Racing Southwest

This is your final notice, your cars warranty is about to expire!” Of course it’s not your final notice as you will most definitely be bombarded with an infinite amount of calls constantly besieging you to extend the warranty on your 87 Toyota Tercel. Their persistence warrants attention however, as more American’s start to entrust their car repairs to a third party. Working at an automotive repair shop has required my interaction with these aftermarket warranty companies and has shown them in their natural habitats across a variety of repairs. Is it worth paying someone else to look after your car? continue reading »

Being a car enthusiast is an inherently expensive hobby to begin with.  Taking your car to auto shops to get work done can increase the amount of money you spend by hundreds of dollars.  By working on your vehicle on your own and doing the things that are within your own mechanical ability, you can save that money you’d be giving to someone else to do the work and in turn have more money to spend on your project!

When it comes to doing your own work on your car it is nice to have the right tools.  Not everyone can afford a full set of Snap-On or Matco tools. Many professional technicians have over $20,000 invested in their toolbox and tools.  For the “shade tree mechanic” you can often cut a few corners and save quite a bit of money in the process while still having a good set of tools at your disposal.

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Bob Lutz has confirmed that the Pontiac G8 won’t be dying with the phasing out of Pontiac at the end of 2010.  Instead the G8 will be rebadged as the Chevrolet Caprice.

CEO Fritz Henderson has repeatedly denied that the G8 would survive as part of another brand, saying he’s “not a fan of rebadging.”

But Lutz, citing export agreements with Australia and the fact that the Holden Commodore is already sold in many countries as a Chevrolet, assured us GM would not let the car die.

The Chevrolet Caprice name hasn’t been used since 1996.

I have been in the automotive business for almost 10 years and an autophile (someone obsessed with cars) for as long as I can remember.  Having worked in a variety of jobs and with Domestic, Japanese and now a German manufacture, I have seen quite a range of philosophies when it comes to how to treat customers, what the priorities are, and of course profit. It is no surprise that with the dramatic downturn in the economy those dealerships that represent the “old way” of doing business are having the hardest time staying afloat.  To clarify what I mean by “old way”, these are the dealerships that thought it was better to get the sale at any cost and take the customer for everything.  The dealerships where there was no focus on having a repeat customer in three years because they bought a good car at the right price, not someone who was taken advantage of to show a big profit.  But it’s not just about how you’ve treated your customers in the past it’s about how in-touch with the market now. continue reading »

I often hear local teenagers complaining about the lack of activities available in Albuquerque. “There’s nothing to do.” I often find myself saying the same thing. But boredom beware, I have found a perfect use of a Saturday, and it’s not just for teenagers. Autocross is fun for the whole family. continue reading »

Dirt track racing has been a part of the Albuquerque area for well over 60 years. A great many people have participated in the sport, from drivers, to announcers, to sponsors, to interested spectators. Curtis Berry was just old enough as a child to remember watching his father race in the early 1970’s. The experience was brief, but the memories stuck with him for years to come until he was old enough to try his own hand at racing for a brief time in 1986.

After that, Curtis became a mere spectator, making the Saturday pilgrimage to Seven Flags Raceway — later renamed Duke City Raceway — and then later to the tracks that we have today, such as Sandia Motor Speedway and Hollywood Hills Speedway. Unable to race, Curtis wanted to do more than simply watch; he wanted to contribute something to help promote the sport and generate the kind of interest he held. So in the fall of 2007, he created a website called ABQRacing.com, which still runs today.

ABQRacing.com has been built into an informational site serving the racing community. Curtis has developed bio pages for any drivers whose pictures or information he has been able to gather through his own efforts and through fan/driver submissions. The site is also a reference point for racing news within Albuquerque , New Mexico , and abroad, as well as weekly racing schedules for venues across New Mexico.  Curtis has also created a “tracks” page, where viewers can find historical, contact, and map details on different facilities across the Land of Enchantment.

Please stop by ABQRacing.com and feel free to submit any information or feedback that will help further racing in our community.