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How Indy 500's JR Hildebrand made an emergency pitstop in Goodland, Kansas

INDIANAPOLIS, In. – Race driver JR Hildebrand is an Indianapolis 500 celebrity, but last week on his way to Indy he was just another repair job at AlexÂ’s Radiator and Auto Repair in Goodland, Kansas. Well, not just any repair job. Hildebrand, a true car guy whoÂ’s just as comfortable driving his bagged 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville as he is a 230-mile-per-hour Dallara IndyCar, decided to pull the grand old ride out of storage in Boulder, Colorado, and cruise 1,100 miles to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At 33, Hildebrand loves the classics, especially cruising in a ride nearly twice his age. It helps him separate from the pull of Twitter, Instagram and text messages before two weeks of foot-to-the-floor stress. Interstate 70 would be his perfect world. Except Â…           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by JR Hildebrand (@jrhildebrand) “It was highly eventful for the first 300 miles,” said Hildebrand, who is practicing this week for his 11th start in the 500 on May 30.  The Caddy, a 390-powered pink beauty he calls Rosie, “had been sitting for a year, but it fired right up” and cruised just fine early in the trip. But as it approached the Colorado-Kansas state line, the suspension's airbag controller started flickering, the windows were slow to roll up, the gas gauge didnÂ’t work and the engine started to stumble. “IÂ’m thinking maybe IÂ’m only getting seven miles per gallon and IÂ’m out of gas,” Hildebrand said. “So I peeled off, ran a light and got to a gas station. It only took 12 1/2 gallons and was dead. ItÂ’s pretty unlikely that the collector in the fuel tank was leaving six gallons in this thing. I took a jump, and once I got it fired up, I got it back on the road and it ran fine for another 40 or 50 miles, and then the same thing started to happen. I pulled in and got another jump." (His wife Kristin was following behind in their Subaru, along with their dog). He stopped in Goodland and bought a new battery, “figuring the battery was toast at that point, whether that was the problem or not,” he said. “They did their diagnostics thing at the parts store, and it wasnÂ’t totally clear what was wrong.” Assuming the problem was somewhere in the charging system, he headed toward a nearby NAPA only to find it was closed. Along the way, though, he noticed AlexÂ’s Radiator and Auto Repair.

Cadillac Escalade gets $10,000 discount to ward off Navigator

Cadillac is once again defending its full-size luxury Escalade SUV from assault by the hot-selling Lincoln Navigator, offering $10,000 discounts to some current customers to keep them from switching brands. The discount, reported by Bloomberg, applies to lessees of 2016 model-year Escalades, with a $7,500 discount offered to owners, through May 31. It's at least the second time GM has resorted to incentives to keep customers in its cash-cow luxury SUV since Ford launched the all-new 2018 Navigator late last year. In November, Cadillac offered a $5,000 discount on the purchase or lease of the Escalade to any buyer who traded in a 1999 or newer Lincoln model. Analysts have estimated that the Escalade produces nearly $1 billion in yearly profit for GM. Escalade sales were up 14 percent in March and 8 percent during the first quarter, with retail sales up by double-digit percentages in both periods, higher transaction prices and market share expected to climb by 2 percent year-to-date, according to GM. That's impressive for a vehicle that has received only minor updates since the current generation went on sale for 2015. While it still trails the Escalade in sales, the Navigator has been riding a 63 percent increase in deliveries this year, with new models lasting on dealer lots an average of only 10 days and average prices ballooning to $82,500, according to Bloomberg. Ford earlier this year announced it was pouring $25 million into its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to boost production of the Navigator and Ford Expedition. You can read Autoblog's side-by-side comparison of the 2018 Escalade and Navigator with competitors including the Lexus LX 570 and Infiniti QX80. Related Video: Image Credit: Cadillac Cadillac SUV Luxury sales incentives lincoln navigator sport utility vehicle discount

GM workers in Oshawa walk out in protest of plant closure

TORONTO/MONTREAL – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday expressed his "deep disappointment" in General Motors' decision to close its Oshawa plant, a move Canadian officials only learned about on Sunday and which led workers to walk off the job on Monday. GM said the closure affects a total of 2,973 assembly line jobs. GM's total employment in Canada is 8,150 direct jobs. Workers in the Unifor trade union walked out of the Oshawa plant "in protest," ahead of a meeting with GM about the announcement, a union spokeswoman said. "I've moved my family twice for this company and they do this to me," a tearful worker told CBC TV as he left the plant. Currently, the Oshawa plant builds the Cadillac XTS and Chevy Impala sedans. Under Unifor's four-year contract signed in 2016, GM must give the union a year's notice before closing the plant. The automaker intends to close the plant in December, 2019. A 2015 study commissioned by Unifor, which represents GM employees, estimated that shutting the plant would eliminate 4,100 direct jobs and reduce Ontario's gross domestic product by C$1.1 billion. But Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, said the move amounts to a breach of the automaker's contract with its employees. "We have a collective agreement that says they're not closing any of our facilities ... so we will do anything by any means to make sure that they live up to their word," Dias said at a news conference. Dias said the contract between Unifor and the company forbids GM from closing any of its Canadian plants during the contract period, which ends in September 2020. "They are not closing our damn plant without one hell of a fight." Canadian officials promised to aid auto workers affected by the 2019 closure, part of a wider restructuring by the automaker that will cut production of slow-selling models and slash its North American workforce. "I spoke with GM (CEO) Mary Barra to express my deep disappointment in the closure," Trudeau tweeted on Monday. "We'll do everything we can to help the families affected by this news get back on their feet." GM workers have been part of the heart and soul of Oshawa for generations - and we'll do everything we can to help the families affected by this news get back on their feet. Yesterday, I spoke with @GM's Mary Barra to express my deep disappointment in the closure.