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Spiderman does it again! After evading the tax evasion charges (on which the government has something like a 95% conviction rate), Helio Castroneves wins his third Indy 500 and seems a pretty likely candidate to surpass the record 4 wins of AJ Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears. That's some pretty heady company, and I don't think he's doing it by simply having an owner that can outspend everyone and give him the best car...

High grade gas felt great in the Yaris, anything else just felt sluggish.  Will continue putting only 93 grade fuel in the new ride... The Yaris reacted best to Exxon and BP.  Last week was the first week I re-fueled the Fit, since I got it only two weeks ago.  Exxon fuel may not be the best fit for the Fit... will try Shell or Sunoco next...

Hey Dub, Got any big plans for the holiday weekend? Cookout? Going to a carnival or maybe a classic car show?..

I bet the police hear some doozies when it comes to people trying to get out of tickets. From MercuryNews.com we may have a candidate for one of the worst choices ever for trying to evade the long arm of the law. ELKO, Nev.—Authorities arrested a 27-year-old Elko man after a high-speed chase and a bomb hoax that shut down Interstate 80 for several hours in northern Nevada...

Senators and Representatives debating the benefits and, more importantly, the pitfalls of requiring cars and trucks to get better gas mileage may be in the news, but these same elected officials along with television talking heads seem to forget that this happened 35 years ago. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) regulations came about in the 1970s as a response to the combination of skyrocketing fuel prices and gas guzzling vehicles. The answer to the problem was to require manufacturers to make more fuel-efficient vehicles...

City Safety from Volvo, it sounds like a wonderful implementation of technology. If you approach a car in front of you going 2 mph to 9 mph, the car will put on the brakes and stop before hitting the vehicle. City Safety is only available in the XC60 models as of right now...

From a Reuters story I just saw... NEW YORK (Reuters) - If General Motors Corp files for bankruptcy, as widely expected, its healthy assets will be quickly sold to a new company owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday...

AR Index     516.63  -31.31  (-5.71%) Stocks of individual interest Toyota  76.47   -0.32 GM        1.18     -0.26 Ford      5.50     -0.58 Dow 8504.08  +85.31   (+1.01%) Today's chart is the AR Index vs the Dow for 2009. While the auto stocks are certainly more volatile than the Dow, the index is still generally moving in the direction of the Dow, and that volatility itself would seem to show that people haven't run away from the auto stocks and are still trying to make a play with them. Remember, even when people are dumping a stock and seeming to run away from it, there are buyers on the other side who think just as strongly that they're getting a bargain by purchasing the stock before it goes up.

The economy may be in recovery mode, and the automotive industry may be waiting for a jump start, but according to the Chicago Tribune, auctions of classic cars are drawing record crowds across the nation. "We simply refuse to participate in the recession," said Dana Mecum, chief executive officer of Mecum Auto Auction. Entering the weekend, 63 percent of the vehicles were sold, according to Tom Christmann, Mecum's marketing manager...

We're on the road this weekend at a graduation party for my nephew (Congratulations Ryan!) and we had someone with us who had never seen Roadside America in Shartlesville, PA (Exit 23 on I-78) It's a real slice of Americana and a welcome stop if you find yourself in need of a break heading across eastern PA. An 8000 sq ft train layout. And some people say that I have too much time on my hands!