Chapter 05 · Profiles
The People Who Made History
Illustrative image · AI-generated, not a historical photograph
Racers, builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs who left their mark.
Hot rodding has always been personal. Behind every record, every new part, and every new racing organization is a person who decided to try something nobody else had.
These profiles introduce a handful of those figures. They are starting points, not complete biographies.
People · 1883 – 1956
Ab Jenkins: Utah's Man of the Salt
The Salt Lake City driver who showed the world what the Bonneville Salt Flats could do.
IllustrationPeople1950s – 1980s
Mickey Thompson
Land speed racer, drag racing innovator, off-road promoter, and businessman.
Read · 5 min
IllustrationPeople1930s – 1962
Vic Edelbrock Sr.
A Los Angeles mechanic whose flathead manifolds started a performance brand that outlived him by generations.
Read · 4 minOther chapters