DETROIT – Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan has seen it all in motorsports, and he had to rely on every element of that hard-earned experience to navigate through a tumultuous 2009 season. In the midst of a global economic storm, Fehan steered Corvette Racing to the team’s sixth win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the successful mid-year introduction of the GT2 version of the Corvette C6.R in the American Le Mans Series.

Corvette Racing’s 10th anniversary season was a year of transition. The championship-winning GT1 Compuware Corvettes secured a seventh win in the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 21, and made their farewell appearance in the ALMS in Long Beach, Calif., on April 18. The curtain fell on the GT1 era on June 13-14 with a GT1 victory in Le Mans, France, as Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia stood on the top step of the podium. Seven weeks later, two new-generation Corvette C6.Rs made their competition debut in the GT2 class at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

GeigerCars from Germany released an upgrade program for the Cadillac CTS-V,
coinciding with the American performance saloon’s European launch. The four-door Cadillac
with the tapered bonnet is powered by a 6.2-liter eight-cylinder engine, developing 564 horsepower and a maximum torque of 747 Nm.

Under the massive power dome hood are hidden the large intercooler and the compressor. Thanks to several tweaks here and there, such as an increase in air charge pressure, GeigerCars managed to lift the power up to 619 horsepower and raised the maximum torque to 850 Nm, which means a top speed of over 330km/h thanks to a shortened fifth and sixth gear.

GMC Urban Utility Concept (mentioned previously as the GMC Granite) is the teaser, released by GM, prior to its debut at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show on Monday. The concept hints at a new segment GMC may venture into to compete with the likes of Kia’s Soul and Nissan’s Cube.

“We’ve designed a new breed of truck that’s as efficient as it is chic, innovative as it is functional,” says Frank Saucedo. “Our goal was to create the next generation of urban mobility, fusing a flexible, functional social space with an urban-box design that’s equally at home at the cabin or the club.”

General Motors released photos of the forthcoming Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, a supercharged version of the luxury coupe introduced a few weeks ago at the Los Angeles auto show.

The announcement may not be the greatest of timing. Oil rose to above $81 on Monday. And in India, Toyota and Honda unveiled subcompact concepts at the New Dehli auto expo. The release of a new gas-swilling muscle sedan will not warm the hearts of Americans.

Sprucing up a brand-new Dodge Challenger has become a little bit easier, thanks to a new factory-optional Performance Appearance Package from Chrysler. Broken into two separate options, the package can add a more exclusive look to both the interior and exterior of most 2010 Dodge Challenger SE or R/T models.

If there’s one automaker that’s gone nuts for gadgets, it’s Ford. The company that brought us the world’s best in-car infotainment system with Sync is now the first car company to offer iTunes song tagging.

The system makes it a snap to keep up with new music by allowing you to tag a song you hear on the radio and then download the song or album from the iTunes store. The feature will be available in 2010 models with the optional HD radio.

Ford’s packing its cars with gadgets. It recently announced it was adding Internet access to Sync, and its 911 assist system is going head-to-head with General Motors’ OnStar. It’s also working with students to bring cloud computing to Sync, and it made the Fiesta the focus of an aggressive social media marketing campaign.

By Stephanie R.

My husband’s father, Johnny Rayborn, Sr. told his children that if they bought anything other than a Ford Truck, they couldn’t park it in his yard. While it was said in “jest,” he meant every word of it; because in his farming days his farm trucks were Fords. Although he is no longer with us, his legacy and love for Ford Trucks lives on with his sons.

Thanksgiving 2009, several of his children traveled back to McComb, MS for a family visit and thus the making of this story.