The Archive
All stories
18 sample features from the HotRodHistory.com demonstration.
IllustrationRacing on the Floor of the Mojave
How Southern California's dry lakes became the first great proving ground of American hot rodding.
Read · 6 min
IllustrationBonneville and the First Speed Week
In 1949, the SCTA took hot rodders to the Utah salt — and created an annual pilgrimage that endures today.
Read · 5 min
Illustration1948: A Magazine Gives Hot Rodding a Voice
Robert E. Petersen and Robert Lindsay launched Hot Rod magazine — and helped change how the public saw the hobby.
Read · 4 min
IllustrationFrom Print to Pixels: Hot Rodding Goes Digital
Half a century after Hot Rod magazine, the internet opened a new chapter in automotive publishing.
Read · 2 min
IllustrationEd Iskenderian: The Camshaft King
A Los Angeles hot rodder who turned grinding camshafts into one of the best-known names in speed equipment.
Read · 4 min
IllustrationWally Parks and the Founding of the NHRA
In 1951, a magazine editor set out to move drag racing off public streets and onto safe, organized strips.
Read · 6 minIllustrationSpeedy Bill Smith and Speedway Motors
From a small shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, a racer built one of America's best-known performance parts companies.
Read · 5 min
IllustrationThe County Fair Proving Ground
Half-mile horse tracks became the classrooms of Midwestern auto racing.
Read · 5 minIllustrationSprint Cars and the Road to Knoxville
Lightweight, powerful, and ferociously fast on dirt — the sprint car became the Midwest's signature race car.
Read · 5 min
IllustrationMoonshine Runners and the Roots of Stock Car Racing
Ordinary-looking cars, extraordinary engines, and the back roads where stock car skills were born.
Read · 6 min
IllustrationDaytona Beach: Racing on the Sand
From land speed records to the beach-road course, the Florida shore was racing's original superspeedway.
Read · 6 minIllustrationBill France Sr. and the Founding of NASCAR
A series of meetings at a Daytona Beach hotel in December 1947 produced the most successful stock car organization in history.
Read · 6 min
IllustrationFrom Garage to Catalog
How the Model T and the flathead Ford V8 gave rise to the first generation of speed equipment makers.
Read · 6 min
IllustrationThe Overhead-Valve V8 Revolution
Postwar engines from Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, and Chevrolet changed what hot rodders could build.
Read · 5 minIllustration1963: The Industry Organizes
The founding of SEMA gave speed equipment manufacturers a shared voice on standards, safety, and trade.
Read · 4 min
IllustrationAb Jenkins: Utah's Man of the Salt
The Salt Lake City driver who showed the world what the Bonneville Salt Flats could do.
Read · 4 minIllustrationMickey Thompson
Land speed racer, drag racing innovator, off-road promoter, and businessman.
Read · 5 minIllustrationVic Edelbrock Sr.
A Los Angeles mechanic whose flathead manifolds started a performance brand that outlived him by generations.
Read · 4 min