Over Labor Day weekend in 1956, the NHRA held its second-ever National Championship Drags, drawing 352 entrants “representing most of the 48 states and some prime winners who came from British Columbia and Hawaii” to a year-old dragstrip in Kansas City, Missouri. “Cars of every type and description gathered in the huge, expanded pit area at KC; each crew intent on taking home top honors in its class,” reported Hot Rod in its November 1956 issue.

In 1958, Ford introduced the FE V8 engine series, named for its intended use in Ford and Edsel passenger cars. Vic Edelbrock Sr., who built his namesake speed equipment business engineering parts for Ford’s Flathead V8, “took an immediate interest in the new Ford engine,” said Hot Rod’s Ray Brock. So did Edelbrock’s customers, who asked about the engine’s power potential and modifications needed to get there. Edelbrock bought an Edsel version of the FE, measuring 361 ci and rated at 303 hp and 405 lb.-ft. of peak torque, and embarked on a series of tests to see just what the engine was capable of. He invited Brock to cover the tests, which resulted in a two-part series, “Full House for ’58 Fords,” in the August and September 1958 issues.

Hot Rod Feature Editor Steve Kelly traveled to Alabama in April 1970 to cover NASCAR’s inaugural Alabama 500 in Talladega. His spot along the pit wall gave him a good view of the furious activity that took place while the race was under caution.

In the November 1988 issue of Hot Rod, Editor Jeff Smith called on car builders to “shake things up in the street machine world a little bit” when it came to considering cars for build-up projects. Rather than the same-old, same-old Camaros, “why not consider something completely different—such as a ’53 Studebaker Commander or a ’49 Ford—as Pro Street candidates?” Enough people listened that it became a movement in car building that the magazine called Dare to be Different.

Hot Rod magazine Publisher Ray Brock picked up the phone. Mickey Thompson was on the line, calling from Detroit.

Barney Navarro was best known as a speed-equipment pioneer in the years immediately after World War II. He was a dry-lakes racer before the war, studied Ford engine components while he served in the Army Air Corps, and used that knowledge to produce flathead intake manifolds, cylinder heads and other products sold by Navarro Racing Equipment.

Sixty years ago, what we know now as the Rolex 24 at Daytona began as the three-hour Daytona Continental. It was the brainchild of NASCAR’s Bill France, Sr., and was intended to bring the world’s best sports and road-race cars to his Daytona Speedway.

Less than a year after the death of his older brother Bobby, Alfred “Al” Unser Sr. succumbed to his years-long battle with cancer in December. He was 82.

The 1968 running of the Southern California Timing Association’s (SCTA) Speed Week at Bonneville marked the 20th time hot rodders had gathered at the Salt Flats to see just how fast their roadsters, lakesters, streamliners and other wheeled creations could go. Hot Rod dispatched Photo Editor Eric Rickman, himself a 20-year Salt Flat veteran, to cover the event. He opened his story in the January 1969 issue with this timeless image of Bob Westbrook swapping Flathead engines right on the lakebed.

A feature story in the August 1960 issue of Hot Rod showed off two “sharp Fords” that had been customized by “lucky owner” Ron Coleman. The ’32 five-window coupe and the ’51 coupe provide a nice snapshot of styling trends that were popular in the late ’50s and early ’60s.