We have an obligation to our hot rodding forefathers...

Remind me why the history of Hot Rodding is so important? I mean to me Hot Rodding is in my garage when I work on my car not in some book. Is Hot Rodding really that important in the history of civilization as to require a formal history? I may come across as a total ass but I am sincere in my question and pose it not to make a shocking statement just for a reaction but an actual search for an answer. And I picked the word remind on purpose it wasn't just some nice sounding word. This answer may already be in me but I honestly may just need a reminder.
This would be a great opportunity to teach not to sound good by making me sound bad.

 

fiction= entertainment........ non-fiction=education. If non-fiction is done right, it can be entertaining. But, if fiction is passed off as non-fiction, then the author should be taken out and have his fingers broke one at a time, while being "educated" in the difference.

 

Man, this is a TOUGH one. Hot rodding started on the street. People cobbed together vehicles any way they could and drove them WAY too fast in the WRONG places. They were maimed or killed running from cops or racing for "pinks." They killed others doing it too. Then, when these nutjobs had a place to go away from the street, speed and innovation really took off...still killing people (racers AND spectators alike.)

Like it or not, these are our roots. They built the legend of hot rods. These "fools" give you your swagger. They gifted you with that silent look of awe you get from others when you roll up in your "hot rod" (that looks like a deathtrap to normal folks, no matter how "safe" it is.) These "idiots" made you love HOT RODS. Only you can benefit from their mistakes. You calmly look at their previous (and hard won) failures like a road map, avoiding all the "dangerous" places.

I can't imagine the horror of knowing I sent a 19 year old kid to his death in a car I own but am too afraid to drive. I can't imagine the sickening realization that something I was responsible for and make a living at (like organized racing) kills people either. I reckon it would make me an outspoken proponent of rashionality, reason and safety. Not only for marketability, but my own peace of mind.

BUT, strapping yourself to an 8000 horsepower bomb is NOT safe. Wrapping yourself in what amounts to a little metal drum with parts that are 80 years old and then entering our 85 mile an hour 8 lane freeways, jockeying for position against distracted soccer Moms driving giant, crash tested SUVs and F-350 dualies loaded with redbulled freestyle motocrossers, is NOT SAFE.

Wally Parks (God bless 'im) provided a place for crazy people to do crazy things. He cordoned off a big spot so these folks get to risk grinding and flopping like ragdolls against steel and concrete at 180, so they won't do it on the street. So they can be happy.

I admire Wally, Sam and Ryan. I agree with almost everything being said.

HOWEVER, anybody who races or modifies a vehicle is not safe. No matter where they do it. People who watch them are not safe either. I'm really tired of human beings who do this irresponsible, dangerous shit coming off like they're normal and rational. Tell that to your Moms and your SPONSORS, we ALL know BETTER. HANS devise or not.

People are smart, they just act ignorant or pass blame when they screw up. Acknowledging a risk taken is not glorifying it, nor is it convincing others to take it.

If you want to set a safe example and be as responsible as possible, wrap yourself in Nerf and don't leave your house.

- with respect -

 

I don't think that it's an "opinion" when the writer, Jimmy Carbone, types "Anybody who is anybody knows about Wally Parks. This guy started the NHRA. He was racing like this when racing began. Hell, he started it."

With the above statement WRITTEN IN THE STORY it doesn't take a 3rd grade education to tell that the "Wally" in this story is based on THE real person, Wally Parks.

Sam.

 

Maybe the story was based on Wally Cleaver.

 

With all things aside... the only real problem I see with this is that Wally spent the better part of 60 years working to get kids off the street, and onto his race tracks.

Plain and simple, that's why it's just "wrong" to write a story, fiction or not... that portrays Wally Parks as someone who promoted street racing.

I don't think it is a stretch of the imagination to say that if he were still alive, Wally would be on e-mail or on the phone with the guy that wrote that to give him a proverbial "bitch slap".

RIP Wally, we'll try to keep it straight.

Sam.

 

3rd grader or not, if the story doesn't give a FULL name AND a DIRECT reference to a person, living or dead, then the reader is left to form his own conclusion. Does it state that Wally Parks was street racing? There are only a few people who can say under oath that they witnessed Wally Parks street racing. Until they chime in and provide proof, it's a piece of fiction in a rag that has a history of portraying the bad taste and bad skills of some hot rodders. The writer of the story accomplished his task, he got people stirred up. Like a train wreck, no one saw it happen, yet everyone has come up with a conclusion based on the wreckage.

