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Blackie Gejeian, who was a major part of the California hot rod, show car and drag racing scene from its very inception, died Sept. 2 at the age of 90. Gejeian grew up on his family’s farm outside of Fresno, Calif. and learned to drive fast by powersliding on the dirt roads between the farmland and orchards his family owned. He enlisted in the Navy during WWII and when the war was over and he sailed back home, like so many of his generation, he built a hot rod. It was a 1926 flathead Ford-powered racer and he took it to the dry lakes and the drags and everywhere in between. An accident at the lakes resulted in a ten-year rebuild that saw one of the first chromed undercarriages in hot rod history. While the chrome glistened below, the rest of the car was black. “Everything on it was nothin’ but black,” he once told us. And that’s when they started calling him Blackie. Gejeian was at the very first Grand National Roadster Show when it was held in Oakland in 1949, and has been to every single one of them since. He first showed the roadster and its magnificent undercarriage there in 1953. Every hour on the hour he and three friends each picked up a corner of the car and tipped it fully up on its side to show off the chrome beneath. As a result, it got the nickname Shish-Kebab. He kept working on the car and finally won the title America’s Most Beautiful Roadster, top honors at that show, in 1955. He spent the rest of his life deeply involved in the burgeoning hot rod and custom car scene throughout California. In 1958 he launched the Fresno Autorama, a show so exclusive that the only way you could get a car in it was if Blackie himself invited you. He ran Autorama for 51 years before health issues forced him to close it down. Gejeian had also been the promotor for race tracks in Clovis, Madera and Raisin City for many years in the 1960s and ‘70s. He was recently honored with a bust of his likeness at the Fresno County Historical Museum, and with a Lifetime Acheivement Award by Galpin Auto Sports. He was a prolific and tireless trumpeter of his friends, and would often speak at length, quite a length, of his love for them, as witnessed most recently when he spoke at this year’s Grand National Roadster Show in January, and then as the funeral of fellow icon and great friend George Barris. God speed, Blackie; keep the shiny side down.

If Japanese collector cars in the U.S. have a mascot, it is the venerable Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. The classic 40 Series trucks were one of the most po[CENSORED]r exports for the automaker worldwide; they enjoyed strong sales on our side of the Pacific as well, with Toyota shipping the 4x4 to the United States through the early 1980s. Even as these basic trucks were supplanted by powerful luxury SUVs, enthusiasts still carried a torch for the classic FJ—which is why, if you’ve thumbed through catalogs of major U.S. auctions in the last 10 years, you’ve noticed that they are obligated by federal law to offer a classic 40 Series Land Cruiser (legislation recently reinforced by the “No FJ40 Left Unrestored” mandate). Miami-based restoration specialist The FJ Co. is a part of the thriving cottage industry catering to the powerful nostalgia for these old Toyotas. It has been in business for just four short years, and as its name suggests, Land Cruisers are all it does. It isn’t the only company churning out minty FJ40s. ICON 4x4 in Los Angeles specializes in modified—wholly redesigned, even—40 Series trucks with modern gas and diesel engines, as well as updated creature comforts. In essence, the Land Cruiser Industrial Complex now provides those nostalgic for the 4x4s of yesteryear a greater variety of Land Cruisers than Toyota dealers had sitting in their lots.

Marlon Pack has put pen to paper on a new two-year contract with Bristol City, the club have confirmed. The new deal will see the 25-year-old - who signed for the club in August 2013 after a successful trial - stay on at Ashton Gate until 2018, with an option of a further year. Pack has scored four goals in 152 appearances for Bristol City and was a key member of the side that were crowned Sky Bet League One and Johnstone's Paint Trophy champions in the 2014-15 campaign. "Marlon has been really important for us and certainly since I've arrived, he's been getting better all the time," said Lee Johnson, who was appointed Bristol City head coach in February this year. Highlights of Bristol City v Aston Villa from the Sky Bet Championship "I obviously watched Bristol City from afar with him in the team, but now having worked with him first-hand, I know he's a top footballer with a great football brain. "We've worked very hard on keeping him central and, like a lot of this group, I'm sure he'll only get better. He's coming into his prime now and his new contract is great for us, and makes this window even better."

