The Weekly Driver Podcast

USA Today has 10 Best lists, including several in the automotive field. The Weekly Driver and the site's podcast was contacted by the newspaper to give my opinion in four categories — car show, NASCAR track, motorsports, favorite experience — for a contest.

I hadn't thought about the topics much, but it’s one of several areas, Bruce Aldrich and I discuss during episode No. 90 of The Weekly Driver Podcast.

Bruce Aldrich and James Raia host another episode of The Weekly Driver Podcast.

My choices in the various areas included: The Los Angeles Auto Show, Monterey Auto Week and Pacific Coast Dream Machines among auto shows as well as watching MotoGP and reviewing two Bentleys. Bruce had similar answers but also cited Daytona Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

While I was on assignment, Bruce hosts the show from our base in Sacramento. I contribute from Pebble Beach, California, during a break from reporting on the recent U.S. Open golf tournament.

Additionally, Bruce and I discuss the recently announced innovation from Rivian, the pending all-electric sport utility vehicle and pickup. Its latest innovation is vehicle-to-vehicle recharging and auxiliary battery packs. Both ideas are among the manufacturer's marketing initiatives while the much-touted vehicles are still pending.

And Bruce and I also discuss a few other trends in the automotive industry.

The Weekly Driver podcast encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

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Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

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The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

If you want to transport the Endeavor Space Shuttle or a similarly large object, there's a good chance Commercial Truck Trader will be involved.

The Virginia-based company rents vehicles of all shapes and sizes, particularly when the task involves moving something on the road that requires special needs.

Moving The Endeavor Space Shuttle was challenge met by Commercial Truck and Equipment Trader.

Amanda Ayala, vice president Commercial Truck & Equipment Trader, is our guest in Episode 88 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia interview Ayala and examine what's involved moving the famous shuttle.

It's only 12 miles from the Los Angles International Airport to the California Science Center. But as Ayala explained, the move required the uses of six freeway lanes. The moving crew was also required to trim trees as the move progressed.

Ayala, whose father owned a trucking company, provides insight into how Commercial Truck Trader makes recommendations to companies for their moving needs.

In addition to the Endeavor, Commercial Truck Trader has been involved in transporting projects from moving 340-ton boulders to wind turbine blades and a power station transformer to a custom-built trailer with 192 wheels.

Ayala fills us in on all of the details of the company's massive projects in a wide-ranging episode.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the podcast are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

For every cyclist competing in a professional bike race, there's seemingly a corresponding vehicle. But it's not an exact parallel. In fact, in top-level races, there are several times more team, organization, media and sponsor vehicles, equipment trucks, fans' motorhomes and police cars and motorcycles than competitors.

Like the cyclists, race vehicles get down time at hotels, but otherwise, they're all almost always on the move, climbing mountains, negotiating narrow roads and descending at top speeds.

The USA Cycling National Team has a new relationship with Volvo during the 2019 Amgen Tour of California. Its team cars during the 14th annual event are 2019 Volvo V60s. All images © James Raia/2019.

Volvo saw an opportunity at this year's event and provided three V60 AWD T6 Inscription trim wagons for the seven-rider team. Team managers Michael Sayers and Michael Creed are driving the cars during every stage.

Scott Schnitzspahn, USA Cycling's vice president of Elite Athletics, has often piloted the third vehicle. Several European manufacturers, including Fiat, Citroën, Peugeot and Renault, have also had partnerships with the Tour de France and other international cycling events.

All of the vehicles' drivers enthusiastically praised the Volvo V60s as ideal vehicles in bike racing caravans but simultaneously as luxury wagons.

Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and I discuss the Volvo and my vehicle during the 14th annual event, a 2019 Volkswagen GLI, in Episode #87 of The Weekly Driver Podcast.

I've driven from start to finish during the race's editions, this year from Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe and then on a North to South route toward the finish in Pasadena on May 18.

I've driven about 900 miles so far in the Jetta GLI, and it has performed admirably as a four-door sedan with a sports car persona. For example, it's rated at 32 mph on the freeway. I've averaged 35.6 mpg.

Bruce, who hosts the episode from Sacramento, and I also talk about the history of vehicles in the Tour de France. I'm reporting from during a morning break before continuing to the end of stage 4 in Morro Bay, California.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the podcast are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

 Stitcher 

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

Historian Donald Farr likely doesn't have many equals when the topic has anything to do with the Ford Mustang. But he doesn't see it that way, and he's too humble. He cites others as all-knowing experts when the topic is the famous sports car.

Farr, a Mustang owner, journalist and author, is our guest on Episode #85 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia discuss with Farr his new book "BOSS Mustang: 50 Years."

