Matt Hardigree
A long-time writer and editor in the car space, you may have read my work in Wired, Jalopnik, and the newsletter for my local Ultimate Frisbee team. I love writing about the car industry, driving minivans, and dreaming about owning various European Fast Fords. I drive an E39 530i Sport (with the stick) and a CR-V Hybrid. You can email me at matt@theautopian.com or follow me
on Instagram. Oh, I'm also the Publisher of The Autopian. That seems less interesting than the European Fords thing, though.
Hot Take:
There are fewer things to write about in the traditional “Here’s the new X and let us tell you about it” automotive media format.
Meanwhile there had been a surplus of media outlets created – many of which were;
a) PR statement regurgitations, and/or
b) original content poorly written, and/or
c) earned insufficient money beyond the VC stage.
So as the industry consolidates, people who worked for these outlets are losing their jobs.
Now they need to get their own everyday drivers, pay for their own vacations and bar bills rather than rely on pressers and junkets and deep PR pockets – not to mention find some kind of income stream.
Those who probably should never have been in the business at all – and some who were good and still lost out – now can’t accomplish that in the remaining media. Or it’s taken them months, if not years, to find a new gig and recover some of what they had.
So they’re struggling, hurt & angry.
And they lash out on those who are doing okay.
End of Story.
Look confused, then bright when you realize why it’s confusing; “Actually, Beau wrote that one, let me get him on speaker so you guys can talk it through…” And laugh at the vapor trail as they flee in terror.
If I’m reading between the lines correctly, you’re asking for a nationwide network of safe houses for Jason?
The Underground Torchbugroad?
Psst. The password is “tail light.”
Lightning rod in a bottle.
He’s bent about FERRARI cutting off cars?
C’mon.
GTFOH with that.
I know, right?
That’s like a late-show host saying that he got in hot water with the current FCC because he did his job. Ferrari is the Soup Nazi of press cars. They blackballed CHRIS HARRIS, ffs. Sounds like a badge of honor.
But who knows? Maybe speaking any ill of Maranello is an unforgivable taboo. I tried making this exact comment an hour ago and got punted into the greys for the first time since the jello picnic. What gives?
Jason is no stranger to altercations over seemingly little details if his tail lights bar brawls are true.
Ooh, more tea being spilled!
But honestly these things happen a lot in media. Not everybody gets along, and you just have to live with that.
So now I just think the throw down from The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a real thing. All we need now is a fake movie poster celebrating a triumphant Torch, David, Matt and Alanis standing over their vanquished foes.
Mercedes coming in with a trident!!!
Where did you get that hand grenade from?
David Tracy “I don’t know”
Singing a few bars of “Afternoon Delight.”
Who the hell is only spending 1:48 or less at the Autopian? Unless that’s dd:hh:mm in which case carry on.
Might be me. I work third and catch up on the day’s articles during downtime. Sometimes I gotta catch up on a whole week’s worth on Fridays. Sometimes things break and I gotta drop everything (including the article I’m reading) to fix it, so some of my visits have absolutely been less than two minutes.
As others have mentioned, I think Torch is a target because he stands out and seems un-intimidating personality-wise and physically. In the case of the editor, I’ll take your word on his character and offer that it’s not so much an invite to bullying, more that he’s affable, so less likely to take someone’s venting personally and get combative in return.
I dislike that I am “that guy” but there may be other influences, conscious or unconscious, why a fella just looking for bagels named Torchinsky may be a target for some folks.
It’s a reasonable thing to wonder about, sadly. We’ve had commenters booted from this site for saying bigoted shit about Mercedes. I am proud that every time someone has made a comment like that about her the response from the rest of us has been to tell that person to eff off.
I’m proud that y’all have done such a good job of running off such folks that I’ve literally never read an unkind comment directed that way.
I didn’t mention that as I didn’t want it so seem that I thought either of these guys had that reason here, but unfortunately, yes.
“… although he did add that Ferrari stopped giving him cars.”
That’s like a late-show host saying that he got in hot water with the current FCC because he did his job. Ferrari is the Soup Nazi of press cars. They blackballed CHRIS HARRIS, ffs. Sounds like a badge of honor to me.
You could recruit members who are at least a foot taller than torch and can bench press him, to go on trips with him as his “bodyguards”/ shrimp consumption recorders. Have a little coach’s clicker and count away while glaring and looking large.
Alternately, hire someone shorter than Torch (but maybe who does a lot of squats) and have Torch sit on their shoulders wearing a long trenchcoat. It always worked in the cartoons, and that’s how I envision the life of Autopian journalists. Anyways, now Torch is 9 feet tall and can cower over those other journos….
Am shorter. Also available.
Capable of being loud.
I did this for my sister once. Turns out wearing heavy boots and all black and looking mean as shit is an effective deterrent for stalkers.
