From the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal:

(While the Edsel was not a huge success, it spawned some of the most successful cars to ever come out of the Ford Motor Company. Daniel Strohl at Hemmings takes a look back at what was. - TO)

Chris Economaki, the man frequently called the "dean of American motorsports journalism," has passed away at age 91. Economaki had been in racing journalism since he was 14, and was at the helm of National Speed Sport News for nearly 60 years.

At 6'6", William "Big Willie" Andrew Robinson III — a bowler hat perched atop his head, his voice booming — cut an imposing figure among the youth of South Central Los Angeles during the 1970s. That figure both belied and contributed to his mission, which was to end gang violence and racial unrest through drag racing.…

In 1965, with a shiny, gold streamliner they'd built in a shed — and four Hemi V8s — brothers Bill and Bob "Butch" Summers ended the longstanding British rule over the wheel-driven land-speed record. Bill Summers died last week at 75.

From his mother's basement to the shelves and showcases of millions, Robert Reder co-founded Monogram models in 1945 — choosing the larger 1/24th scale over the industry standard 1/25th. By the 1960s, Monogram had the box art to beat.

Lenny Woods, a black businessman whose name graced the groundbreaking Stone Woods & Cooke Swindler drag car racer in the 1960s, was found dead in his failed California Ford dealership Tuesday after an apparent suicide. He was 64 years old.

Jerry Flint, the official curmudgeon of the auto journalism world whose career dated to the Eisenhower administration, died Saturday. We fly our ascots at half-staff in his honor today.

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]