here’s a school in Michigan called Northwood University that offers classes in various areas of the automotive industry. It has an Automotive & Mobility MBA program, an auto marketing and management program, and an aftermarket management program. As of Fall 2025, the school will also have a Motorsports Essentials workshop series. Next year, it’s adding a course called Fundamentals of Motorsports (management, not driving).

I hadn’t heard of Northwood until this press release about the school’s programming came across my desk this week. But there are something like 6,000 colleges in America, and my high school guidance counselors never really discussed any institutions outside New England when I was looking into higher ed myself.

For those of you course-shopping now, if you’re into cars, this might be something worth putting on your radar. The auto biz and aftermarket management classes have been established, but the new motorsports programming starts this fall (just about a month from now, actually).

The school posted that “students will complete a combination of Northwood courses and experiential learning opportunities at motorsports industry events, in addition to the motorsports workshop series,” going through a Motorsports Essentials workshop program. And, you get a little badge on your degree, I guess. Next year, the school’s going to have its Fundamentals of Motorsports class for new and current students.

The first workshop will be held on October 18th, 2025, at the Northwood University Idea Center. “Hear from a mix of Northwood faculty and guest lecturers from the motorsports and sports management industries, including executives, media personalities, engineers, and team principals,” the school’s catalog states.

A Mr. Steve Madincea, Northwood alumnus that the school credits with “creating innovative commercial activities in Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar, and IMSA,” will lead the motorsports-focused programming, wrangle guest speakers, and so on.

“The motorsports workshop series and motorsports fundamentals course will be taught by a mix of Northwood faculty and guest lecturers from the motorsports and sports management industries, including executives, media personalities, engineers, and team principals. Its experiential learning model ensures graduates will leave with comprehensive academic knowledge and highly valued real-world experience from high-profile global motorsports enterprises and events,” says Northwood’s release.

I can’t say if the value of this curriculum will equal the cost (Northwood approximates its cost of attendance at $49,600), but I dig the idea of being able to study the inner workings and business complexities of motorsports. All I’ve ever heard about the economics of car racing is that “if you want to make a small fortune in motorsport, start with a big one,” so, here’s hoping the people who go through these classes will be able to do a little better.

If you’re too young to remember the Y2K era, I can sum it up pretty succinctly: Weird. But why tell when I can show? Just look at the picture above. And let me be clear: The Plymouth Prowler was pretty out-there even for the year 2000, but viewing it through the lens of the 2025 automotive landscape just makes it seem even more unhinged.

Visually, it was a direct appeal to hot-rodders, coming as close as possible to outright ignoring modern safety standards in an effort to evoke the chopped-and-slammed look that was synonymous with classic iron. And it looked the part, mostly in that it looked nothing like the melted-soap-bar sedans sold alongside it. By comparison, the Prowler was sleek and sinister. Remember, we were still doing minivans in 2001; the notion of Ram as a standalone brand would have elicited laughter from contemporary journalists.

It weighed about the same as the Honda S2000—2,800 pounds—and made similar power, but did it not with a high-revving four-cylinder and snick-y, six-speed gearbox, but with a minivan-spec V6 and a four-speed automatic. Snoozeville. That’s where Michel’s Auto Design comes in. This Wisconsin-based shop is offering a modest turnkey package that transforms your stock V6 Prowler into a Hellcat-powered, stick-shift monster.

We’ve seen Hellcat-swapped Prowlers before, but so far, but we’ve yet to see a shop offer this as a standing build. The “Sinister” package includes a Mopar crate Hellcat motor (rated at the same 707 horsepower as the standard road engine), a Tremec T56 6-speed manual gearbox, a custom independent rear suspension, custom valved exhaust with integrated X-pipe, an upgraded cooling system, custom hood vents, and a front bumper delete.

As of 21 September 2021, CAPS had been activated 126 times, 107 of which saw successful parachute deployment. In those successful deployments, there were 220 survivors and one death.