Young Car Thief Acheives Dream After All

Earlier this week, we reported on a bizarre story in which a 5-year-old Utah boy stole his parents’ Dodge Journey to drive to California. His mission? To procure a Lamborghini for himself. As you already know, he was picked up by local authorities before making much headway, but he wound up getting closer to his dream than anyone imagined.

Adrian Zamarripa’s junior adventure earned quite a bit of media coverage, encouraging a nearby Lambo enthusiast to visit the family this week and give the child some quality time inside his black Huracan. The car’s owner, Jeremy Neves, said he was impressed with the child’s initiative and wanted to meet him.

Read more
Embracing His Inner Adult: Utah Child Steals Family Car to Drive to Lamborghini Dealership

A 5-year-old boy from Utah literally let his passion for cars run away with him over the weekend. After argument with his mother over the possibility of procuring him a Lamborghini, he decided to steal the family SUV to drive to California and buy one himself.

Unaware that the brand’s products typically go for six-figure sums (and that there is a much closer dealership in Las Vegas), the child was discovered driving sloppily on Utah’s I-15 by local law enforcement on Monday afternoon.

Utah State Patrol said he had about three dollars in his pocket.

Read more
Four Arrested in Tesla Theft: Dirty Crooks or the Ultimate EV Fans?

A quartet of suspected baddies were arrested on Friday after being caught with four vehicles believed to be stolen from a Tesla dealership in Salt Lake City. While an automotive theft ring isn’t anything special, the way in which this particular incident unfolded is beyond strange.

According to South Salt Lake police detective Gary Keller, the incident began around 1 a.m. when a Highway Patrol trooper conducting a traffic stop near the dealership noticed a sparkly new Tesla vehicle stop behind his squad car. Smelling something fishy, the patrol trooper assumed the driver wasn’t the owner of the car and called for local backup as he conducted another stop.

Keller said the man had a bag of keys on his person and told police he had come to return the vehicle to the dealership. “I don’t know if he had a guilt complex or whatever, but he claimed his name was Tesla and once [police] started talking to him, he didn’t want to talk to police; he wanted an attorney,” Keller explained.

Read more
2016 Jeep Wrangler Sport S Review - Moab Deja Vu

It can take you a long time to start truly missing someone. Three years ago, I was dating a lovely federal attorney who had ordered herself a six-speed Wrangler Unlimited Sahara as a sort of step-stool to get her to the more adventurous life she thought we’d end up living together. In March of 2013, after taking delivery of her Jeep, she left it in my custody, got on a plane, and joined one of her oldest friends on a sight-seeing trip to Utah. She’d asked me to go but I’d refused; I had a date with someone else planned for the same week and at the time I took a sort of cruel joy in crushing every dream she had about our future. “I’m busy. Go to Moab,” I told her, “and see the Delicate Arch.”

“Too far north,” she replied. “Anyway, I want to save it for a trip with you.” We never took that trip. The last time I saw her was when she came to visit me in the hospital eight months later, the day after my January 2014 crash. I was incandescent with pain and incoherent from painkillers. She did something to upset me. I told her to leave the room and never come back. In the years between now and then, I didn’t think about her much. Too many other people and things on my mind.

Read more
Judge Overturns Sale of Miller Motorsports Park

A Utah judge has blocked the sale of Miller Motorsports Park to a Chinese investment firm because county commissioners may have illegally lowered the price to below fair-market value, KSL reported Thursday.

In a filing, Judge Robert Atkins said Tooele county officials tasked with selling the shuttered racetrack ignored higher bids to sell the racetrack for $20 million to Geely-backed Mitime Investment and Development Group. According to the report, county tax officials estimated the value of the track at $28.1 million.

A competing bidder, Center Point Management, said it offered $22.5 million for the park. The Wyoming-based company filed a lawsuit to stop the sale because they said county officials ignored their bid based on unverified promises by the Chinese group.

Read more
Utah Mechanic Buys, Fixes Car for High School Custodian Walking to Work (Video)

I swear someone was cutting onions right next to me just now.

A Utah high school custodian, whose broken-down car left him commuting two hours each way to work, was surprised by a mechanic who purchased and fixed a car for him with money collected from crowd funding.

