The race is about to start and unless I can find another dust- and dirt-free area to live-blog from with an outlet, y'all may not be hearing from me for a little while. But I did get out next to the dirt track a few minutes ago, and there's not much more to say other than...damn, those are fifty-five pretty pictures of some pretty drivin' on dirt. Enjoy, and check out the rest of our A bill introduced in the Ohio state legislature yesterday by Democratic Rep. Michael DeBose and Republican Sen. Kevin Coughlin would require bright green license plates on the vehicles of all convicted habitual and child-related sex offenders, to make it easier for vigilantes concerned citizens to string up identify such individuals. Nuh uh, says the ACLU. Any suggestions as to what logo might be used on these special plates? – Murilee Martin

We're gearing up here in Detroit for a pretty big winter storm. According to our boy in second city, Matt Hardigree (more on him later), they've already gotten "a lot [of snow], and it's blowing around." The Matt-man and I are both counting our blessings that it's only snow and not record-breaking cold. If it had been, at least one of us could have ended up like this poor sap in Columbus, Ohio who saw his purple Honda frozen to the street due to a double-tap of trouble -- a parking next to a water main break and sub-zero temperatures. Although really, he's getting it lucky -- 'round these parts if a man's parking a purple Honda in the wrong place, it won't get covered -- it'll get filled -- with water. Nothing like water, ice and pressure damage all at once. Check out the gallery below -- we're going to go batten down the hatches or something. – Ray Wert

The union representing Ohio's state troopers has taken to pounding tables and calling out, "Thus, for the Albigensians!" Or, er, they're calling for fire-suppression systems on all of their patrol Crown Victorias, after a cruiser collided with a civilian vehicle and the roller's gas tank ruptured, leading to a fire that killed two officers and the driver of the truck they ran into. While the state has purchased two Vics with fire-suppression systems for evaluation purposes, the rest of the nigh-on thousand cars the law-enforcement agency uses daily go without active anti-flamb protection. A spokeswoman from Ford maintains that the vehicles are safe and that given the circumstances of the accident, the outcome wasn't unreasonable. The union, understandably, thinks otherwise. – Davey G. Johnson

Only in Ohio, the ass-end of the United States, would a car dealership decide it'd be a good idea to run an advertising campaign declaring "a jihad on the automotive market" and that "burqa"-wearing sales representatives would be selling vehicles that can "comfortably seat 12 jihadists in the back." That's right,
Toyota has a (sorta) new ad campaign we just saw while watching the Sunday morning talk shows touting Toyota and it