Birth of a HOT ROD Nation

One of the reasons I’m so proud to work for HOT ROD is the legacy of accomplishments of the staffers who came before me. I recently wrote about how HRM was “The Original Influencer” for readers, but the magazine has had incredible impact on the industry as well.

- David Freiburger

It’d be disingenuous to claim that Robert E. Petersen founded HOT ROD in 1948 for any reason other than to capitalize on advertising for the burgeoning speed-equipment marketplace, but when he did so, HRM quickly became the largest and loudest voice to help sell products. Companies like Edelbrock existed many years before HRM began, but many pioneers have credited Petersen for making their business thrive, which led to more companies springing up. So, while HOT ROD didn’t create the industry, it certainly made it huge and mainstream.

HOT ROD’s first editor, Wally Parks, was hired in 1949, and made it his mission to lend legitimacy to hot rodding in general, leading to work with local police departments and even placement in TV shows such as Dragnet. This alone helped the marketplace. In 1951, Wally founded the National Hot Rod Association from within the HOT ROD offices and used the magazine as its bugle, to the near exclusion of any other organizer after NHRA held its first drag race in Pomona in 1953. Today, NHRA remains the single largest drag racing sanctioning body.

Of course, HOT ROD also spawned a publishing empire that radically increased Petersen’s influence, starting with the launch of Motor Trend magazine in September 1949. It’s now