Grow grass in your car? And no, we don’t mean THAT kind of grass, though I’m sure some intrepid drivers will see the entrepreneurial upswing of this product. With the idea of being green being en vogue these days and with all the Al Gore hype in the recent year, we were bound to see something like this come along. It's Grass on the Dash!

Remember those little vases they put in VW Beetles? Where you could put a little flower? This will appeal to those who wished they had the same little doodad, but didn’t want to pay for the VW. Grass on the Dash is basically a plant that goes with you, in your car. Nutty? Maybe. Cute? Sure. It might just be the next “pet rock” fad to crop up.

The first rains of winter have arrived to the Los Angeles area. While many of you might laugh at this announcement because you may have been living with seasonal rain and snow for several weeks already, this is actually a monumental day for So-Cal drivers.

And for me, especially; it is practically a spiritual experience.

For many years, I enjoyed an 45-minute commute from my home in the San Fernando Valley to my office in Hollywood. I didn't take the freeway. It was a lovely drive across Mulholland and through the Hollywood Hills with twisty windy roads that were perfect for evaluating a vehicle's performance, but also displayed lovely vistas that included the city skyline at night, and narrow tree-lined roads with none of the bumper-to-bumper traffic so iconic to the region.

In the summertime, I could hear birds singing, and sometimes saw such wildlife as deer and coyotes. But in the wintertime it was even better because, as much as I love to drive, I love to drive in the rain even more.

Some of you may think I'm crazy, but for me, driving in the rain is a meditative experience, an opportunity to become aware of my surroundings in a completely different way. Instead of being a hassle, the rain is an opportunity for me to slow down, and observe my world using all my senses.

A competition recently hosted by Nuance Communications, Inc. showed that voice commands reduce the risk of driver distractions caused by the use of mobile devices in cars. "The Amazing Race: Distracted Driving" competition took place at Conversations Mobile, a premier speech event for the mobile communications industry held in Boca Raton, Florida.

Contestants equipped with a traditional cell phone competed against a driver using Nuance speech solutions to conduct a number of mobile device-related tasks in a simulated driving environment. Speed was not the critical measurement in this race, but rather minimizing distraction and ensuring safety by allowing the driver to keep his hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. Drivers were tasked with finding a local business, sending a text message, and playing a specific MP3 music selection - several of the typical distractions plaguing drivers today. For each challenge, the speech-equipped driver quickly completed the task without a single crash, while the competitors using traditional cell phones crashed multiple times without ever completing the task.

To watch the Amazing Race at youtube, visit youtube.com.

This week's AskPatty.com blog carnival takes you around the world of women in motorsports.

German race car driver Edith Weiss finds herself in an unusual position. She is the lone lady competing in the Dubai International Rally.

“It’s disappointing that there are no other lady drivers and I wish more women would take up rallying. Being a woman doesn’t stop you from taking part in rallies. We can drive just as fast as the men.”

On December 1st and 2nd, 2007, race car driver Karen Salvaggio will compete at "25 Hours of Thunderhill"--the longest endurance race in North America--to benefit United Spinal Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans with spinal cord injuries or disorders. You can be watching the hot pits.

Go here to watch the live Streaming Video Webcam:

For information on supporting Karen Salvaggio and Racing 4 A Reason, or if you'd like to make a lap pledge to benefit United Spinal Association, please click here.

Leilani Munter is only the fourth woman in the Indy Pro Car leagues to ever run the series. She is a self proclaimed “vegetarian, tree hugging racecar driver chick.” Now, she is teaming up with the likes of environmentalists Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore in support of 11thHourAction.com. DiCaprio’s film “The 11th Hour” is in limited release across the country.


Need more hoodies and booty shorts to wear to the race track? Well, then – these chicks have you covered. Racer Chick Motorsports has a line of clothing that is stylish and fashionable, and will let the boys know that you know your way around the track and have a healthy sense of fashion.






Vanda Racing is pleased to announce that fellow race car driver, Cassie Gannis, will be joining the ZNN21 race team at selected events as they continue to educate Arizona teens in alcohol awareness and traffic safety. Cassie will be focusing on important issues to her such as being distracted while driving. Cassie is sixteen years-old and currently races as our competitor in the NASCAR Late Model class at Tucson Raceway Park.

Cassie was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and attends Desert Vista High School. She has eight years racing experience in race vehicles such as Quarter Midgets, Bandoleros, Legends, ASA Speed Trucks, and NASCAR Super Late Models. Cassie says: I believe driving is a privilege and we should all use common sense. Cars can be a 2-ton weapon and should be handled with respect!


