NEIL ON CAST OF THE CAR SHOW: ‘… WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A HELL OF A GOOD TIME, SINCE WE APPARENTLY AGREE ON NOTHING, EVER.’

Wall Street Journal automotive columnist and senior editor Dan Neil has one SPEED project up and running and another on blocks in the front yard, as Ticket to Ride with Dan Neil kicks off the network’s first major enthusiast programming launch week of the season Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET.

“Ticket to Ride is, first, my Wall Street Journal column on video, following me around the world to drive great cars on great roads,” Neil said. “When the day is done and the string-back gloves are drying out on the radiator back in the hotel, I’m out eating and drinking my damn fool head off. It’s a little like Tony Bourdain’s show, only much faster and with no second-hand smoke.”

Neil, who grew up in New Bern, N.C., and now lives in Raleigh, earned a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2004 for a column he penned for the Los Angeles Times entitled “Rumble Seat.” In awarding Neil the honor, the Pulitzer board cited “one-of-a-kind reviews of automobiles, blending technical expertise with offbeat humor and astute cultural criticism.”

Later this year, Neil will join an ensemble cast on SPEED, including comedian and noted car guy Adam Carolla, former NBA star John Salley and SmokingTire.com columnist Matt Farah, as the quartet offers a prime time blend of information and entertainment under the working title of The Car Show.

“My fellow cast members on The Car Show are emotional dwarfs and would-be frat boys, if any frat would have sunk so low as to have them,” Neil said. “Actually, I think John Salley went Greek at Georgia Tech. Say no more. Yes, they know a massive amount about cars. Yes, they can drive—again, with the exception of Salley, whose only claim to athleticism is being a two-time NBA world champion, or something. Funny? People seem to think Adam is amusing. To each his own. But what I do know is that we’re going to have a hell of a good time, since we apparently agree on nothing, ever—not even the self-evident and axiomatic truth that I’m the best looking man on the show.”