Heres something thats long overdue. The Associated Press today reports that General Motors is cutting back spending on NASCAR. Its about time. Heres a company in crisis that cant afford enough advertising for its bloated family of eight brands, and they have been blowing more than $100 million a year on NASCAR. Before I explain why I think GM has put too much into NASCAR, let me admit my bias. I hate NASCAR. While I can get into watching everything from Rugby Union and the NFL to golf and womens tennis, I just cant get into NASCAR. (As an aside, I can get into Le Mans series races) But as motor sports go, NASCAR races are the snooziest. The cars are slow and bumbling. The circuit strictly legislates body dimensions, chassis engineering and engine size so you dont get new technology on the track. The cars still have carburetors and only recently got rid of leaded fuel!  read more »

This is it. What countless dozens of you have been waiting for, a select few thought would never come and countless millions couldn't care less about — the introduction of the all-new 2008 model year Jalopnik. Although we're still buffing the sheet metal a bit and deciding on an extra hood scoop or go-faster stripes — we've already got a great auto-obsessed group of guys (and, you know, Murilee) in the lineup bringing you the best of what you've come to expect from Jalopnik. And since you've been so kind to spend so much time here, we kind of thought you should perhaps know who they are. So, without further ado, here's the lineup:  read more »

With auto show season officially, mercilessly and thankfully over, the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage stands to be full in just six weeks. A short time by any standard, but especially so when distilling over a hundred years of automotive excellence into just 50 vehicles. Two weeks ago saw the induction of the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, a car so finely crafted only a communist would disapprove. In this week's edition, we switch gears entirely. Compact, lightweight automobile construction, responsive suspension, spicy engine and a slick manual transmission. It's a simple formula which, if done properly, not only results in a car with character, but one which transcends the bottom-of-the-barrel genre and becomes something of legend, something which can ascend to the level of fantasy. This week, we examine the hot hatch.  read more »