Urby Emanuelson joins Sheffield Wednesday after being released by Verona at the end of last season Sheffield Wednesday sign former AC Milan and Fulham utility man Urby Emanuelson on a permanent deal. Emanuelson, who is adept at playing multiple roles down the left side of the pitch or centrally, has joined the club ahead of Wednesday's Sky Bet Championship clash with Wigan on Saturday. The former Holland international signs as a free agent, after he was released by Serie A club Hellas Verona at the end of the 2015/16 season. Originally an academy player at Ajax, Emanuelson spent 17 years in total with the Eredivisie side where he made 117 professional appearances, before moving to AC Milan in 2011.

Rotherham have signed forward Dexter Blackstock on a three-year deal, subject to the approval of the Football Association and EFL. The former Southampton striker joins the Millers following his departure from fellow Sky Bet Championship outfit Nottingham Forest. Blackstock, 30, spent seven years at the City Ground, making over 150 appearances for the club, and becomes manager Alan Stubbs' 14th summer signing. Stubbs told the club's official website: "I am delighted to conclude the deal. "This is one that we were trying to conclude before the deadline, but due to negotiations that Dexter was having with his club at the time, there wasn't enough time to conclude the deal."

Speaking on the La Liga Weekly podcast, Spanish football expert Gibson reckons his side, which costs a grand total of 12.5m euros (£10.4m), would hold their own in the English top flight. Made up of loan players, free transfers and a few 'marquee' signings either to or from La Liga sides, Gibson told the podcast it shows just how much value there is in the Spanish league. "I'm not saying this team would win the Premier League, or even easily survive relegation, but I think they'd have a chance," Gibson said. "Is it the Premier League premium, or is it not being clever enough? Because Leicester and Middlesbrough have picked up players on free transfers. "I'm sure a Premier League team could have got someone like Jony Rodriguez too, and Martin Montoya would be a good steady full-back for a Premier League team. "It's that peer pressure from the supporters. They want the £20m player, the YouTube players. There is really good value there still, but it's the Premier League premium.

If the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance represents the pinnacle of wheeled beauty, the Concours d’LeMons is the axle spindle that drags across the cement when you lose a wheel, gouging into the concrete roadway until it digs in and sticks, flipping the car and igniting a giant fireball. Oh, the autonomy! If Figoni et Falaschi had been raised by wolves and the Bugatti brothers had hailed from a trailer park instead of pre-war Italian sophistication, they would all fit in just perfectly at the Concours d’LeMons. “We’re gonna keep doing it until they make us stop,” said Alain Galbraith, the 6-foot-7 entrepreneur responsible for this debacle every year for the past -- oh gawd, how long has it been? “We allow bad examples of good cars and good examples of bad cars,” Galbraith explained to a European journalist who had apparently gotten lost on the way to 17 Mile Drive. There were 105 cars entered this year, none of which you’d want to be seen driving. The 105 included: a two-stroke 1960 Vespa 400 (that’s a car, not a scooter), 1987 Fiero rebodied into a Ferrari 355, 1965 Wolseley Hornet, 1959 Tempo Matador Camper, and a 1978 Seab Flipper 1. Yes a Seab Flipper 1.

Reuters reports one of the many lawsuits General Motors faces over its faulty ignition switches likely will be thrown out of a Texas courtroom. The case involves plaintiff Zachary Stevens, who lost control of his 2007 Saturn Sky in 2011 before hitting another car and killing its driver. In a strange twist, the case may be dismissed because the key in the vehicle at the time of the accident didn't actually belong to a Saturn Sky. The allegedly non-Saturn key also had various trinkets hanging off of it, which are now thought have been added to help convince jurors that the problem was a run-of-the-mill GM ignition switch failure caused by excessive weight. Stevens must have forgotten that he originally said he didn’t have much attached to his key at the time the accident occurred. GM challenged the plaintiffs for fabricating evidence and asked the judge to dismiss the case. A dismissal will likely only mean that Stevens won’t get to cash a big check; manslaughter charges were dropped after GM announced the recall in 2014. According to Reuters, so far GM has already paid out around $2 billion in settlements and penalties because of faulty ignition switches.

