There’s a scene in the middle of the movie A Christmas Story (1983), when the Parker family gets a flat tire on the way home from Christmas shopping, circa 1940-something. “Time me” says Dad as he jumps from the car and grabs the spare. Seconds later, Nine-year-old Ralph Parker is stunned when his mom encourages him to go help his dad for the first time. Clearly this is a right of passage for Ralph. He’s not some little kid who has to sit in the car now.

If this is the first time you’ve heard that one of Formula 1 racer Michael Schumacher’s cars is for sale on Ebay, unfortunately you’re probably too late to cast a bid.We regret that things didn’t end differently. This could have been the first time you finished your Christmas shopping in November. The only piece left in the puzzle would have been one of those ridiculous giant bows and you could have rested easy for a month while everyone else was scurrying to the mall.

How much stuff does one person need?

While the big three auto-makers are busy reinventing themselves, many of their early assembly line offspring are proving that true classics never lose their place in the hearts and garages of true collectors, no matter how bad the economy gets.Experts are pointing to a ‘correction’ in the price of entry level muscle cars that were being bought up by nostalgia seeking middle class North Americans before the current recession.

Things will go wrong. It’s not a glass half full, glass half empty proposition. When it comes to racing, it’s simply part of the game. So, when Tony Morris Jr.

It’s summer, the season where even kicking back on the deck beside a smoking barbecue while catching up with a friend falls under the category of “big plans for today.”But there’s a disturbing trend threatening the future of our beloved Canadian summers.For the past nine years, online travel company Expedia has conducted a “Vacation Deprivation Survey” focussing on how hard working people worldwide are not taking their vacation time.

When the Vancouver Molson Indy ended its 14-year run, the city of Edmonton seized the opportunity to represent Western Canada and host a world class race event. This year’s Rexall Edmonton Indy (July 24-26) will also host  the Canadian Tire NASCAR series race, as well as Northern Alberta Sports Club Car (NASCC) and FIL races. Proformance Racing will be running 8-10 cars in next month’s NASCC event, two sponsored by Seattle Tool. The race averages approximately 50 cars.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Russell Baker is infamous for once forgoing the obligatory inspirational commencement speech he was invited to give to the graduating class of Connecticut College in favor of a more pessimistic view.  “'The best advice I can give anybody about going out into the world is this,” he said “Don't do it. I have been out there. It is a mess.”The warning, of course, was calculated to shock. Graduation speeches are the breeding grounds of hyperbole. A buffet of cliches.

Last month Italian car maker Maserati unveiled their lightest, yet slowest model in years. Lacking the type of horse power car enthusiasts have come to expect, the Milani built  bicycle certainly puts a unique twist on the turbulent automotive manufacturing industry and the year most companies in that sector would like to forget.The crossover potential for the bike to catch the eye of those revved up by elite cars is limited.

When you think of team building exercises, hitting the track in a high powered stock car doesn’t immediately spring to mind. But Roy Gangdal, general manager of Proformance Racing, insists that a day racing and learning high-speed driving skills can build cohesion in a corporate group in a way that other traditional corporate activities --  golf tournaments, for instance -- can’t.