We’ve considered hiring Danny Trejo for our engineering department for this reason.
I’m available! Do I need to bring my whompin’ stick?
I am a very large human being and have done this for friends on multiple occasions. It’s actually quite amazing how fast bullies run away when someone bigger than them shows up. You don’t even have to say or do anything threatening.
What’s interesting is that none of the other car sites I visit daily made your list… but is the Drive where Andrew Collins is? I will sometimes search for authors by name from time to time.
Grudges hurt the grudge holder more than the grudge recipient.
Andrew’s the Executive Editor over there. Will it Dog lives!
I wish I could get my middle sister to learn that last part. She holds onto grudges like she can turn them into diamonds and I have no idea how many times I’ve said that the people she’s holding them against aren’t thinking of her, but her thinking of them is handing them a win (that’s only for those grudges that are legitimate, not the ones she’s holding against someone who doesn’t even know they did something she perceives as wrong, only that she broke contact, and even then, I’d bet many of them think they just drifted apart without acrimony).
“Living rent free in your head” comes to mind…
On the one hand, I do find this highly entertaining, on the other hand I am honestly kinda upset that people feel they can go after Torch. My theory, (having met none of these awesome writers here yet) is that the other journalists think they can push Torch around or intimidate him due to his, shall we say, stature, and his overall affable, honestly nice person vibes. I take this personally as I tend to share similar traits and have noticed people coming for me as an easier target at times. I have learned to just be grumpy more often to balance this out, but I wouldn’t want that for Torch. Sad Grumpy Torch just wouldn’t translate to the masterpieces of articles we get to read here. Occasionally grumpy Torch articles are enjoyed when they come, but even they tend to be more tongue in cheek than truly grumpy.
I’ve met several and they’re delightful. Still hoping I’ll get to meet Mercedes and MH and Alanis one day. And Thomas and PV and Brian S, so that I can temper my natural dickishness with “hey these are real people.” I’ll still try to find Lewin if I ever get to go to Australia, too. Adrian I’ll just keep an eye out for if I find a tastefully decorated volcano lair in the UK.
The first time I met Torch, he offered me a super pizza-greasy rag to clean up with. He’s one of the good ones *sniff*
I would definitely like to meet all of the Autopian writers eventually, including Lewin and Adrian (and wherever The Bishop lives)
Do I want to meet you is the question.
Oh most assuredly not, I am not interesting enough, I don’t have good automotive design taste, I imagine our music preferences do not align very much and I am not nearly as capable of an author. I would most likely just give you a vague thumbs up from a reasonable distance and not subject you to anything more than that.
Perfect. That’s the sort of fan interaction I can tolerate.
Just a matter of time before the entire staff of The Autopian dance/fights with another car enthusiast publication like in West Side Story.
Maybe with Motor Week (45)?
Mirage Review 2: Electric Boogaloo
“It’s not a gang! It’s a club!”
In a bar fight, always hit the biggest guy. You might get lucky and drop him. If not, you would have ended up fighting him at the end, anyway.
I don’t know where I heard this and I’ve been in zero bar fights.
“Closed course, professional driver, YMMV”
As usually the biggest guy in the bar I do not endorse this strategy. 😛
What is bounce rate?
People who land on the home page then leave without clicking on anything
Thanks!
So…psychopaths? I can’t imagine clicking on Autopian and NOT clicking on anything!
Some of us have hundreds of open tabs and click-happy fingers! It’s a sickness.
I only visit a select few websites and go to them to see if there is anything new to read, where there isn’t I just close out.
Now that I know this is not helping them, I will do my best to stop.
Well,and people who follow via RSS and go to each story separately from there instead of using the main page. Near-100% bounce rate there.
I generally hit the homepage then open everything I want to read in new tabs instead of going back and forth…does that count as a bounce?
Ferrari stopped giving him cars and he blames you guys? No disrespect intended, but I don’t get the feeling Ferrari is giving you guys press loaners either. It just isn’t the focus of this community. If Ferrari did do it because of you guys, well damn! you guys have some power!
Also, I don’t know Torchinsky personally, but he comes across more as a hilarious rogue than the guy in charge.
This kind of drama can only be settled by a rap album.
I was thinking a quarter mile at a time, but either way, this whole situation is Ludacris.
I don’t know, I was thinking all of this is pretty Juvenile.
Life ain’t a track meet, it’s a marathon.
Rock, paper, scissors?
I’ll get the Ice-T
(it’s lemonade!)
Nah. They gotta go old school.
Manual typewriters at ten paces.
“A minor.”
I’ve never visited carscoops or insideevs. But for the others, and some not listed, this site is hands down the most reader interactive and I think that is a big reason for your traffic. You guys make yourselves available to us, and try to keep the vibe “mom and pop”. You’re honest about the struggles and challenges you face. Hell, you even send nice emails telling me why my comments were deleted. Just so you know, that’s not common practice!
