worked for several years with Jim Wangers, the marketing wizard who "created" the musclecar with his work on the original 1964 Pontiac GTO.

Steve's also worked with Gale Banks, the "guru of turbocharging" and covered, for Popular Mechanics magagine, Banks' successful world record-setting speed runs at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats.

He's been on the editorial staffs of Popular Mechanics, Petersen’s Four Wheel Off-Road and industry journal Automotive Fleet.

He created and co-hosted the first automotive radio show on a national commercial network and created the position of Automotive Reporter at KTLA/TV5 and KCBS/TV2 in Los Angeles and was one of the first freelance writers hired when the Los Angeles Times introduced a new automotive section, Highway 1.

For 15 years he has produced and still hosts American Racing Today, a daily NASCAR-oriented radio show available to visitors and radio General Managers and Program Directors free of charge by clicking here.

For five years Steve's company produced and hosted a ½-hour auto show for Time Warner cable TV systems in Southern California, Car Nut TV.

At age 12, Steve volunteered at the Pacifica radio station WBAI in NYC, and also worked on the successful 1968 US Congressional campaign of Allard K. Lowenstein. His family’s strong Democratic Party and union values form the basis for his political and social beliefs and actions. Steve and wife Carey (and cat Tippi) share their time between the Palm Springs area and Los Angeles.

Blog Entries by Steve Parker

Biggest Day for Women in Racing History

(0) Comments | Posted February 18, 2013 | 6:30 PM

Sunday was the biggest day for women in the history of auto racing.

Danica Patrick, by virtue of being fastest in qualifying at the Daytona Motor Speedway, won the pole position, a first for a woman, meaning she'll start first in next week's Daytona 500 NASCAR event. It's the first...

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Toyota's $1 Billion Settlement -- What You Don't Know

(1) Comments | Posted January 2, 2013 | 3:44 PM

A few important points most reports have not had concerning the over-$1 billion Toyota unintended acceleration class action lawsuit settlement, and Toyota's industry domination:

  • The settlement covers only Toyota Motor Corporation vehicle owners and lessees whose cars may have lost value because of the problems.
  • Lawsuits concerning those...
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Car Safety 2013: 32,000 Dead -- Where's the Outrage?

(3) Comments | Posted December 19, 2012 | 2:43 PM

Some 32,367 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2011. That's nearly 100 a day dying on our nation's highways, yet any apparent outrage remains muted at best.

Though the figure is the lowest in decades, it's still an outrage in a country where education, technology and awareness...

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EVs - 5 remains the magic number

(11) Comments | Posted September 21, 2012 | 2:12 PM

Whatever happened to electric cars?

The Nissan Leaf, America's only true mass-produced EV, remains a slow seller. Sales of the Chevrolet Volt (really a hybrid and not an EV) are so disappointing that General Motors has shut down production for "inventory adjustments". Other EV models, such as the Tesla, are...

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Nissan's 2012 Versa

(3) Comments | Posted June 19, 2012 | 12:31 PM

Nissan's Versa is a peppy, good-looking minicar that packs a lot of value.

Our tester was priced a bit more than $13,600 and was a basic car: hand-crank windows, hand-adjusted side-view mirrors, manual door locks and no tachometer. But it did come with air conditioning, a serviceable stereo, and a...

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Big Willie Robinson, 69, King of the Street Racers

(2) Comments | Posted May 25, 2012 | 5:18 PM

"Big" Willie Robinson, founder and president of the International and National Brotherhood of Street Racers, died this past Saturday. He was 69.

Robinson, 6'6" and over 300 pounds, was the epitome of the gentle giant. He was not only a fixture of Los Angeles car culture, he was THE fixture,...

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Steve McQueen Car Show!

(0) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 5:57 PM

Most weekend car shows have a tie-in with a charity. Either the audience pays an admission price, the people putting their cars on display pay a fee or there's a combination of the two.

This system has worked well for decades well and benefits the community and the car culture....

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Carroll Shelby Dies at 89

(2) Comments | Posted May 15, 2012 | 11:27 AM

His friends called him Ol' Shel', and I was lucky enough to be a bit more than an acquaintance.

Carroll Shelby, who directed the effort in which Ford beat Ferrari at LeMans in 1965 and shocked the automotive world has died at 89. Shelby was one of the world's longest-living...