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Samsung has announced that it will recall all Galaxy Note 7 devices after multiple reports of battery explosions while the device was charging. This news comes after the company had reportedly delayed shipments to investigate the issue — obviously the Korean manufacturer found reason to be concerned about the product. Lithium-ion battery chemistry is tricky stuff. Companies are extremely secretive about their chemistries and manufacturing components, looking for any method of gaining an advantage over their competitors. Samsung is recalling nearly all the devices, apparently, because it hasn’t been able to isolate the flaw to a single product or manufacturing flaw in a particular battery manufacturer’s process. While the number of affected devices is reportedly small, at just 24 per 100,000, thermal runaway in lithium-ion devices can ignite fires or leave third-degree burns on humans if the device is in a pocket when it ignites.

In terms of specs, the XPS 8900 is rocking a sixth generation quad-core 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-6700 processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM (2133MHz), a discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 745 graphics card (with 4GB of memory), a 1TB 7200RPM hard drive, a DVD drive, Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi support. A wired keyboard and mouse are included at no extra cost, so you’ll just need an HDTV or PC monitor to get going. This model uses both HDMI and DisplayPort, so it’ll work with many modern displays right out of the box. But if you need support for other connectors, you’ll be able to find adaptors on Amazon for only ten or fifteen bucks. Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) comes installed on this machine by default, so you’ll benefit from the Cortana personal assistant, local Xbox One game streaming, the new Edge browser, and countless apps in the Windows Store. And thanks to the recent anniversary update, the overall experience of Windows 10 is even smoother. The built-in graphics card will work fine with some games, but you’ll definitely want to invest in a better card if you’re interested in playing recent releases. The CPU and RAM in this model are superb, so a new graphics card (with a beefier power supply to support it) is the next logical upgrade. Nvidia and AMD both have some superb mid-range cards on the market now, but regardless of what you end up with, the availability of DirectX 12 and game DVR in Windows 10 can substantially improve your gaming experience. If you want to expand more down the road, it’s dead simple with this model. Inside, it has three hard drive bays and four DIMM slots (with support for up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM). Even if you’d prefer not to open the case, the six USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports allow for plenty of additional storage. Whether you’re looking to set up a media server or a handful of virtual machines, this PC is flexible enough to handle nearly anything you throw at it. While this machine lists for $1249.99, Dell is currently selling it online for just $1099. And when you use coupon code “XPSDT779” during your checkout, you’ll only be paying $779 (plus any applicable taxes). And since the shipping is free, you’ll be saving even more when you order directly from Dell.

