CultureMap Auto Awards

Truck of the Year: Ford's Raptor claws up the "most badass truck" chart with extreme dominance

Editor's Note: In the first annual CultureMap Auto Awards, automotive writers Nic Phillips and Kevin McCauley bestow honors in 10 categories for the top 2012 cars and trucks and explain why they're deserving of a good hard look. Texas being the number one market in the nation for trucks, it's only fitting we give our nod to:

Truck of the Year: 2013 Ford SVT F-150 Raptor

If it seems that every time there's any sort of ranking that involves trucks, the Raptor comes out on top. That's because it's truly No. 1.

It is ridiculously dominant, in every sense. It takes the supremely robust Ford F-150 platform to new heights (at nearly seven feet tall, we mean that literally). It's the most extreme expression of the pickup truck on sale anywhere. Having won the Dakar Rally in nearly stock form, Raptor is a proven off-road racing truck right off the dealer's lot.

Equipped with 35" off-road tires mounted to internal triple-bypass FOX Racing Shox with super long suspension travel (11.2 inches front, 12.1 rear), a 6.2L big-bore, short stroke V8 delivering 411 horsepower, a proper exhaust note to match and now a 4.10 TORSEN front differential giving even more capability, Raptor is near performance perfection. Amazingly it's also livable, comfortable and filled with the niceties that have become expected in multi-role trucks with everything from heated and cooled seats, to remote starting and built-in auxiliary switches for aftermarket lights and accessories.

For 2013 Ford has, for the first time, added Sync with MyFord Touch designed specifically for truck use with redundant knobs and buttons, glove compatibility, and a first in class front view camera to see obstacles ahead when rock crawling. Bravo Ford, the SVT Raptor is, above all, an incredible accomplishment.

Truck of the Year Runner-up: 2013 RAM 1500

While not the most bad-ass, we'd be remiss to not acknowledge the innovation the RAM Trucks brand has brought to the pickup segment in a money-is-no-object in development bid to take the fuel economy and luxury truck crowns. It succeeded and handedly with both V8 and V6 engines getting best in class fuel economy; the V6 model rating at 17 MPG city/25 highway. While exterior styling is little changed, for good reason, it's completely overhauled under the skin with first-ever in a pickup, Range Rover-like technologies such as optional four-corner air suspension and an eight-speed automatic transmission with a rotary gear selector, electronic power steering, aerodynamic improving active grille shutters and SmartBeam automatic high-beam projector headlights.

Range Rover must have been a benchmark for RAM's engineering team as the driving feel is incredibly refined compared to other pickups. We're not the only ones impressed with the 2013 RAM 1500 as Texas Auto Writers Association, Motor Trend and North American Truck of the Year honors attest.

2013 Ford F-150 Raptor - CultureMap 2012 Truck of the Year

Photo by Kevin McCauley

2013 Ford F-150 Raptor - CultureMap 2012 Truck of the Year

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Best in class

2 Houston schools lead 2025 rankings for top entrepreneurship programs

Rice University, aerial, campus, buildings

Photo courtesy of Rice University

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Rice University and the University of Houston have topped The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s lists of the best graduate and undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies for 2025.

Neither school is a stranger to the prestigious national rankings.

Rice ranks first in the graduate category for the sixth consecutive year, and UH ranks first in the undergraduate category for the sixth consecutive year.

“At Rice Business, our students learn both inside and outside the classroom, drawing on our strong industry and community connections in Houston and beyond,” says Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, in a release. “With small class sizes and tailored programs, we aim to equip our students with the skills to create new ventures and excel in a fast-changing business landscape.”

UH President Renu Khator praises the ranking as recognition for the impact of the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the C.T. Bauer College of Business.

“This program is a tremendous asset not only to the University of Houston and the Bauer College of Business, but also to the city of Houston, where entrepreneurship fuels both socioeconomic mobility and economic growth,” Khator says in a release. “We are proud to see the impact of this program reverberate throughout our community.”

Rankings for The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s 2025 lists were based on a survey of administrators at nearly 300 schools in the U.S., Canada, and Europe that offer entrepreneurship studies. Among the more than 40 factors used for the rankings were academic programs, faculty credentials, mentorship opportunities, and alumni entrepreneurship ventures.

The only other school in Texas that made either top-10 was the University of Texas at Austin.

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best graduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. Rice University
2. University of California-Los Angeles
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
4. Washington University in St. Louis
5. Babson College
6. University of Washington
7. University of Texas at Austin
8. University of Virginia
9. Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands
10. University of South Florida

The top 10 schools on the list of 50 best undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies in 2025 are:

1. University of Houston
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. Babson College
4. University of Washington
5. Washington University in St. Louis
6. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
7. University of Maryland-College Park
8. Miami University of Ohio
9. Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico
10. Northeastern University

The spirit of entrepreneurship is strong in Houston. The city recently ranked No. 7 on a list of the of the 10 best U.S. cities for entrepreneurs to live.

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The story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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