Driver Side (left) Door Mirror 2009 Volkswagen Jetta, Power, Gray, Tiny Scuff on 2040-parts.com

Up in smoke: Smokey Yunick's garage burns

Legendary NASCAR mechanic Smokey Yunick closed the "Best Damn Garage In Town" long before he died in 2001. But the main concrete-block, tin-roofed building on Beach Street in Daytona Beach, Fla., remained a stop on the NASCAR history trail for visiting faithful until Monday night, when fire destroyed the building. The building housed Yunick's office and a medium-size garage and more recently served as office space for Carbon Press, the publishing company that Yunick's daughter, Trish, operates and which produces products that include Yunick's salty 1,100-page autobiography and biographies of other racing personalities.

Rock Legend Swaps Microphone For Classic Racing Mini

NOT content with belting out hard rock tunes, AC/DC front man Brian Johnson will son be charging around Croft racing circuit at the wheel of a classic Mini. The rock great is scheduled to compete at Croft’s Nostalgia Weekend (2-3 August), which the circuit is describing as an irresistible blend of fast cars, wheel-to-wheel racing, vintage music and dress. Johnson will take to the circuit in the Historic Touring Cars class behind the wheel of a 1964 Mini Cooper that he purchased late last year after driving it in his television series ‘Cars That Rock With Brian Johnson’.

Mitsubishi revamps U.S. strategy

Mitsubishi plans a different U.S. model lineup and a new production strategy for its assembly plant in Normal, Ill., as it shifts emphasis away from regionally focused vehicles to global small cars, hybrids and electrics. Shinichi Kurihara, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America, says the company will launch four new models in the United States within three years, as four slow-selling U.S.-built vehicles are phased out of production by 2014.