Mike Galimi

I’ve been fortunate enough to blur the line between career and hobby/passions for over 25 years, and it has been a rather unusual pathway to my current role as the Network Director of HOT ROD. Naturally, cars have been a large part of my life since I was a young kid—complete with car posters on the wall and a chest full of toy cars. As time marched by it was R/C cars and trucks until finally, into the big leagues when I turned 16. By that time my life was heavily influenced by magazines like HOT ROD and Car Craft, and it was the 5.0 Mustang that piqued my interest thanks to a heavy dose of the local car scene that I experienced through my two older brothers. I was fortunate enough to grow up as the Fox Body Mustang scene began to flourish, however at no time did I ever imagine a media career in the automotive-enthusiast aftermarket. Life after college was spent behind the desk as a stock analyst, but every other waking moment was occupied by Mustang drag racing. It was a friendship that changed my life from the rat race to the drag race, I was given a chance to contribute to a fledging new title for a quickly growing racing organization, one that focused on my true passions—Mustangs and street-legal drag racing. The opportunity eventually turned into a full-time gig in the early 2000s, despite no formal journalism degree or photography courses. By 2003, I was offered the dream job of joining the staff of Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords, which was the bible for the late-model Mustang movement that was taking over the world. One thing led to another, and I ended up back at the drag racing sanctioning body in which I had started my career as the content and marketing director, a role I occupied for a decade. In 2022, I was offered a chance to step into the network director role for the largest automotive-enthusiast aftermarket brand, the revered and legendary HOT ROD.