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It was a writer from Peterson Publishing way back that spilled the beans.
Everything in that car rag was an ad of some kind.
If they got paid for six paragraphs talking about forged pistons, and how they came to be, it was being paid for by sponsors hoping to sell pistons.
If they didn't get told what to say, you can be damn sure the sponsor also sold cast pistons.
Produce awareness is advertising, it's just more subtle. It gives the illusion of impartiality to the writer and still lets the public believe that the article is simply information being neutrally presented.
It's true of all hobby magazines.
I would add to that list most trade magazines, such as Aviation Leaks(Aviation Week), which I've been reading since I was in high school back in the 1970s. They used to focus more on actual engineering, but that didn't bring in the ad dollars that their Chinese Fire Drill publisher list wanted, so they've gone to mostly financial. I renewed it again for 3 years last fall, but that will be the last time I do so. Financials bore the heck out of me.
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