Summer is a season meant to be enjoyed with friends and family. With more than 16,000 public and private campgrounds nationwide, camping has a long-standing reputation as one of America’s favorite summer pastimes. In Detroit and surrounding areas, however, you are less likely to see families gathering around RVs and camping trailers. Rather, the Motor City is known for a different kind of “recreational” vehicle — the sports car.

This past Friday, August 19, Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge came to Woodward Avenue in Pontiac for the first-ever drag racing event. The event, held next to the new M1 Concourse, attracted hundreds of amateur racers and more than 15,000 spectators from all over the country.

The competition started shortly after 1 p.m. with competitors racing for first in everything from Chevrolet Corvettes, to new and refurbished Dodge Chargers, to Mazdas and Subarus.

“It will be quite an honor to be racing on Woodward Avenue,” said Brian Brunt of Wixom as he prepared to take off in his 2007 SRT Jeep Grand Chrokee with its supercharged V8 Hemi engine. He had added drag racing radial tires and a specially tuned suspension.

Brunt wasn’t the only competitor with a uniquely altered machine. Lou Rhodes of Farmington Hills made his amateur drag racing debut in his yellow 1993 Mazda RX7. Though it had its original engine, Rhodes altered it and rebuilt all of the surrounding parts so that the car generated about 800 horsepower.

The Roadkill Nights event, which began last year as a car show, was free to spectators. Organized by Dodge and The Enthusiast Network (TEN), it also included live music, concessions, and a classic car show as well as thrill rides with professional drivers in Dodge Vipers, Chargers, and Challengers with Hellcat engines.

Tim Kuniskis, head of the Dodge brand for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, said that unfortunately, the drag race may not be part of the event in future years.

“There were so many hoops to jump through to do this. Every single person was supportive,” he said. “There are so many moving pieces but can I tell you we can do it again? I don’t know. Would I do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat.”

 The automotive industry has seen a number of incredible changes over the course of its history. From Henry Ford’s mass production innovations to the installation of mass backing as the standard backing in the 1990s to the invention of hybrid vehicles, the industry has evolved. Now, one company, in particular, is adapting to changes in the industry.

Fiat Chrysler, known for their small, pocket-sized cars, is now ceasing small car production in the U.S. to make room for sports-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks.

The company is finishing the production of their Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart models, then it’ll outsource all other small car manufacturing to Canada and Mexico by the end of the first quarter of 2017.

This action comes as a part of the multi-billion dollar brainchild of CEO Sergio Marchionne. His goal is to increase profit margins to match competitors. Many speculate that this is because fuel prices are dropping nationwide, SUV interest is rapidly increasing, and the cost of vehicle production in Mexico is at an all-time low.

As reported on USA Today, Marchionne explained his goal to focus solely on Ram and Jeep brands in a conference call with Wall Street analysts reporting Chrysler’s second-quarter earnings. He said, “By the time we finish with this, hopefully, all of our production assets in the United States — if you exclude Canada and Mexico from the fold — all those U.S. plants will be producing either Jeeps or Ram. There will be no passenger cars that will be produced in the U.S., and therefore, our expectation is that concentration will give us the possibility to get very close… I think our biggest task now is to close the operating margin gap with our competitors.”

Marchionne explains that Chrysler hopes to get near to General Motors’ 12.1% profit margin by removing the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart as the two have had lackluster sales within the past few years.

This announcement comes on the heels of another announcement that Chrysler will spend $1.5 billion on the Sterling Heights, Michigan, assembly plant. This suburban Detroit factory makes the popular Chrysler 200 midsize sedan, and the generous investment will allow the factory to start production of Ram pickup trucks.

The Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant, where the famous Mustang and Fusion are built, caught fire on Tuesday night, forcing a partial evacuation of the complex.

Soon after the fire began, firefighters from three different cities brought it under control in under 40 minutes, say the Flat Rock police.

“We’ve got three departments there — Flat Rock, Woodhaven and Rockwood,” according to Lt. Kevin Murphy of Flat Rock police. No injuries were reported after the fire.

The cause of the fire is as of yet unclear — Lt. Kevin Murphy of Flat Rock police said that it began in some outside racks before spreading to a building. The fire was put out and didn’t halt work in other parts of the factory.

A Ford spokeswoman, Kelli Felker, said that the fire began around 7 p.m. and that employees in the surrounding area were immediately evacuated. She also said that the fire is currently under investigation.

