For many years, I was involved in the creation and presentation of drag racing, back when there were essentially three levels of drag participation: racing, watching, and making the races possible. I did all, but my real interest lay in getting a solid foundation for all forms of the hot rod hobby/sport. And respect! Respect from the general public, and respect from within.

Automotive racing, in general, was sort of a bastard cousin to the burgeoning car industry. It was useful to the barons of steel,  since racing could draw attention to a product, but it could also draw the stricture of “polite society”. The cousin can come over to the house, but best use the back door and stay in the kitchen.

In the earlier days, racing was supposed to help in the engineering of better products, but as more and more Suits came into the business, money became more and more focus of attention, while engineering fell increasingly behind. When street rodding surfaced as a viable hobby outlet, it was originally about enjoyment of the vehicle. Then it became a source of income, meaning money. Just in case you haven’t figured this out before, the Good Dudes still concentrate on the Fun part, but manage to utilize money to keep the hobby user friendly. You do a Good Folks shindig, you gonna get great bang for the buck.  Unlike some other “suit types”.   

In all business,  the general media is an invaluable tool in mass marketing, and it takes more than a new car introduction to hold the interest of automotive media editors. Or prospective buyers.  Or, hot rod event participants.

In hot rodding, we have resisted the Harvard Business School dictum of grab and run, for the most part. Mostly because we are too small and we tend to slide under the radar of Corporate America.  But, even In our small corner of the automotive industry, the Grab And Run philosophy does exist. I can look back at a number of failed attempts at street rod products and activities that flared only briefly, too many victims of simple greed. Yet, a lot of these products survived.

One time I got a call from an acquaintance who wanted to tell me his employer had moved the company from the Midwest to SoCal. In the course of our discourse, he told me about a new street rod he was just finishing up. “You going to use your new quick-change”, I asked. “Not in a million,” he replied, “Our quickie is only designed to last a race, it would never live up to the street!!!” There you have it from a horses’ mouth.

It is fairly easy to make the mistake of thinking that every “trick” new hot rod industry product (or event) is based on race testing and development, on a very long protocol of experimenting and refinement. ‘Tain’t so McGee. Through the years I have received numerous queries from parts manufacturers, asking if I had any ideas of products they could create. In the first place, people are paid significant money for ideas, but more importantly, I firmly believe that products that come from the Form Follows Function formula are the best. Orville and Wilbur had an idea, then they built one, and finally they flew one, and then they developed and improved the idea. They didn’t go around looking for someone to tell them about filling a business need for another new product!! They sure as hell didn’t have a “suit” with a university degree in engineering running down that slope at Kitty Hawk. In hot rod history, a product that was tested on the weekend at the dry lakes or circuit track either worked or it didn’t. But that product’s success for one person did not necessarily translate across the board. There were always other factors at play.  

Racing is a good partner to the automotive scene, but it sure isn’t the best test bed for improvements. It is only one test. It’s a good piece of PR, maybe, but little more.