American Icon: The Hot Rod

Interviews, archival footage and commentary from hot rod racers, builders and historians such as Ken Gross, Bruce 'Deuce Bruce' Meyer, Tony Thacker, Troy Ladd and Pete Chapouris tell about the early days of the hot rod movement in Southern California.

Interviews, archival footage and commentary from hot rod racers, builders and historians such as Phil Remington, Vic Edeobrock, Jr., Tommy Ivo, Dick Messer and Steven Young.

Interviews, archival footage and commentary from hot rod racers, builders and historians such as Bob 'Pete' Petersen, Wally Parks and Ak Miller who brought the country's attention to the new sports of organized drag racing and hot rodding.

Drag racers talk about the state of the sport in the 1950s, with footage from the 1955 Nationals in Kansas and the 1959 Smoker March Meet in Bakersfield, California, with profiles of racers of the era.

Vintage footage of cars from the 1930s and 1940s at the Bonneville Salt Flats and interviews with racers and custom car builders such as Steven Young, Art Chrisman and Ed Iskenderian enhance a history of the strip where land speed records are set.

Photographs from vintage catalogs and interviews with those who were there provide a history of the early years of aftermarket speed equipment, with familiar names such as Edelbrock, Navarro, Evans, Meyer, Iskenderian and Hilborn.

Archival still pictures and film footage as well as interviews with drivers such as Tommy Ivo, Phil Remington, Tony Thacker, Steven Young, and Bruce Meyer provide a representative look at the hot rod innovations of the 1960s.

Chip Foose narrates over old video, pictures and first-hand stories that explore the origins of the American classic car racing culture that developed on the streets and drag strips of Southern California in the 1930 and 40s.

Alex Xydias closed the doors of the original So-Cal Speed Shop in 1961. But when Bruce Meyer commissioned the restoration of the famed So-Cal Belly Tank in the mid-90's, Xydias teamed up with Pete Chapouris to reopen the shop as a high-end restoration and fabrication destination. Also part of the team is younger builder Jimmy Shine, whose Bonneville success and influential primered '34 truck have helped bring the shop into a new century.