American Icon - The Hot Rod

The introduction of the Ford Model T in 1908 and the seminal 1932 Ford V-8.

After the war, thousands of young men applied the mechanical skills they'd learned in the military toward going ever faster in their home-built cars.

As more and more people got into hot rods, entrepreneur Robert E Petersen launched Hot Rod Magazine in 1948, creating in the process the keystone publication for the culture.

With hot rodding exploding in popularity across the country thanks to Hot Rod Magazine, drag racing became the easiest way for people without access to Southern California's unique geography and climate to run their cars.

Led by Wally Parks, hot rodders began to trek to a remote corner of northwest Utah in 1949 to take advantage of the miles of salt flats that were an even better venue for high-speed runs than the dry lakebeds.

The speed equipment industry started off as an amateur pursuit, but today it's a multibillion-dollar business.