FYI, there is a website that reports the news on fleets, trucking, commercial vehicle news

Penske Truck Leasing Orders 100 Compressed Natural Gas Tractors
June 2013 New Car Sales Expected to Be Up Nearly Eight Percent  
Supreme Court sides with ethanol in renewable fuel debate 
FedEx Adds 1,900 New Lightweight, Fuel Efficient Vehicles to Fleet
Americans Favor Additional Funding for Transportation - Under Certain Conditions 
Class 8 Net Orders Rise 29% y/y in May Says ACT Research

FleetNewsDaily.com 

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Optima Battery Faceoff Challenge completed at Road America, winner Bret Voelkel with Factory Five '33 Ford, and 4 invitations announced for Optima Street Car Invitational in November the day after SEMA

above photo of the 2400 pound, 630 Hp '33 Ford made by Factory Five, owned by the Ride Tech owner, from my coverage of this springs race in Irvine, full gallery at http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-variety-of-cars-at-2013-run-to-cost.html

2400 pounds, 630 Hp

1933 Factory Five Ford (Above),
 1964 Chevy Corvette,
2013 Nissan GTR, (in the middle photo below)
1963 Pontiac Tempest (Shown Below)
 and 1981 Pontiac Trans Am
won entries to the 2013 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational

Full gallery at http://bangshift.com/gallery/optima-faceoff-at-road-america-2013.html?pid=150440 who covers cool races like this

Think about watching the kick ass cars live, it's possible, and you can bet the best race will be the Optima Street Car Invitational in November just outside Las Vegas on the Saturday after SEMA

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we know that some dogs chase motorcycles, and now a wolf has decided to join the hunt

a guy was giving his new bike a test ride, when a wolf came out of the forest and chased him
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/12/calgary-wolf-banff-motorcycle-ob.html via http://themotolady.com/page/2

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Bob Lutz has a new book coming out this week

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Rodders Journal is having a "buy one get one free" subscription deal until Fathers Day

http://www.roddersjournal.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=18&products_id=233&utm_source=TRJ+Newsletter+List&utm_campaign=ba74993684-Buy_One_Get_One_5_29_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_016fd74f35-ba74993684-85734653

seriously, this is the coolest hot rodding magazine I've ever come across, and I've been paying the regular price for years... this deal is for $49 dollars for 2 years... and it's a quarterly issue magazine. Comes in a sturdy cardboard envelope that the post office hasn't screwed up yet. 

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Honda is giving back to their car and SUV owners on Monday, a free tank of gas if you are north of San Diego but in Southern California. San Diego gets no love again!

Here are the cities :
 Van Nuys, Encino, Pasadena, North Hollywood, Whittier, Gardena, Lawndale,
 Torrance, Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, Hemet, Temecula, Moreno Valley, Riverside, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita, Pacoima, Downey, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Westminster, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Ontario, Upland, Fontana and Victorville.

·        How many gallons per vehicle?
 However many it takes to fill up a tank.

·        Are there any limits to this deal? Any Honda? How about a Honda
towing or carrying a Honda... Will both the car or truck and the atv/orv or
motorcycle get  gassed up?

 Any Honda vehicle (not Acura for clarification) being driven (not towed or
 carried). And while we would not turn away a Honda motorcycle the event is
really meant for Honda drivers.



this is a facebook and twitter promotion, so if you are into those websites, and drive a Honda, and live in So Cal but not San Diego, you might be in luck. 

There will only be one team per location, and I wasn't informed how many teams per city, probably only one, as they are going to 27 cities. But NOT San Diego. I don't drive a Honda, but I think it sucks that this is the 7th largest city in America and is avoided by events and concerts.

