Past Gas

Latest Episodes:

S1 Ep311: The Gas-Station Kid Who Outsmarted Dodge and Became the Mopar King Nov 03, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/47IpOdG] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

This week, when Dodge said a 383 big-block wouldn’t fit in a Dart, a Chicago car guy proved them wrong — and forced Detroit to copy him. From selling 50 Dodges in a snowstorm to building the first dealer-tuned muscle cars, Mr. Norm turned a local dealership into the birthplace of Mopar performance culture — and changed how Americans bought speed.

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S1 Ep310: The Crash That Changed Drag Racing Forever Oct 27, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to Hankook for sponsoring today's video! Click here [https://bit.ly/4ewUjVf] to learn more about Dynapro tires!

Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/4mcrYFS] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

This week, before it was America’s fastest sport, drag racing was pure anarchy — street duels, homebuilt death traps, and war vets chasing speed wherever they could find it. Wally Parks stepped in to bring order to the chaos, founding the NHRA to make racing safer and more legit. From outlaw origins to organized empire, this is the story of how the NHRA was born, and the crash that changed drag racing forever.

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S1 Ep309: The GM Madman Who Built the Stingray in Secret Oct 20, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/3GSyliQ] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/PASTGAS and get on your way to being your best self.

Meet Bill Mitchell, the hard-drinking, womanizing, design genius who shaped General Motors’ golden age. From the Corvette Stingray to the Buick Riviera and Cadillac Eldorado, Mitchell’s fingerprints are on nearly every iconic GM car of the ’50s through ’70s. He defied bans, built secret studios, and literally climbed trees drunk at company parties. It’s the wild story of the man who made American cars beautiful — and himself impossible to ignore.

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S1 Ep308: The Race So Dangerous They Had to Ban It Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to Hankook for sponsoring today's video! Click here [https://bit.ly/3Tif5OF] to learn more about Dynapro tires!

Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/4jROVOr] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

This week, we’re headed to Sicily for the Targa Florio—a road race with 6,000 corners, zero guardrails, and drivers doing triple digits past goat farms. Launched in 1906 by one rich guy flexing his new car, it became a death-defying playground for Ferrari, Bugatti, Maserati, and Porsche—and the reason Porsche named the 911 Targa. This is the wild story of the race so insane, Italy finally said “enough.”

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S1 Ep307: Wally Parks: The Guy Who Took Drag Racing Off the Streets Oct 06, 2025

Show notes

Get After It! Enter for a Chance to Win a Custom Car Co-Built by Donut and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. All brought to you by NOS Energy. For more details visit: https://bit.ly/3Jb9w2L
Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/4kk8WwW] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.
Also thanks to Hankook for sponsoring today's video! Click here [https://bit.ly/44p5YAF] to learn more about Dynapro tires!

This week on Past Gas, we’re talking about the man who took drag racing from outlaw chaos to legit sport: Wally Parks. In the ’40s, hot rodders were crashing on city streets and scaring the hell out of cops and civilians. Parks had a crazy idea — make racing safer, organized, and bigger than ever. From Hot Rod Magazine to founding the NHRA, Parks didn’t just save drag racing — he gave it a future.

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S1 Ep306: Why Did Ford Keep Ruining the Thunderbird? Sep 29, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to NOS Energy for sponsoring this episode! Get After It! Enter for a Chance to Win a Custom Car Co-Built by Donut and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. All brought to you by NOS Energy. For more details visit: https://bit.ly/4fCkJFH

Also thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/3ZcAZWE] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

And thanks to Hankook for sponsoring today's video! Click here [https://bit.ly/4kl61U7] to learn more about Dynapro tires!

This week on Past Gas — the Ford Thunderbird. What started as Ford’s slick Corvette fighter slowly morphed into a bloated land yacht, a boxy malaise disaster, and finally a sad retro comeback. The Bird kept reinventing itself… and somehow kept getting worse. So how did Ford’s coolest car turn into its biggest identity crisis?

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S1 Ep305: Reeves Callaway: How Duct Tape Made a Corvette the Fastest Car in the World Sep 22, 2025

Show notes

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/PASTGAS and get on your way to being your best self.
Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/3GOytQd] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

This week on Past Gas, we’re looking at the life of Reeves Callaway — the fine arts major who got expelled for hot-rodding his Austin Healey and went on to build some of the fastest, strangest, and coolest cars GM ever sold. From Alfa Romeos to Aston Martins, from Range Rovers to Mazdas, and of course the Corvette Sledgehammer — it’s the story of Reeves Callaway, the man who proved a roll of tape could change automotive history.

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S1 Ep304: Oldsmobile Pt. II: Way Cooler Than You Remember Sep 15, 2025

Show notes

Get After It! Enter for a Chance to Win a Custom Car Co-Built by Donut and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. All brought to you by NOS Energy. For more details visit: https://bit.ly/4fEqemZ

Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/4jRgXth] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

This week on Past Gas, we’re wrapping up our two-part look at Oldsmobile — the brand that gave us the Rocket 88, the Toronado, and the 442. From the first true muscle car to the first rock ’n roll song, Olds helped shape American car culture like no other. After 107 years, the brand may be gone, but its influence is still everywhere.

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S1 Ep303: Oldsmobile Pt. I: Never Too Old To Innovate Sep 08, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/44zbmTz] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

Get After It! Enter for a Chance to Win a Custom Car Co-Built by Donut and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. All brought to you by NOS Energy. For more details visit: https://bit.ly/4lpX2l3

Thanks to Hankook for sponsoring today's video! Click here [https://bit.ly/4lzuExg] to learn more about Dynapro tires!

This week, the wild story of how Olds beat Ford to the punch, built America’s first mass-produced car, and turned a factory fire, some Dodge brothers, and even a hit song into automotive history. So why did Oldsmobile, once America’s best-selling brand, get erased from the story? And how did GM scoop it up for pennies on the dollar? It’s time to meet the forgotten godfather of the American automobile.

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S1 Ep302: John Fitch: The Greatest Driver You’ve Never Heard Of Sep 01, 2025

Show notes

Get After It! Enter for a Chance to Win a Custom Car Co-Built by Donut and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. All brought to you by NOS Energy. For more details visit: https://bit.ly/45AqGyd

Thanks to Allstate for sponsoring today’s episode! Click here [https://bit.ly/3Sypy82] to check Allstate first and see how much you could save on car insurance.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/PASTGAS and get on your way to being your best self.

This week on Past Gas, we uncover the life of John Fitch — a World War II fighter pilot who became one of the most important race car drivers in history… and you’ve probably never heard of him. He raced with legends, helped turn the Corvette into a true performance icon, and stood in the pits during the deadliest crash ever at Le Mans. That moment changed him forever — and his safety inventions have saved millions of lives on the road and track ever since.

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