Considering the source of the story, not only am I not surprised, but I'm also surprised in the number of people here, who are taking it as fact.

The history of hot rodding has not been tarnished because no one knows if the story is fact. There are many books written on hot rodding portraying it as a "hobby" populated by angered youth with a rebelious attitude and a total disregard for safety and their fellow man. Are we to get up arms everytime one surfaces? If so, then we're about 50 years behind in the fight. Settle down, everyone and put this story on the shelf right next to the copy of Peter Pan.

 

In my own way I'm trying to preserve what little part of early hot rodding in Houston that I was involved with. A lot of people have been encourging me to do this before my toes turn skyward. So a few weeks ago, I started gathering up some of my old photos and putting words to them. I'll have my humble start at Jimmies Ice House next Sunday. At that time hopefully some HAMB people will teach me enough about computors to share my photos with everyone.
Road King

 

I think, if we keep the bullshit out of it, this might be one of the best threads on the HAMB in recent memory.

Keep it up guys!

 

I will add my 2 peso's worth.
At my age I attend a lot of funerals. Friends my age are dieing off way too fast.
I am constantly amazed at how great these people become at the time of their passing. Skirt chasing ,drunken wife beaters suddenly become terrific family men at their services.


Wally's business was Drag Racing -Professional Drag Racing.The NHRA is a business and Wally was a GREAT leader.


I'm just saying ,lets keep this in context. He did not walk on water. He ran a business that made a tremendous amount of money and I suspect a lot of decisions were made in favor of the bottom line rather than the fans.

Yes we are better off as HotRodders because of what he did. But I suspect Hot Rodding would not be much different today if he had not accomplished what he did.
He was a good man ,I hate to hear of his passing but lets not make him a messiah.

 

WHOA! My rant was in the wrong direction...

WALLY PARKS was against street racing.

(Sorry folks, I've been home with the flu for 4 days and writing a lot. I've had the "safety" conversation about hot rodding twice in 4 days and it seems to have bubbled over into this thread!!) - Woops...

 

One of the basic traits of modern society seems to be a willingness to believe WHATEVER they're told without digging for the FACTS(laziness maybe?) "I saw that..." "I read this..." "I heard..." Must be true if it's fit to print.

Hell, look at Al Gore. I rest my case.

 

I don't know that it is really very important, but it is worth recording.

When I was a kid in school, I despised history. I had no interest in what some guys did hundreds of years ago, and for the most part I still don't.

As I grew older, I found that I had a definite interest in the history of those fields to which I related: cars, design, jazz, cartooning, architecture, and others. I became a better practitioner of design, for example, by studying its roots and its evolution. I can better appreciate jazz and cartooning for having learned something about its history. I think humans in general are interested in learning about how and why things are the way they are, and history helps answer those questions.

This board concerns itself with Traditional Hot Rodding. Some segments of hot rodding aren't much concerned with history, but this one is. You can't have tradition without history.

Important? Not very. But very cool.

 

There's hot rodding history (facts), legend and lore. As time goes by, the lines get blurred, as least for me. There's been lots of books written in the last several years about our hobby, which will help preserve hot rodding history. Of course, none of them can be completely accurate; a little legend and lore will always filter in. Historical fiction is a genre that can provide very entertaining reading with an educational element. I wouldn't expect historical fiction in OSR to be Pulitzer Prize quality.
At my age, 66, I was around for a pretty early part of drag racing. I believe Wally was the right man at the right time and we have benefitted greatly from his vision and his drive. It's curious that many HAMBers are involved in Non-Wally drag racing, meaning, NHRA doesn't like our cars. So, we find other places to race, fortunately not on the street.

 

We lead by example, you are making history in your garage right now.....for some young person.

If the kid down the street checks out your ride and it is a total disaster but he thinks it`s cool, he may decide to build himself a RAT-ROD because thats the way his cool hot-rodding founding fathers (that would be you) did it!
The same is true for this story, if this kid thinks that the father of drag racing got the money and chicks by being an unsafe street racer, then it`ll work for him too.....killing himself or some one else in the process.
Now, if we educate this kid to what Wally was famous for (not what he MIGHT have done) then maybe this kid will grow-up a little smarter than the average street racer and he might pass this history onto HIS neighborhood kids!