Last March, AMD unveiled a roadmap for its GPUs that predicted a one-two punch. Polaris would arrive in mid-2016, while Vega, the company’s big GPU follow-up, would slip in at the end of the year. This arrangement meant that AMD and Nvidia would effectively launch on different cycles, with Nvidia doing a typical top-down refresh, while AMD went with an unusual midrange cycle first. When AMD revealed these plans in March, it was actually a modified launch plan from what the company had told reviewers to expect. At its Sonoma event in December 2015, AMD implied it would launch a larger variant of Polaris first, followed by a brand-new architecture, Vega, later in the year. Those plans had changed by March, with Fat Polaris vanishing off the roadmap and Vega pulling in. Now, according to AMD’s own investor presentations, these plans have changed. Here’s the thing about product launch timing. When a company only gives a vague date like “H1” or “H2,” it almost always means the product will launch towards the rear of the relevant window. AMD repeatedly stated it would launch Polaris in H1 2016 and it debuted the card in late June — just before H1 turns into H2. Companies typically flip to half-years as opposed to quarterly targets when they don’t want to admit a new product is farther away than investors or consumers might like. “H1” sounds like “Q1” and offers hope for an earlier debut, while “Q2” forces the company to admit that a product won’t debut until at least April of the following year. I want to stress that these naming conventions are typical, not absolute. Maybe AMD is being conservative. Maybe they’re planning to debut the card earlier than expected and tweak Nvidia’s nose. But historically, when AMD says “H1,” they mean “May / June timeframe.” Other companies use the phrase similarly. If Vega has really been pushed back to May or June, it’s a serious blow to AMD’s graphics strategy. A six-month delay between Nvidia and AMD’s refresh cycles was acceptable, a year-long delay is not. Vega was supposed to be AMD’s chance to catch up to Nvidia by delivering a top-end GPU refresh that could match Pascal in terms of overall performance and power efficiency. By the time Vega actually sees the light of day, Nvidia will be well at work on their own follow-up. The only silver lining in all of this is that GPU sales are actually a comparatively small part of AMD’s profits and Polaris’ midrange position should still help them sell hardware at important mass-market price points.

Trnava: Sam Allardyce vowed to defer to captain Wayne Rooney over his positioning after starting life as England manager with a last-gasp 1-0 win over Slovakia in World Cup qualifying. Adam Lallana snatched a 95th-minute winner against 10-man Slovakia in Trnava on Sunday to prevent Allardyce from becoming the first England manager since Bobby Robson in 1982 not to win his first game. Rooney, making a record 116th appearance for an England outfield player, adopted a deep-lying midfield role for much of the game despite Allardyce having said he would play in a number 10 position.

State of New York: Lucas Pouille outlasted 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in a five-set classic on Sunday to lead a trio of French men into the quarter-finals of the US Open. Pouille, 22 and ranked 25th in the world, lived up to the promise of his quarter-final run at Wimbledon, emerging from a roller-coaster ride with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6) triumph over the Spanish superstar. The defeat leaves Nadal -- forced out of the French Open third round with a wrist injury that also saw him miss Wimbledon -- without at least one Grand Slam quarter-final appearance for the first time since he was a teenaged tour newcomer in 2004.

Skoda introduced the long-awaited Kodiaq SUV on Thursday. It's one of the most important vehicles for the future of the brand. The affordable seven-seater should do well in China's booming car market, as well as in Europe, where low-price three-row SUVs are rare. The Kodiaq rides on Volkswagen's modular MQB platform which underpins everything from the Audi TT to the Volkswagen Golf. An upcoming Volkswagen seven-seat SUV will also use the platform. In Europe, the Kodiaq will be powered by a variety of VW Group 1.4- and 2.0-liter gas and diesel four-cylinders with a six-speed manual, or six- or seven-speed DSG. Pricing hasn't been announced, but Autocar reports that the Kodiaq will start at £22,500 ($30,000 USD) in the UK. Since it offers Volkswagen quality at a lower price, Škoda is quite po[CENSORED]r in Europe, but it hasn't sold a car in the U.S. since the late 1950s. Recently, however, Škoda filed for trademark applications in the U.S. and its CEO has hinted that he'd like to sell cars here.

Relatively unscathed by the Volkswagen diesel scandal, the VW Group's profitable Audi brand is charging ahead with big plans for electric cars and autonomous-driving technology. Recently, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler told the Ingolstadt-based newspaper Donaukurier that his brand will launch three fully electric models by 2020. The first of the three is no surprise, as it will be the electric version of the Q6 crossover previewed by the e-tron Quattro concept pictured above. If you weren't a fan of the somewhat crude, chiseled look of the concept, don't fret: We hear that was just one proposal for the series-production version—and the one that was discarded. Whatever its final styling, the EV version of the Q6 (there will be hydrogen fuel-cell and hybrid versions, too) promises a range of more than 300 miles, and it will be powerful enough to take on competition like the upcoming BEV by Daimler and versions of the Tesla Model X. Moreover, the Q6 EV is said to provide its top performance consistently, and not be limited to just a few bursts of same. The crossover SUV will spawn the second EV, which will be a variation on the same theme with sportier bodywork. And the third model? The concept is still being defined, and it is likely to be an executive sedan. But it is unlikely to be slotted above the A8, as a company source told us that Audi doesn't "want to make an electric and price it out of the market." In other words: Don't hold your breath waiting for an A9.

