04/24/2026
What is a Hot Rod? It is typically a classic American car, often pre-1950s, modified for speed, performance, and style, usually by stripping weight, tuning the engine, and customizing the body. Traditionally it evokes home-built machines, dry lake racing, flathead Fords, and rebellious ingenuity. A muscle car comes factory-made. A hot rod is born in a garage with skinned knuckles. 🔧 Today we're sharing a link to "The Hot Rod Story", about the beginnings of Hot Rod culture and the NHRA.
In 1952, hot rodding had a bad name. An NHRA pamphlet, the Hot Rod Story, set a blueprint for moving forward with a rallying call that reads almost like the Gettysburg Address of NHRA. You should read this to know from whence we came.