When we talk about the “glory days” of drag racing, we’re not talking about the cars, alone. Sure, the cars are at the center of our affections, but there was also the dragstrip exhibition scene. Y’k...
Photo: MP Collection If you’ve been following along for awhile, it won’t come as a surprise that we never miss a chance to share an old snapshot from what we believe to be the greatest era of motorsp...
OK, OK–forgive the blurriness, but we had to blow this thing up to see all the crazy-good details in it: that digger, the paint, the trailer, the ’58 Chevy in the background, the fuelie set-up, the b...
Tom Jobe, a third of the legendary “Surfers” dragster team that romped across the sport in the Sixties, passed away last week. Jobe, Bob Skinner and Mike Sorokin weren’t surfers at all, but they were...
The Corvette. I’m gonna switch from the “royal we” that I usually use to convey the general opinion and position of Hemmings to the “lowly subject me” for a minute. Because I’m gonna use my own thoug...
Abigayle Morgan and Amanda Gutierrez pose with the McPherson College 1965 Porsche 356 C. Photo courtesy of the McPherson College Auto Restoration Facebook page. Amanda Gutierrez and Abigayle Morgan o...
This week, we’re bringing you a great video that’s probably best just listened to while you’re googling vintage drag racing photos. The one and only Dave Wallace, Jr. – the hardest-working man in dra...
If you’re here, we don’t have to convince you that the first-gen Funny Car era was one of the coolest, if not craziest, in drag racing history. Social media is chock-full of great old photos and some...
Tom McEwen’s 1968-’69 Top Fuel slingshot dragster. Photos by Dan Duckworth, courtesy Mecum Auctions. By the mid-1960s, Tom McEwen had earned a reputation as a winning drag racer (and the nickname “Th...
The legendary Jim “Jake” Jacobs and his hot rod that changed everything at the Grand National Roadster show. Photos by author, unless otherwise noted. It’s been a minute since the One Perfect Day cre...
In 1968, the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indy were recorded for a documentary produced by Hollywood’s Documentary Productions Inc. Not only is the hour-plus film an amazing capture of what drag racing was...
Photos courtesy Bob Plumer collection, Lee Smith collection, Tim Costello/Mopar Collector’s Guide, Fred Engelhart, Ron Thums, Don Moats. It’s no secret that one of our favorite periods of Cardom is t...
Aaron Kahan’s 1927 Ford Model T coupe is anything but bad news. Footage: @benkahan Since we’re celebrating one of the greatest annual drag racing events this week – the California Hot Rod Reunion – w...
A glorious evening at Famoso Dragstrip. Photo: Robert W. Morris, III This week, we’re celebrating the few days before the 27th annual California Hot Rod Reunion, while absolutely not celebrating the ...
A brief moment when drag racing and beehives collided in full vintage glory. Ah, 1970. In Drag Racing, it was that magical period that was still everything good about the glorious Sixties, but nothin...
A brief moment when drag racing and beehives collided in full vintage glory. Ah, 1970. In Drag Racing, it was that magical period that was still everything good about the glorious Sixties, but nothin...
American Racing Equipment ‘s magazine ad for its new pizza-cutter 4 x 15 magnesium frontrunner. Here at Hemmings, we’re nothing if not steeped in history. Comes along with the territory, right? Becau...
Raceway Park photos by Hemmings staff. In July 1965, the Napp family opened Raceway Park as a drag strip on the site of a former cattle ranch in central New Jersey. In the five-plus decades since, th...
Bob Glidden is inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in April, 2005. Photo by Autostock, courtesy Ford Motor Company. When Bob Glidden was inducted as number four on the NHRA’s Top...
Gas Ronda. Photo by Greg Sharp. Even as a child, long before the sport of drag racing entered his life, Gaspar Ronda went by the nickname “Gas.” One of Ford’s factory Thunderbolt racers and an early ...
The Gentleman Racer this week took a look at all the various re-bodied Cobras, either by Ford itself or by coachbuilders such as Ghia. * Will cars soon be relegated to museum curiosities, or will the...
In 1950, the novel Hot Rod, by Henry Gregor Felsen, showed young people that hopping up cars was cool, but racing them on public roads could be deadly. In the intervening years, beginning with Santa ...
Photo courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum. In January of 2008, NHRA Top Fuel dragster pilot Doug Herbert was racing in Arizona when he received the call that every parent dreads: His two sons, Jon, a...
Photo by Steve Reyes. Though it’s been 40 years since “Jungle Jim” Liberman died, the impression he left on the sport of drag racing – particularly among funny car fans – through his incessant tourin...
The 2016 Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame induction class, with founder John Scotti (foreground). Photos courtesy Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Last year was the first time that the newly estab...