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Gas Prices Up, Car Profits Down

(8) Comments | Posted March 2, 2012 | 4:52 PM

Even though car sales are near doubling in some parts of the country, the result of high gas prices combined with those improved sales could mean lower profits for car companies doing business in the U.S.

Why?

Because the profit margins on smaller, high fuel mileage cars, trucks and S.U.V.'s...

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Drag Racing Returns

(2) Comments | Posted February 12, 2012 | 10:00 AM

Warren Johnson's kid Allen, Kenny Bernstein and Brandon and John Force's daughter Courtney. Even Alexis DeJoria, daughter of shampoo, tequila and pet food magnate John Paul DeJoria.

They all raced this weekend (February 9 to 12) on the 1,000-foot drag strip at Pomona, CA, (about 30 miles east of...

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GM Claims Number One Sales Crown -- Again

(4) Comments | Posted January 30, 2012 | 7:51 PM

It's been three years and the Bush Depression since General Motors could claim to be the world's best-selling automaker. Before that, some 70 years had passed since there was another #1 car-and-truck-seller in the world besides GM.

But they can wear that crown now, and Toyota once again takes a...

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Motor Racing, 2012

(11) Comments | Posted January 17, 2012 | 5:11 PM

NASCAR gets ancient throttle body fuel injection to replace ancient carburetors, Formula 1 still isn't coming to America and IndyCar is striving to just stay alive. Let's take a stroll...

NASCAR - The best thing for the sport is that Jimmie Johnson did not win a sixth consecutive championship in...

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Chrysler And China Drive Auto Market

(20) Comments | Posted December 27, 2011 | 12:29 PM

What were the biggest automotive stories of 2011?

There were certainly plenty to choose from. From GM offering to buy back every one of the 6000-or-so Volt hybrids which were sold, and had a tendency, in testing, to catch fire after an accident, to Toyota announcing plans to produce more...

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EPA Rates Volt and Leaf: What's Your Choice?

(9) Comments | Posted December 9, 2010 | 11:00 AM

As USA Today might say, "Okay, America, time to make up our minds!"

No more wondering, guessing, dreaming or conjecturing (someone ask Ms. Palin if that's a word); we now officially know enough about these cars of the future to say we love or hate them.

What cars?

What...

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Jimmie Johnson Should Quit NASCAR

(31) Comments | Posted November 24, 2010 | 9:40 AM

We have a big stage in this country, but the fame it offers is short-lived.

This peculiar "Here today, gone tomorrow" American phenomenon is nowhere more powerful than in the world of sports.

Now, after winning a fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title championship, it's time for racing phenomenon...

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GM a Winner, But Dangers Still Lurk

(8) Comments | Posted November 19, 2010 | 9:29 AM

As TV's Craig Ferguson often says, "It's a great day for America, everybody!" It was also quite a day for General Motors.

The company raised more than $18 billion in the largest and most successful Initial Public Stock Offering in history, has now paid the federal government back more than...

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Getting Cars and Trucks Ready for Winter

(0) Comments | Posted November 12, 2010 | 11:40 AM

As cars and trucks have gotten to the advanced stage they are in today, the idea of "winterizing" your bad ride has taken on new meaning. These days, for instance, getting ready for the new and potentially harsh season involves the driver and his or her driving skills as much...

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Why There Are No Seat Belts in School Buses, And Other Safety Questions

(5) Comments | Posted October 27, 2010 | 3:21 PM

Many of you have kids riding school buses, and a crash Monday in Los Angeles involving a fatality (a man walking in a crosswalk) raised many of the important issues facing communities with the big yellow buses.

Here's how the Los Angeles Times reported the sad event, which injured many...

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Toyota/Honda Recall -- What's Really Happening?

(27) Comments | Posted October 23, 2010 | 4:12 PM

This past week, as the sun came out after several rain-plagued days, the areas around my Southern California neighborhood were filled again with the usual suspects. They were the runners from all over the city (I'm near one of those "domestic canyons") including walkers, joggers and their pets, all planning...

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GMC's 2011 Heavy Duty 2500 Pickup Has More Swagger than before

(0) Comments | Posted October 18, 2010 | 3:17 PM

The biggest rivalry in the world is not between the Yankees and the Red Sox nor the Dodgers and the Giants, but between Ford and General Motors (with Dodge thrown-in to add a little spice to the mix; I was going to write "spicy meat balls" but only media savvy...

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