Latest news with #dragracing
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Donk, Pro Street, VIP: The Fascinating Details Behind 3 of Custom Car Culture's Most Striking Styles
Modifying and repurposing cars goes back nearly as far as the automobile itself. And whether the changes are made with the intention of increasing performance and speed or for purely aesthetic personalization, the result is a specific look that sometimes gives rise to an entire automotive subculture. These cars have their own vernacular and rules, their own artistic practices. They are trend makers and arbiters of style, and they reflect the environments that birthed them. They're about so much more than themselves. Road & Track dug into the origins of three such car movements, following their narrative arc right up to today. This story originally appeared in Volume 30 of Road & Drag Scene As the name implies, Pro Street evolved from both the drag- and street-racing scenes. Its direct predecessors were the street freaks of the Seventies, American cars modified with drag parts for cruising and stoplight hijinks. Scott Sullivan's blue '67 Nova won Hot Rod magazine's Street Machine of the Year in 1979 and is commonly referred to as the first Pro Street car. Within a few years, the combination of elements from real-deal Pro Stock drag cars with less racy interiors and painted Eighties graphics firmly cemented Pro Street as a distinct subculture. Another blue Nova, Rick Dobbertin's '65, won Street Machine of the Year in 1982. It showed up with a twin-turbocharged, supercharged, and nitrous-injected 454, as well as 33-inch rear tires and a stubby little Dana 60 rear axle. According to Hot Rod, it was 'easily the most visually stupefying vehicle we've seen for the street in a long while.' That Nova ran and drove, but from then on, Pro Street veered toward show cars that demonstrated a builder's ability to realize the freakiest notebook sketches in metal. Read The Full Story Low And Lavish What came to be known as VIP, or its Japanese equivalent, bippu, began as a response to a changing environment. Namely, police crackdowns on outlandish performance cars. 'Everyone kind of points back to the origins of the culture being in the Osaka area,' says Myron Vernis, co-author of A Quiet Greatness: Japan's Most Astonishing Automobiles for the Collector and Enthusiast. 'Basically, as a result of the drifter guys and the sports-car guys getting harassed by the cops. They went to the other end and bought these very conservative-looking cars so that they could still have cool cars and not get abused by the authorities.' The earliest VIPs were 'rear-wheel-drive Nissans primarily, like Presidents, Glorias, Cedrics,' Vernis says, 'and then it kind of evolved into the Toyota Centurys and Crowns and things like that.' Read The Full Story Swagged Out Like Kleenex for tissues, Donk has become a generic term for custom cars riding high on big wheels. Within the scene, however, this generalization is frowned upon. Donk refers to a 1971–76 Chevy Caprice or Impala, exclusively. 'That's it,' says Sage Thomas, better known as Donkmaster, whose shop, In & Out Customs, is in Charleston, South Carolina. 'It can be a two-door or convertible, or four-door, or station wagon, but it has to be that year, specific. No other one.' There are no arguments about the preferred nomenclature, even if the origin of the word itself is uncertain. Read The Full Story A car-lover's community for ultimate access & unrivaled NOW Hearst Owned You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Drive
16-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
A New Jersey Racing Institution Could Be Destroyed for Housing Development
The latest car news, reviews, and features. We see it all too often these days, but yet another local racing institution is under threat of being dismantled for housing expansion. This time it's Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. Due to the state's affordable housing directive, the township must identify sites to develop new homes, and one of them is a southeast tract of the 534-acre Raceway Park venue. A plan under consideration would raise as many as 600 units on the property, which first opened in 1965 and is historically best known for drag racing. Raceway Park ceased drag racing in 2018 due to rising costs, but still operates a road course and motocross track, and holds karting and drifting events, including a round of the Formula Drift championship. Just 50% of the land is considered viable for development due to environmental factors, MyCentralJersey reports, and the proposal would supposedly leave behind space for some kind of motorsport facility, as well as other commercial and retail uses. This is not Raceway Park's first brush with redevelopment. Back in 2023, the Old Bridge Township Council attempted to move forward with a plan to rezone a portion of the land for single-family homes. The track sued the town, with Raceway Park's attorney at the time telling MyCentralJersey that the 'ordinance is looking to rob them of their use of that property and basically zone it into disuse.' A small public airport also sits beside the track. A scene from Raceway Park 20 years ago, when the track still held drag racing events. Krissy Krummenacker/Reading Eagle via Getty Images The two parties have been in negotiations since to reach a new agreement, which brings us to the present. At a meeting last month, the township planning board voted to 'begin the process of determining whether the raceway qualifies as an 'area in need of redevelopment,'' according to . New Jersey's Fair Share Housing Development Plan calls for 146,000 'affordable housing units' across the state over the next decade, whether through rehabilitation or new construction; Old Bridge is tapped to contribute 673 homes. It's worth noting that the township doesn't appear to be excited about the task of finding the room. Board members called the obligation 'unfair,' per , and one was quoted as saying, 'If it were up to me, I'd put up a 'closed for building' sign in this town. It's disgusting. If we don't comply, we get sued. So in the end, we really don't have a choice.' Perhaps even more frustrating, under New Jersey guidelines, only 15% to 25% of units within an 'inclusionary' residential development are typically designated as 'affordable,' according to MyCentral Jersey , while the rest may be sold at market rate. In 2023, Atco Dragway, another long-running drag racing venue in the state about 50 miles southwest of Englishtown, closed after a 63-year history. The Drive has reached out to Raceway Park for comment, and will update this story if we hear back. Got a tip? Send it our way at tips@
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Randy Couture's Latest Challenge Ends in a Serious Scare, According to Report
Randy Couture's Latest Challenge Ends in a Serious Scare, According to Report originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Randy Couture's competitive spirit led him into dangerous new territory. The former UFC champion, actor, and longtime face of combat sports recently set his sights on an entirely different arena — one defined by roaring engines and unforgiving asphalt. It was a bold pivot few saw coming, but one Couture approached with full intensity and trademark focus. Advertisement According to TMZ Sports, Couture was airlifted to a burn center after a high-speed crash during a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) practice session in Kansas City. The 62-year-old was conducting a test run on Tuesday when the vehicle he was driving crashed, resulting in first- and second-degree burns, smoke inhalation, and other trauma-related injuries. Randy CoutureGetty Images His sudden pivot from Octagon dominance to drag racing was the kind of curveball only Randy could throw — and people were genuinely curious to see how it would go. Before the crash, Couture had been candid about his mindset: 'This is a new way to tickle that competitive spirit that I've had most of my life... I have no idea how it's going to go, but I'm excited about the opportunities.' The truth is, this wasn't just a vanity project. Couture had been fully immersed in the sport — earning his licensing, logging hours behind the wheel, and studying the nuances of pro stock racing. For someone who built a Hall of Fame career on discipline and guts, the transition felt less like a publicity stunt and more like a late-career reinvention. Advertisement Fortunately, TMZ reports that despite the severity of the injuries, he's expected to recover. As fans and former training partners send their support, Couture remains hospitalized under close medical care. No official timetable has been given, but if history tells us anything — the man known for surviving wars in the cage won't stay down for long. Related: UFC Nashville: Three Fighters Who Could Be Cut with a Loss Related: UFC Signs Dangerous Heavyweight Submission Specialist in Latest Move This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
