Automotive journalists have played a prominent, if sometimes hidden, role in advancing hot rodding’s popularity in modern culture. We’ve profiled some of the greats on Fuel Curve - Wally Parks, Gray Baskerville, Tom McMullen, Tom Medley and Tex Smith – whose articles, publications, and photography inspired
Two months ago, we featured the late Andy Brizio’s wild T-Bucket that won America’s Most Beautiful Roadster in 1970. The article also mentioned two other notable T-buckets, those crafted by actor/racer Tommy Ivo and hot rodding’s premier funny man, Norm Grabowski. At the same time, wild
Bruce Meyer never built a hot rod. Never assembled a Flathead. Never painted flames or pulled a pinstripe. Yet, when the history of hot rodding in the late 20th and early 21st centuries is written, Meyer’s contribution will long be remembered – for few people
Editor’s note: As the final edits on this column were being completed, word came to us that Andy Brizio, affectionately known as the “Rodfather,” had passed away at age 91. His contribution to street rodding was incalculable, from his T-bucket exploits and his wildly popular
There was a time in the late 1960s when a logo for an unassuming engine oil additive was as ubiquitous as the corporate marks of Coke, IBM, and McDonalds. You could find it everywhere. On dog-eared Pee Chee folders of car-keen teens. On windows of
Jim “Jake” Jacobs has never been one to follow the crowd. Perhaps it was his time working with Ed Roth, arguably hot rodding's greatest iconoclast, that instilled in Jake the fixation to zig when others zag. One of our hobby’s most influential players – he’s the
This column frequently focuses on the personalities who set in motion the post-World War II hot rod movement – those heroic G.I.s who returned stateside yearning to unleash their pent-up need for speed. But a handful of SoCal racers were skimming over the arid lakebeds
World War II G.I.s were a resourceful, forward-thinking lot. For enlisted men who had an interest in race cars prior to the war, scouting military hardware for goodies that might boost automotive performance became a sideline pursuit. One such G.I. was Bill Burke. While on active
Any sobriquet that includes the word “fat” would be, in polite company, considered less than complimentary. But the late hot rodder Jack Robinson wore the moniker of "Fat Jack" proudly, for the descriptor wasn’t aimed at Robinson's physique but, rather, at his talent at building
Duffy Livingstone was one of America’s – and the world’s – unsung motorsports innovators. In 1958 Duffy, a resident of Pasadena, California, created the original Go-Kart brand, the first commercially available racing kart. At the time competitive karting didn’t exist. Go-Kart’s popularity set in motion
