I’ve always liked the saying, “Everything always happens for a reason,” and when I picked a topic for this month’s column, it rang true. I had originally chosen to share my thoughts and opinions on the new Chevrolet Volt. I’ve always been somewhat intrigued by the little electronic wonder, and wouldn’t mind taking one around the block one of these days.

But since another colleague of mine had just produced a small write up on it, and after I’ve read the reactions to the car on the ChevyHardcore Facebook page, I’ve decided not to even bother. Instead, I’ve elected to discuss something that really matters to all of the readers of Chevy Hardcore; the future of this magazine – and I personally would like to hear the thoughts on what you, the reader, would like to see in a future story!

Ironically enough, look who's getting all of the attention. Image: Engadget.com

Of course, most of you know that Chevy Hardcore has only been around since last fall, and like anything else, there are growing pains. But considering this publication is still in its infancy, we’ve come a long way with over 46,000 fans and counting on Facebook, and there’s never a shortage of classic Chevy muscle with well-detailed tech articles, feature stories, sponsorship promotions, race coverage, and even the occasional high-speed car chase, candy-painted donk, and a smashed-up Camaro or two. Our sponsors love us, our readers love us, and we’ve got a lot of great stories coming down the pipeline.

But do any of you think that something’s missing, and do you continually want to see the cars you love wrecked and/or donk’d-out beyond recognition? Although we tend to get a lot of hits on our site and Facebook page when we cover these type of stories, most of the responses we get from our readers are usually negative, to put it mildly.

Personally, I don’t think the people who build these donk-mobiles deserve any sort of publicity, at least not from us. I say if they want the coverage, they should seek out DUB or Rides Magazine, and I don’t think any true Chevy fan really wants to see a totaled-out Camaro or Corvette. What do you guys think?

I rarely ever share any of my most embarrassing moments amongst strangers, let alone my readers, but what I’m about to tell you only my family and closest friends know. When I was much younger, I’ve had the misfortune of totaling-out an LS1 Trans Am after a combination of high speed, inexperience, and yes, immaturity overrode my otherwise good judgment and led me to lose control of the car at triple digit speeds with a friend of mine riding shotgun, no less. I rolled it approximately 10-to-15 times, and we even had the t-tops off. Miraculously enough, both my friend and I had walked away completely unscathed.  I still have pictures of the wreckage, but like I said, I’m too embarrassed to even share. But I digress.

Every time I think about it I get sick to my stomach, and whenever I see a ‘Vette, Camaro or any other car I really like ripped to shreds, I literally have flashbacks. Obviously I’m not perfect, I’m only human. It was very stupid and I’ve definitely learned a very important lesson from it. I’ve owned multiple cars since then, most of them even more powerful, including the WS6 that I’ve bought new, and I’ve yet to put as much as a scratch on any one of them. So that’s why you’ll probably never see one of those articles written by yours truly, either. But that’s just me, and these types of stories always get the most hits.

Is that always a good thing, though? Could consistently bringing our fans controversial stories that get a lot of publicity for us lead to our ultimate failure? I seriously doubt it, but I’ve had personal friends of mine who are also fans of Chevy Hardcore (along with its powerTV sister publications) tell me that, “If they see one more donk story or one more wrecked Camaro, they’re going to ‘unlike’ our page.” Of course, I’m not the man in charge around here making the decisions as I’m only a contributing writer, but I can definitely understand where they’re coming from.

But enough about the garbage, let’s talk about some more relevant topics we might be neglecting. Obviously, we have the LS stuff handled between this magazine, LSX Magazine, and Corvette Online, so no worries there. This particular publication’s main focus is to bring our readers the most informative and entertaining articles regarding the first-generation small blocks and the old-school big block Chevy V8 engines, along with the cars they were installed in with just a dash of late-model EFI stuff thrown in. There has been no shortage of either, but what about the TPI and LT1/LT4 material? Do you guys think we have a sufficient amount of coverage for those engines/vehicles or do you want to see more?

My younger brother is a regular reader of this magazine and is constantly giving me crap about writing too many LS-based articles, as he’s an LT1 enthusiast and the owner of a ’94 Firebird Formula. He feels the LT engines often get neglected, not just by this magazine, but others in the mainstream media as well.

I won’t deny that fact, as I’m also a contributing writer for LSX Magazine and Corvette Online, I tend to get carried away with the LS material, and sometimes powerTV’s publications tend to share stories with one another when there is a mutual interest between two or more publications, so it’s not completely my fault. But as a result of the LSX’s popularity, the sad truth is that the Gen 2 small block has been overshadowed.

Also, what about Chevy tuner stuff? I’m probably stretching it here, but would you guys want to read about mega-horsepower ECOTEC builds and other tech articles regarding GM’s all-aluminum, forged bottom ended four-banger -or should we leave that stuff to Sport Compact Car to cover?

Before you laugh and roll your eyes, keep in mind that we’ve been seeing engine builders pull over 1,000HP from these motors for several years now. At one time, GM themselves claimed they would eventually become the “new small block,” meaning that the ECOTEC would evolve into the engine of choice for builders. We remain skeptical of course, but we won’t deny its potential.

We’re open to suggestions guys, as we want our readers to be happy and get all of the information they need. So l let us hear your thoughts, and we’ll lend you our ears!

-Rick