*A federal judge has vetoed an attempt by the Bureau of Land Management to reopen 49,000 acres of Imperial Sand Dunes for dune buggy and ATV use. The sections in question have been closed since 2000. The court said the BLM didn't comply with the Endangered Species Act and other laws protecting the desert tortoise and a plant, so the request was denied.
*DaimlerChrysler's latest, most genius (you can add your own air quotes, right?) marketing move has been to hold test drives at churches (so far it has been just Chrysler products). Drive a vehicle and get a ticket to a gospel concert, which is part of a music tour that's said to exist to help raise money for educating black people on early medical attention. We couldn't connect the dots either.
*Exxon Mobil earned $10.49 billion (that's a "b," as in bastards). Those bucks were the second highest ever recorded by a publicly traded company. Or, as the Connecticut attorney general's office says, "Big Oil is reaping billions in unwarranted profits while consumers struggle with sky-high gasoline, heating, and electric bills. Consumers should be outraged, and the federal government embarrassed by its own inaction." Which is French for oh, snap.
*The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says side airbags that protect noggins are reducing driver deaths in cars smacked near the driver side in an accident by about 37 percent.
*We're all for getting up in arms about what you believe in, but if you refer to chapter 17 of Jp's Guide to Protesting, it clearly discourages the wearing of helmets. Activists hitting the Paris Motor Show obviously had not purchased the pocket book (or the audio version featuring James Earl Jones), as members of the anti-4x4 group 4x4Network (www.4x4network.org) wore green helmets to make a point about new French 4x4s, fuel prices, and pollution. Adorkable!
Ever wanted to see your truck in a magazine? Now you've got a chance to see what you-and your fellow 'wheelers-are building for rocks, mud, sand and snow. Primedia's newest publication, Readers' Rigs, is the only 4x4 magazine devoted exclusively to you and your 4x4, be it a Chevy, Ford, Jeep, Toyota, or anything else that plays in the dirt. In each issue you'll find profiles of over 100 reader vehicles, with plenty of photos, in-depth specs, and comments from owners about which setups work, which ones don't, and their picks of favorite parts and accessories. Be sure to check out the premier issue when it hits your local newsstand on February 13, 2007.
Tech Editor Hazel is in the hospital, having been beaten within an inch of his life with a rolled-up November '06 issue of Jp. Why? Because in the story "Scrappy the Wonder Jeep" (page 68), he mistakenly wrote that Jack Schuler's Wrangler ran a Summit half-cab. In point of fact, the manufacturer of the fiberglass half-cab is GR8Tops. The company offers the cool little fiberglass hard half-cabs for Wrangler and Unlimited TJ vehicles as well as full hardtops for CJ-8 Scramblers. Contact: GR8Tops; 803/741-5543, www.gr8tops.com.
Hennessey Performance has created the SRT600, a Jeep that makes 620 hp at 5,200 rpm and 650 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm, thanks to a turbo-system upgrade. The masterminds say that it hits 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, 100 mph in 8.9. The package has dual 3-inch exhaust with 4-inch tips, forged pistons (9.5:1 compression ratio), ported-and-polished heads, and much more. For more info, go to www.hennesseyperformance.com.