ROAD & TRACKERS: Persons close to the scene insist that no West Coast staffers will be moved to the title’s new Ann Arbor digs. As one source put it, “They’re moving the name but not the game.” Currently a Road & Track “pensioneer” but planning his own website is long-time engineering editor, Dennis Simanaitis. He expects to roll it out by mid-August. He says the site will be devoted to “cars, old, new and future: science & technology; vintage aeroplanes, flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; and other stuff.” He also has some freelance opportunities brewing. Dennis can be emailed at: enged@aol.com.
Mike Magda has been named editor of EngineLabs.com, a new publication from Power Automedia, a digital media company based in Murrieta, Calif. and focused on the enthusiast. EngineLabs.com joins eight other online magazines published by Power and will offer technical expertise, research and the latest news in the performance engine market. Magda has been an editor on four national print magazines and has authored hundreds of auto tech briefings for instructional purposes. He will be joined at EngineLabs.com by veteran Power Automedia senior tech editor Bobby Kimbrough . . . . Sam Smith will join Road & Track as executive editor on July 30, and John Krewson will become a senior editor at the magazine on August 1. Both will be based in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the magazine is being relocated from the West Coast. Smith replaces Patrick Hong, who Hearst Magazines reported, “left the magazine to start a new business.”. . . . Automotive News reports Canadian George Young has been named head of Global PR for Mazda. The publication interprets the promotion of a non-Japanese to the post as, in part, a move to improve communications with Mazda’s customer base outside of Japan.
Jil McIntosh has moved from Autos.ca to Sympatico.ca/Autos, where she writes reviews and features. She’s still published at several other outlets, including the Toronto Star, and her personal website remains the same: www.WomanOnWheels.ca as does her email address: jil@ca.inter.net.