SCHDA will be providing live updates on their Twitter handle the day of the event. @helpfulhonda: https://twitter.com/HelpfulHonda . 

 get real time updates on where the Street Teams are giving away free gas, Facebook.com/SoCalHondaDealers
Twitter.com/HelpfulHonda

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FYI, a couple car guys have left this rat race, Dean Jeffries, and Dick Trickle

http://roadsister00.com/2013/05/former-nascar-driver-dick-trickle-found-dead.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/automobiles/dean-jeffries-car-customizer-and-painter-dies-at-80.html?_r=0

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the Gumball 3000 celebrates it's 15th year, starts May 18th,

just one of the teams, Team Galag, is going all out with a version of the Batman Tumbler  http://metro.co.uk/2013/05/09/team-galag-unveil-street-legal-batman-tumbler-for-gumball-3000-rally-3747193/



Tony Hawk is on for his 5th Gumball, David Hasselhoff, Xhibit,  and others celebs are in the run http://www.gumball3000.com/rally/entry_grid  through Copenhagen - Stockholm - Helsinki - St. Petersburg - Tallinn - Riga - Warsaw - Vienna - Monte Carlo

 May 18th – 24th 2013,
3000 miles, 100 cars, 13 countries, 6 days

Saturday May 18th:
 The official VIP launch event will take place at the spectacular Copenhagen Opera House. The evening will be hosted by Gumball founder Maximillion Cooper and The Cuban Brothers, with an exclusive live performance from Grammy award winning rapper Eve.

 Gumball will be unveiling two spectacular new cars to the world media, and prestigious auctioneers Christie’s will be hosting the first of seven charity auctions to launch the Gumball Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to benefit underprivileged youths with education and infrastructure.

Sunday 19th May: The start outside Copenhagen Town Hall (Denmark), as all 100 cars set off on their 3000 mile road trip to Monte Carlo. Over the following 6-days the route includes overnight stops, parties, music concerts, car displays and checkpoints in Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), St.Petersburg (Russia), Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Warsaw (Poland) and Vienna (Austria) before crossing the finish line in Casino Square from 21:00 on the evening of Friday 24th May in Monte Carlo (Monaco).

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Webby Awards, Car Sites and Car Culture

Congrats to Driven.UrbanDaddy.com  http://driven.urbandaddy.com/  for winning!

I posted about that site in Dec 2011: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-found-single-exquisite-photo-per-post.html and agree they are most deserving of a webby. Great content variety and photography

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Terrific article that delves into tax cheats in Italy getting busted.... the simple way. Police pull over expensive cars, and check the owners tax records. Sort of like the IRS looking to see if you can afford the Ferrari you drive

Ferrari’s home market is in a shambles even as the company records ­massive growth in the U.S., China, and India. Italy accounted for only 248 of the black stallion’s sales in 2012, half the number sold there the year before. Maserati’s sales have fallen 80 percent since 2009, but it’s not just Fiat brands that are hurting. Lamborghini president Stephan Winkelmann can count Italy’s monthly sales on one hand. The cause for the collapse goes far beyond the European economic meltdown. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo slammed the government in Rome: “Once again, the exception is Italy, where we have witnessed a drop partly due to the economic crisis, but also to a hostile environment for ­luxury goods which have long been, and continue to be, an important resource for the country.”

So what hostile environment could discourage thin-soled Italians from buying their own supercars? Pressed for cash and tired of losing an estimated $150 billion a year to tax evaders, Italy’s government started digging around. Last winter, police raided a posh ski town and struck gold. High-end cars were pulled over and their drivers were asked to sit tight while the home office checked tax records. One in six—42 vehicles total—were being driven by someone who had reported a meager annual income insufficient for supercar ownership. It was a PR win for a government under fire for cutting social services it says the country can’t afford. Emboldened, tax cops set up checkpoints in wealthier cities and even dropped in on a Ferrari owners club get-together. The tactics netted dozens of scofflaws, including an F40 driver owing more than $10 million in delinquent taxes.

Even for the drivers of such ostentatious cars, the attention was unwelcome. Tax cheats or not, owners dumped their supercars in droves, venting to news outlets that they were being harassed by police. Come this spring, the situation should settle down. The government is initiating an automated check of tax records for anyone ­making large purchases. While the checkpoints targeted people who already owned their cars, the automated system should keep the small, financial-enforcement police unit busy enough that it won’t need to staff checkpoints anymore. While legit owners won’t have to worry about being harassed, less-scrupulous Italians are now reported to be buying cars outside of Italy, in cash, and registering them abroad to stay below the radar. Ferraris will return to the autostrada, albeit in smaller numbers.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/checkpoint-carlo-how-tax-cops-killed-italys-supercar-market/

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