Leno gets mechanical

Host to write car-collecting column

By OLIVER JONES

NEW YORK -- Echoing the synergy between television and print media that helped make Tom Brokaw's book "The Greatest Generation" a national bestseller, Jay Leno was named a contributing editor of Hearst's men's service magazine Popular Mechanics.

Leno will write a bimonthly column called "Jay Leno's Garage." It will be about the facts and foibles of collecting old cars and motorcycles.

Popular Mechanic's editor-in-chief Joe Oldham first contacted Leno about writing for the magazine more than five years ago. Over the years, the top-rated "Tonight Show" host has contributed a handful of articles to the magazine, but he has shied away from being a regular columnist because of his television commitments.

"Jay happens to be one of the busiest people I have ever met," Oldham told Daily Variety. "I think he said yes just so I would stop pestering him."

In lieu of payment, there will be a scholarship set up at McPherson College in Kansas in the name of Leno and Popular Mechanics. It will provide a year's tuition in the college's two- year auto restoration program.