Sean Merrill, who owns Nobori Auto near Salt Lake City, along with his wife, picked up Robert Ford last month when he was walking home late one night. Ford told the couple about his hardship and his commute, and Merrill said he was compelled to help.

Read more
Study: Distracted Drivers Stay Distracted, Even After They've Sent Super Clever Text

Drivers may take nearly 30 seconds to regain their focus back on the road after using a car’s infotainment or hands-free smartphone systems, researchers announced Wednesday.

The two studies, which were conducted by the University of Utah ( Go Utes!) for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, concluded that even modern assist programs could dangerously distract drivers for up to 27 seconds after they’re done using them. Researchers noted that vehicles traveled more than 300 yards for 27 seconds at 25 mph.

Read more
Utah Man Says State Insurer (the State) Shortchanged Him

Matt Gephardt and KUTV in Salt Lake City have a good story about a Utah man who was hit by a state vehicle and its insurance company — which is the state itself — shortchanged him on his 1985 Mercedes-Benz SL Convertible.

The car was totaled, and the state offered to pay $8,000 for the car. Tyler Winger, who said he restored the car with his grandfather, said the car was worth $12,000 to $13,000. ( He’s not completely wrong.)

Winger said the state told him that they wouldn’t budge and that he couldn’t complain to the state’s insurance oversight board since that board doesn’t have oversight over the state’s self-insurance company.

Read more
Speed Week 2015 Canceled Due to Poor Salt Conditions

The Southern California Timing Association announced Tuesday that its annual Speed Week, held at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Salt Lake City, will be canceled this year. Officials said poor conditions meant they could only find 2.5 miles of usable salt, far less than the 7 miles needed for the race.

The decision came down one day earlier than expected, and a little more than a week after officials canceled an earlier event at the salt flats for the same reason.

Race officials said nearby salt mining operations have deteriorated salt conditions at the famed flats. Officials say future races could be canceled if the flats aren’t protected.

Read more
Bonneville Speed Week May Not Happen, Final Decision Pending

The final decision on Speed Week will come down July 22, organizers said this week. The Southern California Timing Association, who hosts the event in Utah at the Bonneville Salt Flats near Salt Lake City, said Thursday that they’re still planning on test runs on July 21, ahead of a final determination.

A smaller event was cancelled last week at the salt flats because of poor conditions, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The annual Speed Week event, which has more than 600 racers registered this year already, could become extinct in coming years.

Read more
Please Make a Business Case for Hand Grenade Gear Shifters, Jeep

The 2015 Easter Jeep Safari “Chief” is an homage to the full-size Cherokees of the 1970s.

Jeep has this whole concept car thing figured out.

Whereas most manufacturers use concept cars as a glimpse into the near future (or not, See “NSX, Acura”), Jeep makes weird-ass, proof of bad-ass concepts like this Chief, a 2012 “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” Wrangler turned surf-weirdo-baby blue-SUV that goes to show how much lead Jeep designer Mark Allen has nothing to do all day.

(Allen once told me his job with the Wrangler is done every year when nothing changes and that’s how it should be.)

Read more
County Officials Seek New Partner For Miller Motorsports Park

Earlier this month, Miller Motorsports Park said it would cease operations this October. Now, Tooele County, Utah officials intend to keep the track open.

Read more
Miller Motorsports Park Closing This Fall After 10 Years of Operation

If you’ve meant to make the trip to Utah to turn some laps around Miller Motorsports Park, you might want to do it this year. The jewel of a circuit located a short drive from Salt Lake City, built to the tune of $100 million, will close October 31st.

Read more
Coast to Coast 2014: Monument Valley, Arizona-Utah
Albert all set for his first Hollywood movie.* You can see all my USA Coast to Coast Reports here! *I think most of you will agree that a Coast to Coast trip wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory stop at the very photogenic Monument Valley. So after pausing in New Mexico at Albuquerque and Gallup, we now drive north on US 163 to reach the legendary set of so many Hollywood Western movies, located across the Arizona/Utah state line. The vehicle landscape analysis, official sales data, a special feature on the most popular rental cars in the country, an update on how my valiant Ram 1500 EcoDiesel (Albert) is behaving and a healthy amount of spectacular and oh-so American pictures are below.
Read more