Don't get excited ~ this happened in 1953. In 1953, state lawmakers introduced legislation attempting to make hot rods illegal. N&O writer Charles Craven covered the response by “hot rodders” who gathered in Raleigh. “Hot rodding is as American as a hot dog or a basketball game,” said one of the hot rod boys. They pleaded that dual carburetors and high compression cylinder heads are a combination of American ingenuity – but a law enforcement group said they provide a high-speed ride to eternity. A House Judiciary Committee yesterday didn’t decide either way, but deferred action of the administration’s House Bill 90. The bill is designed to make hot rods – cars altered for high speed – illegal. The lively debate showed that the hot rod supporters consider their activities a legitimate “sport.” They clamored for a recognized organization – like in California. House Bill 90 would stifle inventiveness, they claimed. The opposition, led by Highway Patrol Captain Charles Speed of Asheville, stressed that House Bill 90 would aid in curbing death on the highways. Captain Speed told the lawmakers that the “thrill and desire for speed has crept into our youth – and we (the patrol) can’t catch them.” Why can’t the patrol catch them? Here are the reasons outlined by the officer: electric fuel pumps, airplane-type shock absorbers, dual carburetors, high compression heads and speeds up to 120 miles an hour.… The hot rodders took the floor with gusto. George Parsons of Landis, who is a sophomore in mechanical engineering at State College, posed the question: “Could North Carolina be a little backward?” Parsons said he had spent some time in California. Hot rodding has reached a roaring crescendo in the Golden State, where the coastal highways run arrow straight. “There,” said Parsons, “the National Hot Rod Association was formed.” Parsons entreated the committee to forget about passage of the bill and lend their support to organizing hot-rodding into a controlled sporting organization – like in California.… Asked to describe his car, Parsons said he had a 1932 Ford with a Mercury motor … “with everything possible on it to make it go faster.” “How fast?” Wake Representative Phil Whitley wanted to know. “It’ll clock 120.” “Have you ever raced at night?” said the Representative. Parsons admitted that he had. “How fast?” “The Lord only knows.” But Parsons stressed that he’d given up racing at night. He said that hot-rodding is as “American as a hot dog or a basketball game.” Parsons told the committee that among the hot rods were to be found many gross imposters – shot rods. A shot rod, he explained, is a beat up, stripped down car made to look like a hot rod but without safety devices. He described the bona fide hot rod as a “modified, well-built American stock car.” “Shot rodders,” he said, “are giving us hot rodders a bad name.” The youth went on to say that hot-rodding provided an outlet for mechanical proclivity. He said his own high-speed runs now were made on an abandoned air strip and emphasized that organization would provide more such places where the hot rodders could open up without being a hazard to the motoring public.… Thurman Williams of Winston-Salem said the bill would curb initiative and that the problem couldn’t be solved by making hot-rodding illegal, but only by impressing upon all drivers that speed on the highways is dangerous. That’s the way it went – the hot rodders claiming inventiveness and the law enforcement officers claiming death. Highway Patrol Sergeant Guy Duncan of Wilkes County said his county is loaded with hot rods. “The bootleggers use them to advantage,” he said. He told how when the hot rodders leave a drive-in, the curb hops yell, “Dig a wheel?” That means to gun the souped up motor so the rear wheels spin on the take-off. “They line up at night and whip around traffic lights,” the officer complained. He described how his force had to keep an eye out for one hot rodder who had placed bets around town, North Wilkesboro, that he could start at the square, roar down the main street for a block and make a right angle turn at 90 miles an hour.… During the hearing, a brightly jacketed group of youths listened intenly from the back of the room. Lettering on their jackets advertised them as members of the “Rowan Road Angels.” The N&O Feb. 6, 1953 The bill that eventually passed was modified to put the responsibility on the hot rod owners, allowing the assumption that the owner is the driver of any speeding hot rod. Officers complain … that while they are able to recognize hot rods they often are unable to catch them. The bill makes the chase unnecessary. Officers have only to copy license numbers. In the bill, a hot rod is defined as any auto which has been altered so as to increase its speed. After the original bill was introduced, hot rodders en mass descended on Raleigh for a public hearing. They contended hot rods were laboratories-on-wheels for the mechanically minded…. The N&O April 10, 1953 In the summer of ‘49, Richard Lassiter, Earl Johnson and Donnie Thomas were pampering Donnie’s “strip-down” in anticipation of a ride to the beach. HRP
Those young kids aren't the devil, he owns the Pontiac sedan with the "666" license plate. Dig that headlight bar....ain't much for looks but she's hell for stout!
Monkey wrench for changin' spark plugs too.....I guess spark plug sockets were a still bit out of reach for young rodders on a budget.
Danny, You have no idea what memories this brings back. Charles Craven was a columnist who wrote a popular daily column in the News &Observer, which had a readership that stretched from Raleigh to the coast. In 1953 I was 8 years old and had yet to discover Charlie's column, but I soon would. My Grandpa, a subscriber to the N&O and a particular fan of Charles Craven, introduced me to the literary musings of Mr. Craven when I was 12 (1957) and I became an avid reader too. (Craven did have a way with words and could turn a phrase to hold ones interest) Craven it seems had a bee in his bonnet over this whole hot rod thing and was still sounding off, by that time about the evils of street racing. In one particularly memorable screed he went on and on about the hoodlums that were terrorizing the roads, even went so far as to bad mouth the organized drag events that were beginning to turn up at old airfields around the central part of the state (some with police encouragement). Well, I had recently discovered HOT ROD Magazine and was rapidly becoming an "expert" on this new thing called organized drag racing. I even sent off for a membership in the NHRA. Got my card, signed by Wally Parks, a decal and the whole thing. I was so incensed (remember I'm 12 at the time) that I sat down and wrote out a longhand rebuttal on lined notebook paper, quoting extensively from the NHRA literature of the time, as to why organized, officially sanctioned drag racing was NOT a bad thing, but rather something that should be encouraged. I, of course, never received a reply. But it did seem that Craven let up a bit in critizing those hot rod hoodlums. A postscript: Years later, after he retired, it was leaked that Ol' Charlie had a thing for young boys and may have had to retire and fade out of sight because of that. He's long dead, so who knows; I quess I shouldn't repeat a rumor.