Donald Farr has written a new book about the iconic edition of the BOSS Mustang on its 50rh anniversary.

The book includes the complete history of the most iconic pony car ever made. It details racing and street histories of the 302 and 429 models. Photography and interviews feature BOSS Mustang designers, engineers and racers and provide a comprehensive study of the powerful machine.

Farr also discusses his family history with car brand and his enduring passion for the legendary car and how it influenced the launch of several now also iconic sports cars. He also details the Mustang's successes and failures in Trans-Am racing. He writes the firsthand accounts from the people who created the original Boss, as well as the team that resurrected Ford’s most iconic Mustang.

Mustang owners as passionate as car enthusiasts. Farr, a Mustang owner since 1970 and the current editor of Mustang Monthly exemplifies the consummate enthusiast. It's clearly evident in our interview with the author, and it should be. Farr has been writing about the famous vehicle for more than 30 years.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All podcast episode are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

The  finale of Season 3 of ToyMakerz, the increasingly popular automotive reality television program  hosted by David Ankin, will be broadcast on April 28. It will feature a guest appearance by Dean Cain, the actor who portrayed Superman/Clark Kent on the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Ankin is a repeat guest on The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia, talk in Episode #84 with Ankin about his three years on the show and his plans for future seasons. We also discuss his friendship with Cain, the veteran movie actor.

David Ankin (center) and his colleagues from the automotive reality show, ToyMakerz.

The final episode's challenge is building a "completely out-of-the-box, over-the-top" exhibition car based on a 1941 Willys Coupe. The customized vehicle is described as being able to "make tracks like no other car."

Cain arrives for a visit as do the show's top 3, "Show Us Your Ride" finalists.

ToyMakerz is broadcast on the HISTORY Channel and FYI, in partnership with A+E Networks.

The last episode of the show's third season will lead into the rerun season, with the series featuring Ankin's wild creations repeated often. The episodes are also available via social media.

Ankin's boundless energy is a highlight of the series, and he spoke with the same enthusiasm about the pending Season 4. He couldn't reveal many details, but he shared one of his upcoming creations will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen.

The Weekly Driver Podcast encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the podcast are archived on  www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Here's the link to our first interview with ToyMakerz from February.

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

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The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

Tony Bizjak, the long-time transportation writer for the Sacramento Bee, recently wrote an article and was the driver in the publication's online video about GIG. It's the new on-demand, one-way rental car service available in Sacramento and other select cities.

Bizjak is the first of our two guests on Episode #83 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Our second guest is Mike Blasky, the Media Relations Specialist of AAA for Northern California, Nevada and Utah. He's based in Walnut Creek, California.

GIG, the one-way car rental service, recently made its Sacramento debut.

GIG (Get In, Go) is working in conjunction with AAA on the project. GIG relies on the Toyota Prius hybrids in San Francisco Bay Area, but the Sacramento region is using all-electric Chevrolet Bolts. An estimated 260 Bolts will be positioned around Sacramento's main neighborhoods and central district of the city by the end of April

Bizjak shares his experience using the GIG app to find the closest vehicle and then takes it for a drive. He also explains the different options of rental time frames and their corresponding payments.

Sacramento is the first city selected by Electrify America for its investment in electric vehicle usage.

Blasky explains AAA's involvement in GIG, details of the program, how the public has reacted to the project.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the podcast are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher 

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

Libby Edelman spent years raising a family, living in several locations around the United States and working as a fashion editor for national magazines. She also spent a lot of time thinking about women who love their cars, a curiosity prompted by a headline in The National Enquirer.

While waiting in line at a grocery store one day, Edelman read in the supermarket tabloid about a woman who loved her car so much, she was buried with it.

Lovin' My Car: Women in the Driver's Seat is written by Libby Edelman.

The result, while less bizarre but equally dramatic, is the new book Lovin' My Car: Women in the Driver's Seat.

Edelman is our guest this week on Episode #81 of The Weekly Driver Podcast.

Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia discuss with the author the stories and images of women who love driving and love their cars. The book features a range of car styles, fancy to quirky, as well as mundane models uniquely customized.

The women featured in the book all have compelling stories. It's a diverse community, all united through their passion for their cars. The owners of the vehicles are as elegant and quirky as their vehicles.

Edelman spent nearly 20 years writing the book, although she had extended writing breaks. The finished product, as the book's notations describe, are "Snapshots celebrating the proud female owner and her motor vehicle paired with an anecdote about the vehicle’s history."

