The Jalopy JournalThe Truth About Speedway… Part 1
Not long ago, we lost Bill Smith – the founder of Speedway Motors. By all accounts, he was a hell of a man with a real passion for racing, hot rodding, and the business behind each. From what I’ve been told, he was also just a damn good guy. It was not uncommon, for instance, for Bill to take time out of his day to show some passing hot rodders around his now famous museum of speed. Along the same lines, Bill would often personally contact customers after they placed orders to check on the level of customer service they had received.
He was simply the perfect face for a Speedshop ran from Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln, after all, is in the heartland of America and the values of the region mesh perfectly with the values of your typical American hot rodder. He didn’t have the swagger of a west coast hero or the attitude of an east coast legend… He was just “Speedy” Bill – a down to earth and well liked guy that anyone could meet and know.
I’ve been told that if you met Bill on the street, he would pass off no suggestion that he was responsible for “America’s Oldest Speedshop” and, instead, would leave you feeling as if you somehow were.
Of course, Bill left behind a legacy that could only come from hard work and dedication. Publicly, the biggest part of that legacy is Speedway Motors – a company widely regarded as a top source for decent parts at decent prices. I’ve used them for years as I’m sure many of you have… However, through my affiliation with different small businesses in the industry I’ve become a bit jaded to some of their business practices. Lately, I’ve been thinking more and more about this and thought that maybe a feature article here on The Jalopy Journal could open some eyes and maybe even answer a few questions.
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Hot Rod Works is your basic mom and pop small business ran out of Caldwell, Idaho. They build and market American made products like quick change rear ends, tranny adaptors, etc… One of their more popular products is the 6-spline open drive kit. In the late 1990’s, Hot Rod Works spent a great deal of time and money developing a yoke design that would be durable enough for heavy footed hot rodders. They had them forged and broached in the USA.
It wasn’t long before this new open drive kit became pretty popular in the industry. And in 2000, Hot Rod Works began wholesaling the kits to Speedway Motors. Things went really well for a while and Hot Rod Works did their best as a small business to keep up with demand. Then, rather suddenly, Speedway replaced the HRW kit in their catalog with a kit of their own.
A while back, I had the chance to talk to Ken Smith (owner of Hot Rod Works) about the switch. Obviously, Ken was concerned and ordered a kit from Speedway to judge the competing part against his own. To his surprise, the kit was an exact copy of his own – manufactured in China. Even more disturbing? The instructions that came with the kit are almost an exact duplicate of what Hot Rod Works provides with theirs – word for word.
When I heard this story from Ken and saw the above photos, I was floored. I mean, how could this be? How could “America’s Speed Shop” be responsible for replicating the work of a small business that goes to great lengths to support our industry and then send the production to China of all places? For added salt on the mental wound I nursed, I noticed that Speedway was actually charging $15 more for their Chinese made part. It was all very hard to stomach.
And unfortunately, I’ve found through the years that this isn’t an isolated incident. In fact, I’ve found other examples of similar products being sold initially through the wholesale channel only later to be replaced by Speedway branded parts manufactured in China. One of the more well documented cases is that of the 9 Super 7 Vs. The Genuine Stromberg 97 where not only was the carburetor “copied,” but the packaging as well.
All that being said, I have tried to keep things in perspective. This is, after all, America – home of capitalism and a country where a man has the right to profit from his resources and his wit. And really, that’s all Speedway is doing here. They haven’t broken any laws or stolen any patents. They saw an opportunity to increase their margins and they took it. Like Stromberg, Hot Rod Works and their ingenuity was simply fair game.
I’ve also tried my damnedest to get the other side of the story. There has to be one, right? There always is… Maybe HRW just couldn’t keep up with the demand and Speedway felt that the market deserved better. Or maybe Speedway felt as though their Chinese made part is somehow manufactured more consistently? Or maybe… Hell, I don’t know. But, I would like to. None of my emails to Speedway were returned.
So where does this leave us exactly? To be frank, I’m not sure. There are too many unanswered questions and we only really have one side of the story. It’s my hope that Speedway sees this and sets us all to ease with a fair explanation.
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Editor’s Note: I can already see folks wondering about my involvement in this and why any of it is any of my business. I can understand that point of view and have tried to go about this with as much journalistic integrity as I can. In fact, that’s one of the reasons that I’ve tried to reach out to Speedway. As I said, I fully understand that every story has two sides. I’ve given every effort not to be on one here.
But also, the hot rod industry is a very big part of my life – the cars, the parts, and the people. I’ve always felt that as businesses that serve this industry, we should all be in this together. It’s a viewpoint that I learned from Corky Coker – a rising tide lifts all ships and what’s good for one of us is good for all us.
That in mind, I believe it’s also all of our responsibility to see that good ole American innovation is given the air that it needs to breath and grow. The guys that work hard and innovate need our support. They don’t need more hurdles to overcome or pitfalls fall into. And that’s my main motivation here.
