Street racing has been in the headlines like never before over the last several months with so many drag strips closed or limited in operation by COVID-19. One of the common refrains from people about street racing is that it has been going on forever and no one will ever be able to stop it. Frankly, we agree on both accounts. Like drugs and other illicit human activity that takes place in the shadows, it’ll never been fully stopped but we’re not planning or attending any time soon. This old news story confirms that pounding it out on the streets isn’t some new concept that just popped up.

In fact, street racing was such a national story in the early 1950s a string of movies like Hot Rod Girl, Hot Rods to Hell, and others popped up to cash in on the fears and fervor around the hottest growing American subculture anyone could ever remember. This newspaper story from 1954 ran in a Washington State newspaper and the story happened in California! That’s how big this stuff was.

Stories like this one, about a massive street racing bust in Compton, California in 1954 played right into the movie maker’s hands. This story was run all around the country in newspapers and undoubtedly cost a couple young guys with overbearing parents their hot rods. Seeing stuff like this, it is amazing and awesome that Wally Parks was able to turn this activity that was viewed like the plague into a positive activity.

The story reads like something out of an old western. The California Highway Patrol was apparently tipped off by someone (probably an infernal do-gooding parent!) that street races were planned and they dispatched a group of officers to scale and hide on a hill. While those guys were hill climbing, 60 more officers and 16 police cars pulled into a large ring around the area that the races were happening in. The scouting party on the hill gave the sign and the coppers came in with a vengence.

Their plan reportedly worked well as they arrested all the kids, 125 of ’em (including 4….GASP…girls!). Of interest was the line from the story that read, “…there were enough police cars to cover all escape routes. And the officers’ cars were speedier than their normal police equipment.” That line came after one that stated previous raids had failed due to lack of manpower and police cars that were too slow. Did they hot rod the cop cars?

Hit the link below to read the whole story, printed in the Spokane Daily Chronicle – November 24,1954

LINK: 125 HOT ROD ENTHUSIASTS CORRALLED AS RACE STARTS