The history of hot-rodding and Wally Parks is important to the familys of all the kids that have been killed over the years in street racing and unsafe cars,etc... Maybe they didnt know it THEN, but they sure do NOW!

For what it`s worth, my 11 year old daughter just read this whole thing over my shoulder,....maybe she learned a little too.

 

Upon further thought, it all comes down to how you view yourself and your responsability to hot rodding...

Are you a keeper of the flame or a crusader...

Do you feel obligated to 'educate' every person even remotely interested in cars about the finer historical details of hot rodding? Or are you content to share your thoughts with someone in the natural course of a discussion?

Along with that, do you think your understanding of the history of hot rodding is THE history of hot rodding?

I've known and talked to lots of old time hot rodders and just about all of them have a different interpretation of the history of hot rodding actually is.

The point is that you run the risk of missing the point of what hot rodding is all about if you go out of your way to 'educate' everyone you view as lacking a grasp of the truth of hot rodding.

Also if you view yourself as an 'educator,' how much time do you devote you continuing your own education?

 

I have been thinking about this quite a bit. I love history I love learning about what made my heroes in to the people they are reading about what they accomplished and why they did certain things. I just couldn't think of why it was important to know about guys and their cars but I guess in the same way I appreciate learning about my heroes came to realize the history of hot rodding is important and there is a lot more to gain from it in a deeper level than learning who the first person to put a certain carb or any part on their car. I learn the thinking process and the attitude and maybe a work ethic or a certain theory of something. I would love to read a biography of Porsche or of a hot rodder like John Buttera. I think we need more books like the one by Brock Yates on the Eliminator it's a great read and great history of hot rodding.

 

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100&#37;" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">I like history and I also really like fiction and I will occaisionally blend the two together, and there is a very strong obligation to the truth. I don't really know much about hot rodding history as I should, but this article does remind me of Wild Bill Hickok.

Wild Bill's legend made him the exploit of several dime novel writers who tranformed him into a fearless man with a dead eye with the gun and knife. If you went by that legend it would be easy to think that he killed 100's of men and grizzly bears, a good example of exaggeration
</TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on">
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

"Gee, Wally, Dad is gonna kill us for racing his car!"
Signed
Beaver

Dudes, Hot rodding will live forever! It is passed down from our Dads and is passed on to our children! It is a dream! It starts with a dream of who can build the fastest, coolest, badass car on the block. The idea will never die! My only fear is when Gas prices reach $8.00 a gallon! Then what? Is that the death of Hot rodding! Hell no we will come up with something else!
Keep the faith! Hot rodding will live forever! And when we are driving "Jetson" flying machines, our teenagers will still race them, just like we did!

 

Find a copy of the 1984 Diamond "P" Sports presentation of the " Early Years" where Wally Parks narates the birth of "hot rodding", NHRA and the early years of drag racing,and the issue of street racing comes up. Wally's first trip to the dry lakes was in 1932, so I guess he could be considered an icon of the hobby. Included in the discussion are many "first person" accounts, given by the "Rod Fathers" who lived the era starting from the 1930s. This is about as factual as the info can get, and is not slewed into fiction or hype, by some writer who wasn't there.
CHEERZZZ !!!!!! Dick Zimmerman, Louisburg,KS.

 

When i started reading this thread,I guess i picked up on the idea that now Wally parks has passed over ,His name is fair game to those who would besmirch his memory to make a few bucks in a cheap magazine.
I grew up reading all the rod mags available,so the name Wally Parks has been part of my conscious memory for close to 45 years and what I've found impressive was that he was not a politician, he was not a law man,he was private individual who saw that getting people to stop street racing and promoting the "safety Safari" he was in fact preventing a loss of life .Which is a damn sight more impressive than some shiny ass politician passing laws to get themselves into history book as form of immortality.
Many hundreds of thousands of people world wide owe their lively hoods to the direct efforts of Wally Parks .Some know this,many don't.
Others like me,find that using his memory like this, fiction or not is highly offensive.