VIDEO: Tragic Irony - Vintage James Dean driving safety video

Most know how James Dean died; driving his Porsche 550 Spyder on Highway 466 in California. Dean even received a ticket earlier in the day, prompting many to assume that he was driving recklessly when the accident occurred. Later examination of the crash showed that the Hollywood icon was likely driving around 55 mph at the time of the crash; which was the legal limit at the time.

While Dean was shooting the film Giant (released posthumously in 1956), the Hollywood superstar shot a quick public service video for the program Warner Bros. Parents. The short was about the dangers of speeding on the highway, and Dean insisted that speeding was for the race track and not for public roads. Chillingly, he ends the interview saying "Take it easy drivin'... the life you might save might be mine." As Dean died soon after filming the short segment, it reportedly never aired.

:: Watch the Video PSA

REPORT: Thieves make off with $2 million worth of oil and gas in Texas

How many barrels of oil do you think you could steal in a month, y'know, if you were into that sort of thing? Ten people in West Texas have been arrested recently for stealing about $2 million worth of oil and gas condensate, and a local sheriff said that the thieves were able to steal 8,000 barrels of oil during a single month. That's good for a lot of trips to the grocery store.

Actually, the thieves were not stealing the fuel to use themselves. Instead, the men stole the barrels and then sold them the "oil and gas to buyers who didn't know of the theft," according to The Associated Press. What, did they say the barrels just happened to fall off the back of a truck? We'll probably learn more soon, as the men were arrested following a seven-month investigation. There's got to be some good information in upcoming court filings, right?

New pics of production Spyker Aileron hit the interwebs

2010 Spyker C8 Aileron

Boutique Dutch car maker Spyker unveiled its elongated and streamlined C8 Aileron back in March in Geneva, and we saw American debut in New York a month later. Those were show car versions of the upcoming production model based on car we had seen in Geneva Beach the year before. We've seen the imposing coupes from every possible angle, inside and out. They are finely crafted, uniquely engineered, rolling works of art, like a plutocrat's timepiece on wheels. What we haven't seen is a production-spec Aileron in red.

Click to read more ...

STUDY: Majority of highway fatalities caused by deficient road conditions

What would you think to be the leading contributor to fatalities in car crashes here in the States? Failure to use seat belts? Speeding? Drunk driving? Think again. According to a new study commissioned by Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), the leading cause of highway fatalities is deficient road conditions.

In fact, the study asserts, with a roadway-related crash occurring every minute on American streets, inadequate roadway infrastructure is responsible for the majority of highway fatalities in the United States and over a third of injuries incurred in non-fatal crashes as well.

Click to read more ...

eBay Find of the Day: 1989 Mustang Dominator, straight off the cover of Road & Track

1989 JBA Dominator GTA MustangThe Fox body was hardly a high point in the history of the Ford Mustang. But every kingdom must have a king, and in the late-'80s and early-'90s this was it: the JBA Dominator GTA.

Commissioned from J Bittle American by Ford in 1989, the Dominator took the pony car to new heights, installing what was likely the first independent rear suspension on a Mustang along with a long list of features that differentiated this custom muscle car from stock. The Lightning 351 engine features the iron heads from the GT40 and the intake manifold from a Cobra.

A custom exhaust and aircraft-derived fuel system kept it breathing, while 17-inch rims obscured race-spec disc brakes at all corners.

Click to read more ...

Breaking: Chevrolet Camaro outsells Ford Mustang in June

Despite having fewer model variations on the market, pent up demand for the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro appears to have been enough to send the bad Bowtie past Ford's redone Mustang in June.

Sales figures for the month are beginning to trickle in today, and General Motors says it shifted 9,320 Camaro units last month, as compared to the Blue Oval's 7,632 Mustangs.

Click to read more ...

Bloody Rare: One-of-a-kind Pagani Zonda PS

Pagani Zonda PS

You can't always get what you want. That's the reality of life, especially when you're talking about the ultra-exclusive Pagani Zonda. One buyer in England, reported to go by the name Peter Saywell, apparently wanted to get his hands on the limited-edition Zonda Cinque, but after all five sold out, he commissioned the factory in Modena to create the special one-off you see here.

Click to read more ...

Update: Indy chief Tony George reportedly resigns

It's the end of an era for open-wheel racing in America as Indy chief Tony George has stepped down from his post. The long-time president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, George was widely seen as the impetus for the 1996 split in Indy racing that created the Indy Racing League (IRL) and the rival Champ Car series (formerly known as CART), but he was also instrumental in fostering the merger of the two championships into the new IndyCar Series over which he's presided.

Click to read more ...