“Hot Rod Heaven:
The Definitive Story of an American Passion”
DVD
Review by Gregg Leary

The DVD jacket of “Hot Rod Heaven” provides a nice summary of the 108 minutes of content:

“The cult of hot rodding took root in 1940s America, amongst young car enthusiasts with little or no money who were eager to play around with this new machine. This program traces the evolution of the hot rod-from its post-war explosion in California, through the days of illegal street-racing, to the international spectator sport of drag racing. Along the way we interview the people who have shaped this phenomenon, including Alex Xydias, Pete Chapouris, Tony Thacker, Jimmy Shine, and Andy & Roy Brizio.”

“We pay a visit to the Bonneville Salt Flats, regarded as one of the birthplaces of hot rodding, to break the 200mph record with the guys from the “So-Cal Speed Shop.’ Plus, we check out the Grand National Roadster Show in San Francisco, and the biggest nostalgia drag race in Famosa, CA-capturing plenty of tyre smoke, ear-splitting noise and awesome speeds! Finally, we search out some of today’s coolest street machines. Recreated using a mixture of archive and modern footage, alongside insightful interviews with the men who made it happen, this is the story of an American passion and the desire to build a dream.”

Where is Hot Rod Heaven?
“Anywhere in the world where a guy can make a car go faster and look different than the one sitting next to him at the stoplight.”

This universal appeal is indicated on the DVD where “flatheads, highboys, and Model A sedans and deuce roadsters are dragging each other on a strip in middle England no more than ten miles from the birthplace of William Shakespeare.”

I’m sure if the bard were alive today he would comment about “the sound and the fury.”

The DVD claims that Henry Ford was one of the world’s first hot rodders. In January of 1904 he drove a Ford Arrow on a one mile course on frozen Lake St. Clair to a land speed record of 91.4 mph.

The “deuce” coupe name comes from the year…1932.

The dry lakes of California’s Mojave Desert…”Muroc and El Mirage became temples to the disciples of speed.”

“The Mecca was the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.”

In 1948 Robert Petersen published “Hot Rod” Magazine.
Wally Parks was its first Editor.

In 1949 Wally Parks founded the NHRA to take drag racing off the streets.

Alex Xydias, the founder of So-Cal Speed Shop said, “Veterans coming back from World War II. still wanted excitement in their lives.” So-Cal fulfilled their “need for speed.”

So-Cal’s first race car was a belly tank car. It was fabricated from a P-38 fighter’s 350 gallon fuel tank. Its tear-drop shape was very aerodynamic.

In 1949 So-Cal ran 193 mph in a streamliner that incorporated pre-war Auto Union aero ideas.

In 1953 Ak Miller entered his “Iron Horse” hot rod in the Carrera Panamericana Mexican road race and ran at 125mph...as fast as the Ferraris. It finished 8th with gear problems.

Carroll Shelby built the first Cobra in the hot rod shop of Dean Moon.

In 1960 hot rodder Mickey Thompson blasted Bonneville at 406 mph in Challenger I. He was unable to make a record-setting return run due to mechanical issues.

In 1965 the Summers Brothers took “Goldenrod” to 409 mph at Bonneville. Their record would stand for 26 years.

Footage from the Famosa vintage drag racing meet at Bakersfield and the Grand National Roadster Show anchor the DVD. Beautiful images of A la Carte, Smoothster, Cadzilla, Invader, Alien and other gorgeous cars show why they have become automotive icons.

“Hot Rod Heaven” rates four out of five lug nuts. It may be purchased at SPEEDtv.com, Keyword “Books.”