Benny Kirk
1,646 ARTICLES
Hyundai Were the Kings of New York at This Year's NY Auto Show, Here's What Happens Next
19 Apr 2024, 05:24 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Well, the 2024 New York International Auto Show's been in the books for almost two weeks now. Though critics claim the show hits nowhere near as well as it used to, it's hard to argue that some manufacturers at the show looked far be...
Polaris Revamps RANGER Lineup for 2025, Touts RANGER CREW XP 1000 Texas Edition
16 Apr 2024, 16:09 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / We're no stranger to Polaris' RANGER line of utility side-by-sides around here. From our test drive of the all-electric RANGER XP Kinetic about 18 months ago and the RANGER XD 1500 last year, we have it on good authority that the RANGER i...
Meet the Chicago Cutlass, Chi-Town's Rustiest, Rattiest Beater Turned Local Legend
14 Apr 2024, 18:50 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Imagine driving your 2023 Honda Civic through one of the nicer neighborhoods on the North Side of Chicago. You know, one of the ones near Wriggly Field where there's more craft beer restaurants per capita than people inhabiting them. You might...
BF Goodrich Let Me Ride Shotgun in a Trophy Truck at the 2024 Mint 400, It Blew My Mind
8 Apr 2024, 02:41 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The 2024 Mint 400 was by far and away the most exciting event we've covered live this year so far. There's something about a race that lets just about any vehicle blitz through the desert with a bare minimum of rules that speaks to me on ...
Ridden: Rundeer's Attack 10 E-Bike is Inspired by the A-10 Warthog, Let's Test It
6 Apr 2024, 16:05 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / If you're so inclined, you can absolutely bankrupt yourself by buying e-bikes. The level of accessibility and vast selection can be overwhelming for some people. That's why it's our job to sift through the e-bikes you should be inter...
Rolls-Royce Flexes Spectre at the 2024 New York Auto Show, Most Expensive EV in the Joint
3 Apr 2024, 03:29 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The 2024 New York Auto Show was a bit light this year in the "wow" department. At a show which, at least at a glance, looks awfully familiar to the one from the year before, and even the year before that in some cases (we're looking ...
Lamborghini's New Revuelto Hypercar Soaks in the Scenery in New York, Looks Menacing
3 Apr 2024, 02:21 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / If you've heard anything about the New York Auto Show over the last few years, it's probably along the lines of the show not hitting anywhere near like it used to. Blame a global health crisis, or blame a unionized event space with rules ...
Spotlight USA: We Were Invited to Michelin’s First Sustainability Summit at Sonoma Raceway
1 Apr 2024, 17:45 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Sustainability is nothing more than a buzzword these days. At least, that's what you're inclined to think if you look at enough press releases in industries our website specializes in. So what's the world's largest tire manufact...
I Rode Shotgun in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N at the 2024 New York Auto Show, It Was Glorious
31 Mar 2024, 17:20 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / You'll hear a lot of talk about narratives going into the 2024 New York International Auto Show. Narratives about the classic auto show's place in a post-global-health-crisis ecosystem, narratives about auto shows that do get run not quit...
Genesis Debuts Neolun and Magma Concepts in NY With X Gran Berlinetta in Attendance
26 Mar 2024, 07:43 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / We bet you laughed when Hyundai Motor Company announced they were launching a luxury brand to take the fight to Lexus, BMW, Audi, and Cadillac. "The South Koreans making a luxury car? It's gotta be grabage," so many smug automotive s...
Bombshell: Boeing CEO To Resign in Disgrace After 737 MAX Debacle
25 Mar 2024, 19:10 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Indeed, it was a minor miracle that nobody aboard the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX whose door blew off mid-flight was seriously maimed or even killed. But after a troubled service history that saw two horrific and wholly preventable zero-survivor accide...
Great Britain Reverses Course on Nuclear Energy, Preps to Boost Investments
25 Mar 2024, 18:42 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / As per a report first broken by Reuters, it appears that Great Britain, a nation that once turned its back on nuclear energy in the 2000s, is preparing to dramatically and radically reverse course on its plan for the national energy grid. In a pres...
Bill Rader's Pimped Out G-Wagon Was the Most Luxurious 4x4 at the Mint 400
25 Mar 2024, 17:36 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The Mint 400 is a race largely defined by stripped-out, shizzle-jawed racing trucks with fewer creature comforts than a Nevada jail and enough horsepower to rip a hole through the Earth's crust. But that doesn't mean there isn't room...
Forget a 12-Volt Mini Jeep, Kids Could Ride this HPE Muskin Dune Cat 50 Years Ago
24 Mar 2024, 16:09 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Does anyone else remember that TikTok dad who took his daughter's miniature toy Jeep and resprayed it to look like a real Wrangler Rubicon? Well, these days, that dad gets Father of the Year. But half a century ago, kids could've ridden a...
VQ30-Swapped '79 Chevy Nova's Ready for a Tokyo Drift Sequel
23 Mar 2024, 16:58 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / After the early 1970s, the once much beloved Chevy Nova looked worse for wear. That was the case for just about any American car made after roughly 1973 or so; such is what happens when oil-producing nations of the world get their britches in a bun...
Larry Hofer Rejects Modernity, Swaps 8.1-liter Vortec Big Block Into a C8 Corvette
22 Mar 2024, 21:55 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Who in their right mind would take a perfectly good C8 Chevy Corvette, unceremoniously rip its LT2 V8 from under its rear hatch, and replace it with something so archaic it can rightfully be called a dinosaur? As it turns out, when San Diego's...
Interview: Matt Martelli Doesn't Need to Make the Mint 400 Great Again, He Already Has
22 Mar 2024, 07:34 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / If you've seen our recent profile on the history of the Mint 400, you'll know its rise to counterculture superstardom in the late 60s and subsequent gradual decline in the late 90s is a story that could've only been told in Las Vegas...
Modded Tesla Cybertruck on BFG Tires Catches the Action in the Mint 400's VIP Tent
21 Mar 2024, 02:35 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The Mint 400 is like the Superbowl of North American truck racing. That's all the more impressive because the race was once dormant for almost 20 years. But suffice to say, the re-incarnated race under Matt and Josh Martelli's ownership h...
Buckstop Truckware's Single Rear-Wheel Converted F-450 Stole the Show at the Mint 400
19 Mar 2024, 05:16 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / When we tell you the front entrance to the 2024 Mint 400 race was like a little SEMA show, we're not just being hyperbolic. The number of sponsored aftermarket rigs on display and the small spattering of OEM off-roaders made it clear that the ...
Michelin’s New Pilot Aviation Tires Are Like Sport Cups Under Wings
18 Mar 2024, 22:41 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / You might forget that Michelin, makers of automotive tires and polarizing restaurant guides (yes, they're a part of the same company), is no stranger to the aviation side of things. For crying out loud, Michelin used to manufacture tires for t...