One Lap of the Web: DTM memories, Hemi anniversary, and one ugly motorcycle

-- Hot Rod Magazine dives deep into the cylinder bores of the 426 Hemi, which celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Elana Scherr's chat with Don Garlits at a Waffle House in Ocala, Florida has to be the most inspired thing to ever happen at a Waffle House. Check it out here.

-- In the 1990s DTM racing was the series to watch, a time when Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz waged war from AVUS to the Nordschlife, the fertile training ground for people like Hans-Joachim Stuck and Jan Magnussen, the Corvette's not-so-secret weapon. Alfa Romeo would go on to hold the most DTM victories of all time; its 155 V6 TI carried them to 38 wins. This retrospective focuses on the 1993 season, the only year Alfa Romeo won the manufacturer's championship: of the seven years DTM awarded a manufacturer a crown at the end of a season, Mercedes won five, and Opel won the last one the same year DTM folded. Come reminisce with us and Racing In Slow Motion, the people who know exactly what buttons to push for maximum teary-eyed effect.

-- Durham, North Carolina has a bridge that some call "The Bridge of Death." Bridge of Death! That sounds awesome as hell. It's called the Bridge of Death because trucks drive into it and get decapitated, as documented by a website called 11 Foot 8. The underpass on Gregson Street is eleven feet and eight inches tall, and truckers forget this vital bit of information all the friggin' time. It's taken out 67 trucks since 2008, and almost all of its impacts have been captured on Youtube for The Atlantic Cities blog to gleefully broadcast. "The Rocky of bridges!" proclaims John Metcalfe. In that case, we wonder if any of these trucks were filled with meat.

-- Hooniverse recently found a motorcyclist who managed to out-Vetter Craig Vetter. We salute you, motorcycle eco-streamliner guy. Your quest for fuel economy is so noble and pure you don't care how ugly your bike is. Like Tanshanomi, we hope that windscreen aimed dangerously at your throat doesn't hit you. Rubber side down, amigo.

-- Sometimes, automotive journalists do some good in this world. Don Sherman at Car and Driver was testing a Ram Promaster at Chrysler's proving grounds when the accelerator stuck. He tested a few other Promasters for the same fault and found that yes, it was definitely a recurring problem that could easily be replicated. Conveniently enough, Chrysler engineers were on hand. He explained it to them, and then: "A couple of hours later during a call to our office, I was instructed to cease all driving and photography," Sherman wrote. "The next day the vehicle was picked up for return to Chrysler, and a replacement showed up at our office a couple of weeks later -- without any evidence of this stuck-throttle issue." 9,655 vans were recalled for new pedal stops shortly afterward.

By Blake Z. Rong