In many ways the world of hot rodding is kind of like the “thing that wouldn’t die”. Since the earliest days of what we would consider the hot rod hobby it has survived a multitude of attacks on its existence. Most of those attacks have been indirect, but some have been seemingly targeted at ending the grand tradition we all love of hopping up cars to go faster and perform better than they did originally. Think about it, starting in the 1930s as a pretty niche situation out west on dry lakes and open expanses, the hot rodding industry and its followers have endured economic slumps of varying severity, wars (including a World War that threatened the very nation that birthed the whole deal), governmental controls that seemingly stifled our ability to even wrench on cars, competing stuff like major league professional sports, national crises, energy crises, and even competing trends (note sweet van below), but in the end, the hot rodding world has always adapted and overcome.
The cover of Hot Rod Magazine has asked several times, “Is Hot Rodding Dead?” Every time the answer has been no and history has shown that even the darkest of times and days couldn’t stop inspired people from building hot rods, muscle cars, and even little junky compact cars when they were the only real commodity to deal with. So now we want to know what the greatest challenge to hot rodding has been.
BangShift Question Of The Day: What Is The Biggest Setback Hot Rodding Has Ever Endured?
I think that the greatest challenge to hot rodding was the acceptance of electronic engine management controls, even though it started 25+ years ago. Once electronics were accepted, it made modern hot rods much cooler. Just look at Randall’s (TSB) eclectic collection of aftermarket electronic injection controlled fleet.
jmo fwiw
Billet and Pastels !!!
To me it was catalyic convertors and rubber vacuum lines back in the 70’s. Those engine compartments looked like a bowl of spagetti. It sucked trying to find a vacuum leak!
I agree with this statement 100% to add emissions testing.
Fast and the furious fart pipe ricers.
Since hot rods are such a small part of the vehicles on the roads, I think the government with emission laws.
Technology has not done our hobby any favors how ever the emission control stuff is prolly the topper
Technology means we can make huge power and still pass emissions. Technology means we can have big cams and decent idles. But the best thing about modern technology is that it gives us the resources to build cars that are quantum leaps ahead in speed. Without modern technology, would it still be possible to build an 8 second car that is street legal?
Mullets, t-tops, and side pipes.
Geez, what would I have left.
LOL
i think the prices of gas and insurance have steered the younger crowd towards rice cars.
Economics, the graying of the hobby and the sometimes apathetic offspring of the latter.
Old people willing to over spend on cars, parts, accessories, etc. Taking an affordable hobby and pricing it out of the atmosphere. No wonder my generation doesn’t care anymore.
Strange thing to say…did old people really do that to you? When you do care, you find a way.
To me the biggest setback was the situation that brought us the late-’70s Trans Am, Z-28, Corvette etc. when a stock pickup truck was faster than any of these and they were illegal to modify. But us penniless kids just turned to what we could work with, and get away with, and hot rodding wouldn’t die.
I believe the 70s definitely threw some challenging times at hot rodding. Emissions, insurance, govt. regulations, etc. The hobby got by it but it was frustrating.
I don’t think that we have seen the biggest setback yet. Not too many younger kids are involved in hot rodding these days. Too many other options to choose from. Wait a few years until the grey beards are all gone and let’s have this discussion again.
Until now, I would say that the biggest setback would have to be the price of project vehicles. Too many sellers with the Barret-Jackson mentality. So I will blame the televised auctions as the current setback.
When Jenkins built a tube frame Vega for Pro-Stock, that started knocking out the average guy from a real chance of competing on the tracks with store bought race cars.
I’d have to expand that to encompass the hegemony of silhouette race cars in general, starting with the “original sin” of NASCAR allowing the fabricated “3/4 frame” Holman-Moody cars instead of sticking with stock in the mid ’60s. . It opened Pandora’s box.
The advent of bracket racing was the biggest setback. Why build to go faster when you can dial in your pathetic piece of crap to any et you can run? Class racing became et brackets and tracks quit running classes in most places. With bracket racing came electronics which made the pieces of crap at least consistent pieces of crap.
Gosh, Bob, my opinion is the polar opposite of yours!
In the “olden” days, events were run heads-up with cars teched (or at least visually inspected) to “class” specs. ‘Pretty simple, assuming there was no cheating. That would seem to be relatively easy for stock appearing cars and many competitors could run their daily drivers at the tracks in classes based on factory-rated horsepower and shipping weights.
A little off-topic, but look at what a cluster Stock and Super Stock has caused for teching; engine swaps, part number variations, factoring, dialing under, etc. That is class racing in other than the Pro categories…
If a car was modified, there were classes based on [claimed] engine displacement and actual weight. The requirement for teching remained the same. Shoot, racecars are still generally teched this way, with some maximums and minimums thrown in.
How were the off-the-street [slightly modified, but not competitive in-class] cars gonna run, other than in grudge format? Handicap (bracket?) racing was a solution. ‘Remember the staggered starts (kinda like the original Pinks!) some tracks used to try to achieve parity?
With the advent of adjustable track timing electronics, disparate-performance cars could be raced competitively with good predictability and the proper application of shoe-polish e.t.’s being the equalizers. Plus, the requirement for technical inspection was reduced to safety equipment. Voila! Any car could race! More cars on the tracks equaled more participants and spectators to keep the tracks open and operating.