It is also ironic that the Slopok would point out the guy named Speed.... Coincidences bring chuckles some times. Judging by the melted pavement and black marks around here in places those hoodlums still exist and they do still put a strain on local events and dare I say laws unfortunately. It is good to have a place to really put the pedal to the metal as in run whatcha brung drags to minimize the craziness (I would like to check that type of event out myself). I don't think that exists here at least not close by unfortunately so the street is where it happens sometimes. Interesting story and cool pics.
I have said it more than once the man that dreams that stuff up has not weened his daddy yet ! They wanted us to stop drag racing in front of the high school when we were kids, we was not racing we just wanted to see who could lay the most rubber !
Sounds like those fine folks in the state house at that time never heard of the Volstead Act. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
I wonder if Mr. Speed was still in the Asheville area by 1957-'58 when they filmed almost all of Thunder Road on the streets and area roads surrounding the city? He probably was reluctant to block off the streets for the filming of those "hot rodders" and "moonshine haulers".
What's funny about this, and sort of lost in translation over many decades, the core sentiment of hot rods in general is still the same. Ever see drag racing in regular sports coverage? Not unless someone dies. As 'perfect' as a true drag race is regarding a contest of performance it's probably forever the "hoodlum in a dirty t-shirt". While many years ago we'd see very rare coverage of NHRA racing on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" it wasn't the norm, surely wasn't consistent coverage either. Now that pro drag racing is a sterilized corporate circus you'd think more standard reporting would exist. Nope. Even ESPN dropped it from their line up. It doesn't help, I'm not too vociferous about it, but I always have a giant middle finger for hot rod haters. I've seen and had to deal with LEOs too whose mission in life is to make the dedicated and disciplined performance enthusiast a criminal. To see what was going on back then well before my time tells me not much has or will ever change. At the turn of the new millenium Wayne County in MI was petitioned to issue permits/paper/etc for the construction of a new drag strip when the famous Detroit Dragway met it's demise. Their official position? "We already have a street racing problem. We're not going to add to it with a race track." Yeah, exactly. Like saying "What the fuck is this glass of water for? I told you I was thirsty!" This old bastard is proud of his hot rod upbringing, past exploits on the tracks as well as the streets, and as long as I can turn a wrench, cut some steel and pull the trigger on a spray gun I have no plans of ever turning my back on it. FWIW, musclecars included in all the above. Thanks HRP, I needed that...
There was a DRAGNET show that dealt with the term. ("Shot Rod" was a '39 Ford Coupe that ran over a pregnant woman and killed her...Jan Merlin was the 'bad actor'...) Title of this episode was "The Big Rod". Hmmm...Come to think about it, Jan Merlin was also the head fink in stolen car ring headed up by Keenen Wynn in the 'hot rod' movie "Running Wild"...(not really 'hot rods', actually the Hirohata Merc driven by Merlin, and another chopped beauty, '50 Merc convert) That Jan Merlin always took the bad guy part, must have been in his character. Who could work for Keenan Wynn, even in a movie??? (Just kidding, Keenan...Always enjoyed your acting. R.I.P.)
don't let the yahoo's in our state legislature see this. it might give them ideas... Sent from my SM-G920R4 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In 1951 I turned 14, and was very much aware of hot rods and also the term shot rods, and by the mid 50's we had drag strips around in GA. But most of the hot rod racing was done on back roads, I'll admit, and I was part of it Most of the really serious racers with non street legal cars were into oval track racing, as that had cash prizes, and you can't buy more go fast goodies with trophies! But the LEO gave those of us on the street a really hard time! And there were state laws proposed that would have really shut us down. Today things are different, and although you better not get caught street racing, as today it's really bad news if you do, the harassment we got for loud pipes, etc. has eased off. The headers and baffles I run on my roadster would have gotten me a trip to the station house back then, and I doubt I would have been able to drive the car home, most likely be impounded! But all this could happen again, and this is why we all need to join SEMA SAN, which is the consumer level group affiliated with SEMA. It's free membership, and they will alert you by email of any attempts at the state or federal level to introduce laws to our detriment.
I hear you Dave,I got enough tickets for loud mufflers & speeding to wall paper a small kitchen. Back in the day if you drove a hot rod you were asking for Police harassment.HRP
Danny, I think you have been around once or twice in the past when I was at a drag event up your way, and the pipes that were on the roadster for dragging up there are the same thing I run on the street down here! Just Patriot "Roadster" Headers with 3.5" collectors and "Spiral Turbo Baffles" inside the 20" X 3.5" extensions/turnouts. Now do you see what I'm saying? Nowadays I wave at the cops and they smile and wave back!
Dave,the last time I was stopped by the man in blue he said."I just wanted to see your car" I was in my old roadster. HRP
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