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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

"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,...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...