I claim bracket racing is for the masses and is a good thing.
Part of bracket racing was joined by index racing, which also reduced teching. Racers who didn’t fit into particular class could run heads-up but with e.t. limits. By the way, I admire folks who can run right on a number time after time. Yes, I know all about delay boxes and throttle stops.
Most of us don’t have the funds (and probably not the skills) to run the all-out classes.
What would the car counts be like with only all-out or [restrictive] pure classes? I’m guessing low.
In closing, I think bracket and index racing bring in the grass-roots racers and tend to support events you all-out folks can race at.
The “pathetic piece of crap” reference was uncalled for. Was your first racecar a [relatively high-cost] Nostalgia Top Fueler?
‘Hope to meet you at a West Coast event, sometime. We could avoid this subject…
Bob, I don’t think you remember how empty the tracks were in the 70’s until bracket racing came about. A few racers could thrown money into their cars and discourage the other 99% that were trying, bracket racing was a savior and drag racing has every possible class/combination nowadays from heads-up, class racing, brackets, etc etc. Pick your poison and just enjoy racing.
FRONT WHEEL DRIVE infecting virtually all cheap, disposable cars is by far number one.
“NASHIFICATION” (a/k/a unitized construction) runs a close second.
Urban sprawl and zoning killing race tracks (and some shade tree builds) is third.
State-level emissions testing is fourth.
Kids preferring sports and video games to dirty-hands wrenching and fabricating is next.
Declines in available technical skills training/experience without spending a fortune factors in, too.
Electronics/emission controls have been double-edged because they underwrote huge advances in performance potential but made vehicles too intimidating and expensive to modify for some of the less “hard-core” potential rodders.
Consolidation of the hot rodding magazine industry into the SIM “cube hive” is a negative as well.
Four words:
California Air Resources Board.
When the Smallbock Chevy was introduced in 55…
#1 reason
investors that got into collecting cars..
nothing has hurt the hobby more than a bunch of rich men/women that park cars in a big warehouse and never use them.. until it’s time to unload them, and they go warehouse to trailer to auction block then to another trailer and then warehouse..
Can anyone name one “stock” item on a Pro-stock race car today? The title is meanigless even to the hardcore fan. NHRA has killed affordability and ingenuity from new blood into the sport. There is no more win on Sunday, sell on Monday. The big correlation today is who has free shipping on parts; and not from Chevy or Ford. Long live Nosalgia racing; but we really know we’re a dying breed.
CARB, EPA, OPEC and anything that the ‘Republic of California” brings east with government bullshit regulations. And Obama’s bullshit no emissions crap.
the worst?? imports, emission controls, early cat converters, auto makers building less the impressive products. LOVE custom cruiser vans, they sparked so much creativity, and paint genus. and were just a whole lotta fun back in the late 70, when mustangs had 4 cyl. and a nearly as bad 135 hp small block
Imports, Barrett-Jackson, The NHRA, fart cannons, the economy, NASCAR, bad body kits, Rick Dobbertin, 17″+ wheels, gas prices, Rod Saboury, cash for clunkers, street racing, Dynacorn bodies, The Fast & Furious……………..
All the comments above are reasons Hotrodding has survived and thrived. It’s never been better than it is today.
I don’t care for that thing where they put monster “wagon wheels” on odd cars. I saw an Altima with 24 in. wheels in Fla. Glad that has come to eastern Canada.
HAMB…clock stoppers.
Bracket racing was originated because some folks felt they
had the “Right” to have a chance of “Winning” even if their
abilities as a builder, tuner, driver sucked. I watched my first bracket race at Fremont in CA where a rail
with a crappy running 426 mopar engine…I swear they had most of the plug wires crossed….running high 10’s
“beat” a really sweet running 426 plymouth SS car that was
running quicker times. I thought as I watched….If this trend continues drag racing is history.
As to Hot Rodding in general….Viet Nam and the counter-culture that grew out of it.
POPULARITY! And with that comes rules. Safety and Gov’t regulations will drive up costs and skill levels to the point that an average individual can not compete at the top level and can keep them from ever trying. The rules of fashion I think do the worst damage, though. They keep the young and different from even trying to be a part of the hobby. Anyone who mentioned anything having to do with non-traditional automobiles being to blame should look in the mirror. Those who try to achieve speed and style with a different perspective than the norm is what has kept Hot Rodding alive and well. An old issue of HR said that a “Hot Rod” is any production vehicle modified for increased performance OR style. I happen to agree with that, which means that as production vehicles change, so do “Hot Rods.” Acting like and elitists with Cameros and Mustangs and looking down on new trends, be it vans, turbo 4’s, or electric motors keeps the young and different from being drawn to the hobby. If the culture is unhealthy, the only thing that will save it is an open mind.
you have a great blog right here! would you like to have invite posts on my weblog?
Let’s not forget the huge divorce rate of the baby boomers, which left untold millions of boys growing up not watching their fathers wrenching in the garage.
It wasn’t until after my folk’s divorce that I helped out with auto repair, and it was only my Mother who wanted the help.