The women of hot rodding. Well, it’s almost like auto racing’s version of a bikini issue – but with pit suits and really flat shoes. Still, Hot Rod Magazine profiles the 11 most influential women in motorsports. Included on their hot list are Erin Crocker, Ashley Force and Danica Patrick.








AskPatty.com is a 2007 proud sponsor of the NASCAR No. 112 AskPatty.com Chevrolet driven by the highest ranked professional female race car driver Deborah Renshaw. Check out Deborah’s website at www.deborahrenshaw.com.

by Linda Przygodski
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com

I spoke to Badia a 'Car Crazy Girl' from Saudi during my recent trip to the Dubai Motor Show, who interestingly went to school and lived in the US for 8 years. Badia is thirty-one, has a degree interior reconstruction and design and an international drivers license and LOVES to drive and can drive anywhere outside of her own country, at home she owns a Hummer and has a personal driver to get her around. She owns and publishes a popular car tuning magazine in her home country, a very unusual role for a Saudi woman where they are not allowed to drive cars at all and it's all about Badia's love of cars!

In the beginning getting advertisers was tough, but she is one tough car girl and at the three year mark she is near to tuning a profit at 50,000 subscribers.  This is a very unique role for a Saudi woman and spending time with her I can attest to the combination of her tremendous drive, energy, charisma and great sense of humor that managed to break though the barriers and succeed. Badia sporting a BIG beautiful Tiffany watch, mentioned she collects them and is addicted to designer watches; badges of courage and a testament to her success.

On certain Nissan passenger vehicles, the crankshaft position sensor can overheat causing a brief interruption in the signal output from the sensor.

This recall affects approximately 653,000 Altimas and Sentras from model year 2002, 2005, and 2006, equipped with a 2.5-liter engine.

If the interruption in the signal from the crankshaft position sensor is so brief that the electronic control module (ECM) logic does not have time to diagnose the condition, the engine may stop running without warning while the vehicle is driven at a low speed increasing the risk of a crash.

Dealers will reprogram the ECM free of charge. Certain model year 2006 Altimas which may have been previously remedied under recall campaign 06v223 (Nissan r0606) are not included in this recall since the reprogramming for 06v223 also included this reprogramming.

Forget petrol, LPG, hydrogen and fuel cells... EcoTec and BioTruck are driving a 1989 Ford Iveco Cargo truck with two 4WD Landcruiser aboard through the Sahara desert (6000km) on 1,500 litres of choccy-enhanced biodiesel. Why? To prove that we can become 'carbon negative' through alternative fuels and carbon offset programs and to also help African communities.

The truck will stop 200km from Timbuktu in Mali to let the Landcruisers out for a run and then they're leaving the Ford truck there to be used by the community. They expect to arrive in Timbuktu on the 16th of December.

All the equipment used has been salvaged from a scrap yard and will remain in Mali where it will be used by the locals.

EcoTec are also donating one of their small-scale biodiesel production units to the Mali Folkecenter to help promote sustainable management of natural resources for local economic growth. They hope that the local women will be able to "recycle their used cooking oil into eco-friendly fuel and supplement their income at the same time."

Written and posted with the permission of  Olivia Richardson Editor of  http://autochic.com.au

I had a great opportunity to meet with Joseph Viselli, Director Goodyear Brand, Consumer Tires North American Tire recently during the SEMA Show 2007 in Las Vegas. This is a very likeable, amiable man in a key position in the male dominated tire business who truly has vision when in comes to marketing to women. Joseph's vision for women tire buyers comes from his many years working in his relatively recent past life in the women's retail products world. He has only been with Goodyear about three years and brought this new vision to Goodyear to wake up and go after the majority consumer shopper -  women, in an otherwise outdated "marketing to men" brand. It was refreshing to meet such a like-minded man when it comes to marketing to women, in the automotive world!

He gave me a personal tour of the inspired marketing and advertising programs coming together to help Goodyear attract, educate, inform and help women make good tire buying decisions.

He shared with me about the Goodyear Tire Buying Guide, which is one cool tool created to help women chose the right tire for their vehicles, how to know when you need new tires and learn about tire care......yes, you do need to care for those tire treads, too!

Download Goodyear_tire_buying_guide.pdf

If more than 50% of all vehicles are purchased by women these same women will be buying replacement tires as well and an educated , savvy buyer will need to get information at some point to buy the right tires at the right price. Information found on the  Goodyear Tire Buying Made Easy Guide and the informative Goodyear website, is designed to help!