The other places are mad you are raising the bar.
“Hell, you even send nice emails telling me why my comments were deleted.”
This is such a great, hilarious line!
I got nice email saying my comment was acceptable!
Yeah, after I submit it three times, thinking it’s a cognitive issue. Then a day later it shows up three times, and everyone else thinks it is acognitive issue. What’s up with that?
Dunno, mine posted quick. email came pretty quick too.
I’m a little surprised at carscoops being that high. But I’m probably biased since they banned me. Apparently you can’t disagree with the writers there when they write things that are obviously and verifiably wrong.
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll continue to skip it!
Carscoops seems to get tons of links on my Google homepage. I’m going to bet that is where a lot of that traffic is coming from.
I go there every morning. It’s a 10 second what happened thing.
I didn’t get one when my comment was edited, although it was apparent why. I guess that’s a courtesy only afforded to paying customers. I did get emails when a couple were approved after a moderation delay, either due to too many links or for using a word synonymous with a regularly published journal or ammunition clip that contains a character string adopted as a movement (not bowel, although any confusion would be understandable) that triggers an automatic response.
Think that Torch getting the majority of the flak might have anything to do with Torch maybe being one of the most visually unique of your staff?
Also, more congrats on those analytics!
I can think of two or three Autopian writers who would stand out in a crowd more than Jason.
Did a Google for Jason Torchinsky, and gee, there’s another one. There are a couple of other Hugh Crawfords who are active in politics whom I get misdirected mail for, and I get the impression that they are terrible people.
I just want to say that I’m proud of that visit duration metric. A lot of that is because a whole bunch of you spend a lot of time reading my 4,000-word sagas. 🙂
Always looking for the LOL’s, never know what’s going to happen next.
Sagas that are well written, well researched, and inevitably send me down several (many) wikipedia rabbit holes.
Other articles feel half written when you get used to this style.
Judging by the like count on your comment, you’ll likely qualify for COTD. Are you allowed to quote yourself? 😉
Happy to contribute! ^_^ Your enthusiasm makes for some very compelling reading, even about topics that wouldn’t typically catch my attention.
Maybe it’s time to go work on that old French car…
Drama aside, congrats on the analytics! This site deserves every one of those little trophy icons.
I picture a guy waving his arms around at Jason while Jason, not hearing a word that is said, wonders if he can extricate himself quick enough to get one of the last remaining bagels.
I also imagine his jamming his index finger into his palm emphatically, and putting both hands on his (own) head at points during the tirade.
I’m imagining Jason hearing only the “wah-waw, waw-waw…” sounds that adults make in Peanuts cartoons while planning the great bagel heist in his head…
Honestly, I’m sorry Torch because it’s probably not fun being “beef central” but it amuses me greatly that you’re this weird media lightning-rod despite a good deal of your blog output being taillight noir, anthropomorphic trains, and questionable Changli maintenance. And when you do have a hot take, it’s more in the spirit of meddling kid a la Scooby Doo gang than wrestling heel making a cutthroat gesture. So I guess these grumps are more or less “Old Man Jenkins” types, which… sort of tracks. If that makes any sense.
Honestly, I do wonder if Jason being more than a tad eccentric has led others to preemptively dislike him and build grudges accordingly? I think about all the many oddball people I know who are perfectly harmless and quite enjoyable to interact with that, and many also have people who dislike them simply because they are odd and without ever taking them time to interact with them even once. Personally, I love eccentric oddballs, which is why I know so many and have enjoyed Torch’s musing since the very first one I read all those many years ago. But I also recognize that not everyone is comfortable with people who vocalize their inner strange thoughts and would rather shun them than admit to having the same strange thoughts.
That’s why we’re here reading these articles!
Its really a speech thing. Would you like if I disliked you due to your post? People can always change the channel.
I do understand your take
It’s funny isn’t it…. Looking at those web numbers, it almost seems as if the day has come that people are putting more faith in the opinion of enthusiasts who don’t take themselves too seriously, rather than professional pundits.
By that, I do not mean to imply that the team here are not professional (on the contrary, their work ethic and committment to the quality of the product they are putting out, probably puts the traditional “big guys” to shame). Just because the content here is not arrogant, nor stuffy, does not mean it is not informed and accurate.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get back to some taillght fetish shit….
Maybe they suffer from reoccurring nightmares thanks to the Lightning McQueen homunculus sketch?
In all seriousness, who knows. There’s a chance that this is a fun/not so fun coincidence where two people who hold some sort of animosity towards Torch appear in the same week happens to be a weird outlier. Or maybe these people are yelling “He’s too damn quirky!” while throwing darts at his portrait.