NASCAR's Dickies 500 shows you how to properly deliver a pace car

by Alex Nunez

The official pace car for last weekend's Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race was none other than the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS. This, in itself, is no biggie. What's interesting is how the car was delivered to the Texas Motor Speedway prior to the race. If you watched sports over the weekend, you know that salutes to America's veterans were part of just about every event that took place (Veterans Day is tomorrow, remember).

As part of that theme, NASCAR had the Camaro delivered to the track in a CH-47 Chinook helicopter. In the video posted after the jump, you'll see the big heavy-lift chopper touch down, drop its ramp, have the Chevy drive on out, and take back off. At the wheel of the Camaro was NASA astronaut Doug Hurley, who is also a TMS season-ticket holder, a United States Marine Corps colonel, and was the pilot of the shuttle Endeavour on this year's STS-127 mission. Pretty. Freaking. Cool. In fact, short of the Camaro and Chinook subsequently turning into robots and fighting each other on the TMS infield, it doesn't get much cooler. Follow the jump to watch.

2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor 6.2 packs 411 HP

by Sam Abuelsamid

When Ford first revealed the new F-150 SVT Raptor a year ago, the initial powerplant was the same 5.4-liter V8 found in more pedestrian F-series trucks. At the launch, however, Ford officials promised that an all-new 6.2-liter V8 would become available right about ... now!. Well a month from now. The order books for the Raptor 6.2 officially open on December 1. Ford has already taken 3,000 orders for the 5.4-liter Raptor and 700 have gone to customers.

Last year, Ford told us the 6.2 would crank out at least 400 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of twist. Now that the engine has been certified and the final numbers are in, the targets have been exceeded. The 6.2-liter for the Raptor has been officially rated at 411 hp at 5,500 rpm and 434 pound-feet at 4,500 rpm.

According to F-150 Marketing Manager Mark Grueber, the Raptor 6.2 will get to 60 mph 1.5 seconds faster than the 5.4 while matching its fuel economy (as though anyone buying a Raptor will car about MPGs). That should put the 6.2 somewhere in the upper six- to low seven-range for a 0-60 mph run (Mike Levine at PickupTrucks.com clocked a Raptor at 8.8 seconds with a brake torque). But take heed, with more power comes a higher MSRP: the new engine will cost $3,000 more than the carryover 5.4, starting at $41,995 delivered.