Some employees captured the huge plumes of smoke with their camera phones, posting them online. The fire broke out just as workers were returning from a break, said employee Jeff Brown. It occurred near the plant’s dock area.

The plant, which used to be shared in a joint venture with Mazda that ended by 2012, has produced only Ford vehicles since then, one of which is the beloved and iconic Mustang, which debuted in 1964. On its first day on the market, more than 22,000 of them were snapped up right away. The plant, although not the original, is located south of Detroit and still produces the luxury vehicles.

More than 3,200 workers are employed at the plant, which is slated to begin building the 2017 Lincoln Continental this year.

Approximately 31 million Americans experience lower back pain at any given time. Luckily, any medical procedure associated with chronic back pain is typically covered under Obamacare. However, despite the growing number of insured individuals, approximately two-thirds of Republicans are calling for the complete removal of the plan.

As members of the Republican party prepare to name Donald Trump their presidential nominee, it has become increasingly apparent that his plan for health care is anything but solid.

In fact, a nonpartisan analysis recently found it would make approximately 18 million people uninsured.

While the objective of repealing President Obama’s health care plan has served as a uniting force among republicans, removing it could have damaging consequences to the American people.

Disliked as it may be, the legislation means that many people don’t have to worry about being denied coverage due to medical issues or fear policies that max out while a patient undergoes an invasive treatment like chemotherapy. Millions who before couldn’t imagine the ability to afford health insurance are now receiving financial help.

Among those who received help from Obamacare is Kristy Malter, a 21-year-old Michigan day camp worker, who succumbed to bacterial meningitis this past weekend.

“We are greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Kristy,” said Life Time Fitness spokesperson Amy Williams in a statement released Saturday. “Her presence and spirit will be deeply missed at Life Time, and our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to her family, as well as to the many friends and colleagues grieving from this incredible loss.”

Health officials have contacted all potentially exposed individuals at the camp and advised them to seek out a doctor and receive preventative antibiotics. There have been no other reported cases since Malter.

Malter was hospitalized earlier in the week Tuesday and quickly ended up on life support. Without coverage under a health care plan, her family wouldn’t have been able to cover the expenses.

Tearing down the social safety net in the name of rolling back government power would be a political, and potentially self-defeating, dilemma for Republicans.

People covered under the health care law are ill at ease with the political uncertainty swimming around them. Millions who were previously uninsured now have coverage, which puts the nation’s uninsured rate at about nine percent, a historic low.

“I don’t think they can credibly do ‘repeal’ until they have a solid legislative proposal to replace it,” said Lanhee Chen, policy director for the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign. “Politically, you can’t really do ‘repeal’ without the ‘replace’ coming in right behind it.”

Officials are still investigating the cause of a fire in Shelby Township that destroyed most of a residential home and left a family out in the cold in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Fire Chief Jim Swinkowski said the flames may have been caused by fireworks being set off in the neighborhood for Independence Day celebrations.

“No one was using a grill. Nothing was in use last night, no smoking. So, the obvious ignition sources are obviously not in play at the moment,” he said. “The only thing we do know for sure is there were fireworks going off in the area, which would have been in line with the wind direction we had overnight.”

Fireworks were being launched upwind of the residence between midnight and 1 a.m. The family noticed flames spreading from the back wooden deck around 5 a.m., which then began to take over other parts of the house.

“My dad woke up to a crash out the back, I think the window came through,” said resident Ewelina Saputo. “Got my mom out, they managed to get our cars out, but that’s about it.”

Chief Swinkowski said it’s unfortunately not a surprise. “We’ve had it in years past where fireworks have burned down houses and garages,” he told Fox News 2. “Leave it to the professionals… That is where it belongs, not in densely populated areas, where you know when you set something off it is coming down on someone’s property, someone’s house and this is what happens.”

The fire department has not ruled out other potential causes for the fire, though. Chief Swinkowski says they’re looking into a possible electrical fire near the family’s hot tub in the backyard. Electrical fires or malfunctions caused an estimated 53,600 home fires in 2008, accounting for some $1.4 billion in property damage, 1,400 injuries, and 500 deaths.

Luckily, no one was harmed at the Saputo residence.

“The blessing is that my parents are alive and I guess the rest is just materialistic stuff. Memories are in our head,” Ewelina said.