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The 2017 Porsche Macan Turbo, with the new Performance package, will sprint to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds. Think about that for a minute. That's almost as fast as the original R8, and it’s faster than a 2015 Mustang GT. The 2017 Macan Turbo gets a “newly calibrated” twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V6 making 400 hp. Adding the Performance pack bumps that up to 440 hp and drops that sprint time by .2 second. Top speed is 169 mph with the package and torque goes up to 442 lb-ft from 406 lb-ft. The base Macan Turbo is $77,050, including $1,050 for destination. The Performance pack bumps that up to $87,495, but for that you get the ultimate in Porsche small SUV performance.

Jose Fonte has released a statement on social media to "make perfectly clear" he is committed to Southampton. £10 Completely Free The Saints captain was linked with a move away from St Mary's Stadium this summer after an impressive Euro 2016 performance with Portugal in which he starred at centre-back alongside Real Madrid defender Pepe. Manchester United were one of the clubs reported to be interested in the 32-year-old after his international showings, with Fonte also represented by Jorge Mendes, the same agent as United boss Jose Mourinho. Southampton manager Claude Puel grew frustrated with the timing of reports surrounding Fonte's future, which coincided with their first Premier League game of the season against United, and after Wednesday saw the close of the summer transfer window Fonte posted a statement on social media reiterating his commitment to the south coast club. Fonte's statement read: "Once in the national team only national team interviews/talks are allowed hence my 'let's leave that for another time' when asked about questions regarding my own club situation.

Marouane Chamakh is looking to stay in the Premier League West Brom gave starts to trialists Marouane Chamakh and Momo Sissoko in their friendly against Delhi Dynamos on Saturday. Recent signing Allan Nyom and Nacer Chadli were also included by Baggies boss Tony Pulis, whose summer transfer business might not yet be over despite the window closing on Wednesday. Former Arsenal striker Chamakh has been looking for a club since his release from Crystal Palace at the end of last season, and he had been linked with a move to Sky Bet Championship club Norwich City. Chamakh, 32, had spent the last three seasons at Selhurst Park but managed only seven goals in 59 Premier League appearances. He lasted only 26 minutes at The Hawthorns before suffering an injury in a nasty challenge and having to be replaced by teenager James Smith, who scored the only goal in their 1-0 victory. Former Liverpool midfielder Sissoko is in a similar position to Chamakh, having left his previous club Shanghai Shenhua in February after making only 10 appearances. His last experience of the Premier League came in the 2007-8 season at Anfield, having left midway through that campaign to join Serie A club Juventus. Mali international Sissoko also played for Paris Saint-Germain, Fiorentina and Levante before making the move to China.

Antoine Griezmann admits his future at Atletico Madrid would only be brought into doubt if Diego Simeone left. Antoine Griezmann admits his future at Atletico Madrid would only be brought into question if Diego Simeone left. The Frenchman signed a new contract with the La Liga side in the summer, keeping him at the club until 2021. He was continually linked with a move away from Atletico in the Spanish and British press, but while on international duty with France, the 25-year-old says he is happy in Spain under the current circumstances. Atletico Madrid manager Simeone (left) signed a new deal with the club last March "The only doubt would be if Simeone leaves for PSG or wherever," Griezmann told French TV programme Telefoot. "I called him before extending my contract and he confirmed to me that he was staying. I can learn a lot from him. "PSG are not my goal at the moment. I'm happy in Spain. I'm always proud to be po[CENSORED]r with the fans. I try to smile and do my best. If they like it, it's even better." Simeone signed a new contract at Atletico last March until 2020, but his future has also been continually questioned. Griezmann scored 32 goals for Atletico last season, and was top scorer at Euro 2016.

Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne said that Ferrari will build one more LaFerrari to be auctioned off. The proceeds of the 500th and final LaFerrari will go to helping victims of the Aug. 24, 2016, earthquake in central Italy. The 6.2-magnitude quake has already taken more than 200 lives and did so much property damage that Italian building standards are being questioned. While it isn’t clear yet when or where the special Ferrari will be auctioned, it is likely going to bring a high price because of the circumstances surrounding the build. Ferrari only planned on building 499 coupes, with a few more LaFerrari Spiders to round out production. This will be number 500 and sold for charity, which means it'll probably go for a lot higher than the LaFerrari's MSRP of about $1.4 million. We can imagine the whole world of supercar collectors checking in on this sale, with hopes of nabbing one of the fastest road-going Ferraris ever produced. That’s good considering it’s all going to an important cause, relief in its home country.

Manufacturers love to throw around the word “sport.” They attach it to trim names, package names and special-edition names, but it usually doesn’t mean much. Ford—a company on a roll right now as far as building sporty cars: GT, GT350, RS—just added the word to its midsize Fusion sedan, and God bless ’em, it’s actually sporty. Stick with us here, but when you add 85 hp and 110 lb-ft of torque, albeit with a bigger, turbocharged engine, it’s going to make the car sportier. The only available powertrain in the 2017 Fusion Sport is a 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 making 325 hp and 380 lb-ft of torque matched with a new six-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. You may be familiar with that EcoBoost, it’s been known to pull around an F-150 or two. The Fusion Sport comes in at a porky 3,982 pounds, that’s 377 pounds heavier than the Honda Accord, its main rival along with the Toyota Camry. Both of those sedans also offer overpowered V6s, making this a sweet time to get into midsize sedan ownership. Some of the extra heft comes from the new-for-2017 tech including pre-collision warning, pedestrian detection, park assist ($995), auto emergency braking, adaptive cruise control with stop and go ($1,195), Sync 3 and Android Auto/Apple Carplay. That’s in addition to the returning stuff like lane-departure and blind-spot warnings, lane keeping and the rear-view camera. Ford says that a company’s midsize sedan “is the number one influencer of brand opinion.” This is obviously false, as Autoweek is the number one influencer of brand opinion. The Sport gets bigger wheels than the rest of the lineup, 19s as opposed to 17s, a dark grille, a sharper front clip and twin dual exhaust. Dark rims with Goodyear Eagle F1 tires are standard, summer Continentals are optional, as is a sunroof. It certainly looks the sport part and it has the numbers to back it up. Could we possibly have an American version of an German autobahn burner?

Apple has been busy snapping up dozens of AI startups, and its Siri product is one of the most-widely-used AI applications on the planet, but recent AI headlines have focused on more glamorous efforts — especially from competitors Google and Facebook. Both Google and Facebook have released major AI technologies into open source, and Google’s DeepMind famously tackled the challenge of Go, by beating one of the world’s best players. So Apple took the very unusual step of spending an entire day bragging about its AI efforts to journalist Steven Levy, who published a very-thorough account on Backchannel. The article reads more like an inventory than a coherent strategy document. There are long lists of AI technologies, AI-infused Apple products, acquired startups, and key hires. So it is a little hard to connect all the dots and discern exactly which technologies are in use in which products, but one clear take away is that the neural network renaissance has had the same disruptive effect on Siri — when it moved to neural nets in 2014 — and other Apple efforts as it has for Google’s speech recognition, Facebook’s facial recognition, and plenty of other fields. Apple says Siri’s accuracy more than doubled when it made the switch, which is fairly consistent with the progress Google has made for its “OK Google” voice recognition through adoption of similar technologies — a couple years earlier.