While possessing different ages, personalities and life experiences, the women in the book are connected. Edelman believes their cars provide something they may not have known they were missing.

In some instances, Edelman explained, the women who bought a great car purchased it because their husbands had a great car. They experienced the enjoyment their spouse had for a vehicle and now were similarly pleased.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

(Lovin' My Car: Women in the Driver's Seat, Libby Edelman; powerHouse Cultural Entertainment, Incorporated; ISBN: 978-1-57687-917-7; 128 pages, $24.95).

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected] episodes of the podcast are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

The book is available on Amazon.com here: Lovin' My Car: Women in the Driver's Seat

There's never a dull moment in the automotive industry — recalls to new technology, debuting vehicles to car shows. In many ways, the world revolves around transportation.

 Co-hosts Bruch Aldrich and James Raia discuss several issues on Episode #80 of The Weekly Driver Podcast.

The Tu Simple autonomous truck was displayed the GTU conference in San Jose, Calif. Image © James Raia/2019

As a weekly automotive columnist for Bay Area News Group (the San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek), I periodically receive letters from readers. Last week, two letters referenced my recent review of the 2019 Toyota Camry. Another reader emailed asking advice about her ailing more than 20-year-old Ford Escort. Bruce has the perfect answers.

We also discuss several other topics:

* The latest maneuverings of Elon Musk, the always controversial founder of Tesla;

* The new automotive season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. (It will conclude in September with the return of IndyCar racing;

* A recap of our recent visit to the GTU Technology Conference in San Jose, California.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the podcast are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

The huge truck cab couldn't have been any more conspicuous. It dominated the back of the main showroom at the recent GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California, and attracted plenty of attention.

The all-electric prototype from TuSimple is aimed at providing cheaper, more-efficient long-hauling trucking. TuSimple, with offices in China and the United States, is among numerous startups working to automate parts of the long-haul trucking and parcel delivery industries.

The Chinese electric car XPENG was part of the recent GPU Technology Conference in San Jose.

As part of the technology, semi-trucks would be allowed to operate beyond the 11-hour daily restriction for human drivers.

Bruce Aldrich and James Raia, co-hosts of The Weekly Driver Podcast, interview with Xiaodi Hou, the chief technology officer of TuSimple, as our second guest on our latest episode. With another company representative, we conduct the interview inside the cavernous TuSimple cab.

We discuss the future of the autonomous truck industry and the company’s experiences testing its technology.

During the episode, all recorded at the conference held at the San Jose Convention Center, will also speak with Robert Liu of XPENG Motors and first guest Cameron Gieda from AutonomouStuff.

Liu is the director of program management for the Chinese electric vehicle and technology company based in Beijing but with an office in San Jose.

Gieda, the regional sales manager of the AutonomouStuff, discusses the San Jose-based company’s position as a supplier R&D platforms, products, software and engineering services for the advancement of robotics and autonomy systems.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the podcast are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/twd-podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.

The automotive industry manufactures two cars a second. Never have so many had access to motorized transportation. In the next 15 years — the time it will take to build the next billion cars — the automobile expectations and the experience they provide will transform completely.

It's the focus of a new podcast series called The Next Billion Cars, hosted by futurist Mark Pesce. He’s our guest on this episode of The Weekly Driver Podcast.

Futurist Mark Pesce hosts the podcast The New Billion Cars

Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia discuss with Pesce, reached in Australia via Skype, the premise of the 10-part podcast, which debuted in February. It's produced with innovator Sally Domingue, a Wheels Car of the Year judge, and auto industry insider Drew Smith.

An American now living in Australia, Pesce is a futurist, inventor, writer, entrepreneur, educator and podcaster. Pesce co-invented VRML, a 3D interface for the internet, in 1994.

The podcast surveys the landscape of electrification, autonomy, mobility — and an automotive future that looks nearly nothing like the past.

Dominguez is a multi-award-winning product designer and architect of the Adventurous Thinking innovation strategy which she has implemented at organizations including NASA, Stanford and Breville.

Drew is visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, advising automotive design Masters and Ph.D. students. He founded the Automobility Group, a global community exploring the future of urbanism, design and software.

The Weekly Driver encourages and appreciates feedback from our listeners. Please forward episode links to family, friends and colleagues. And you are welcome to repost links from the podcast to your social media accounts.

Support our podcast by shopping on Amazon.com.

Please send comments and suggestions for new episodes to James Raia via email: [email protected].

All episodes of the podcast are archived on www.theweeklydriver.com/podcast

Every episode is also available on your preferred podcast platform:

Google Play

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

The Weekly Driver Podcast is presented by www.americanmuscle.com.