(at round 7 of the World Superbike Championship)

dan: im sitting next to the superbikeplanet guys in the [Miller Motorsports Park] media center!

dan: I’M SHARING A POWER STRIP WITH THE SUPERBIKEPLANET GUYS

dan: OMG WTF BBQ

5:36pm: some idiot in a bright yellow Toyota Corolla makes a sudden left turn into my lane doing 20mph, forcing me to brake hard to avoid a traffic collision.

6:22pm: stopped behind some idiot in a beige Oldsmobile Aurora in the left turn lane waiting for a break in traffic. light turns yellow, idiot creeps forward and then comes to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection. i start honking until he slowly decides to inch forward and complete the turn with me following close behind.

6:56pm: stuck behind some idiot in a black Chevrolet HHR while he goes 10mph under the speed limit straddling both lanes. i sound the horn until he finally gets out of the way.

7:08pm: some idiot in a semi cuts me off and then starts tapping his brakes. i die inside.

Sébastien Loeb’s five rally winning streak came to an end today. What a pity.

the theme of today’s MotoGP race at LeMans: anything is possible.

in light of the recent news of Pontiac’s impending doom, the star of this installment of interesting/rare/vintage cars is none other than the Pontiac LeMans.

while it may look rather harmless today, the LeMans spawned the very first Pontiac GTO in the ’60s which effectively started the entire muscle car movement in the United States. so, in a way, the pristine red Pontiac LeMans you see above is directly responsible for shaping the American car industry while simultaneously clogging the nation’s streets with obscenely loud cars that only go in straight lines.

it may shock some of you to hear this but i think the LeMans is a beautiful car. Pontiac’s iconic split grille looks graceful and uncomplicated, a far cry from the hideous flared nostrils that have disfigured its more recent models. the body lines are elegant, the badging is tastefully done, and the stacked headlight configuration is surprisingly classy.

so riddle me this: how could GM replace THAT with a Daewoo?!

here’s one of those oft-forgotten cars from the ’80s: the Subaru BRAT (Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter). produced from 1978 to 1993 solely for export to foreign markets, Subaru built the BRAT in an attempt to keep up with proper trucks like the Toyota Hilux and the Mazda B-Series.

as the name may suggest, the BRAT seems annoyingly small and amazingly useless. its forfeiture of rear seats for a small, exposed pickup bed in combination with low ground clearance and mediocre engine make it unsuitable for pretty much any situation i can think of.

but at least it looks good, right?