"Howdeeeee folks. Welcome to the State Fair of Texas!" Visitors to Dallas' Fair Park have been greeted by the booming voice of a 52-foot-tall statue at the state fair for the last 60 years. But the Lone Star State icon leaves some giant boots to fill—today Big Tex met a tragic death in a purported electrical fire.…

From the time he was a child, Carroll Shelby was into cars. After a brief but understandable diversion into airplanes during World War II, Shelby eventually made his way back to his passion, racing and later building some of the world's fastest cars.

Hiromu Naruse, the chief test driver for Toyota who had a hand in every great sports car built by the Japanese giant since the 1960s, died in June while testing his masterpiece, the Lexus LF-A. Now Toyota is paying tribute.

Comic writer and infamous curmudgeon Harvey Pekar touched on a lot of subjects — mostly to complain about them. As we mourn his passing, we remember his gift of putting our displeasure into words. Here's Pekar on speed traps. [WKSU]

Raymond Parks, one of the founding members of NASCAR and the owner of its first championship team, died Sunday. He was the last surviving NASCAR founder, and he was once jailed for illegally transporting liquor. Say it with us: Sigh.

Senator Edward "Teddy" Kennedy (D-MA), the "Lion Of The Senate" and the only man to lose the Presidency because of an auto accident, passed away Tuesday night at his Massachusetts home. Jalopnik remembers the man and his legend below.