The 2018 running of Speed Week may be the best Bonneville event in decades. The condition of the salt hasn’t been this good in years, and along with the great weather, speed records are being broken every day. One thing is for sure, no existing record is safe at the 2018 Bonneville Speed Week.

My early years were consumed with following my dad around the garage fetching wrenches and riding to car shows with him. I have pictures of many of his high school cars, almost all of which happened to be ’49 through ’51 Fords. A few coupes, several Fordors, a smattering of Tudors. Of course, I developed a love for the Shoebox Ford.

Ever since I was a kid, I loved land speed racing. Guys like Gary Gabelich, Mickey Thompson, Craig Breedlove and Art Arfons seemed “otherworldly” in their quest to go faster than anyone. As I grew older, I decided there was some goals I needed to chase in this amazing form of “free-for-all” motorsports and this version definitely had my name written all over it. I decided to build a streamliner and go play with some crazy guys and girls and chase some crazy records.

Just off I-80, make a right, pass the gas station, and keep driving until the road ends. As soon as the hauler’s tires leave the hot pavement and touch the sacred salt of Bonneville, it’s like a boxer entering the ring for the championship fight. All the long hours of preparation are over. Danny Thompson and his crew are ready to rumble.

The 1992 NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky became one of the most memorable events in history, and not because of the car or spectator count. It was memorable because of a massive thunderstorm that hit the area and dumped nearly 5 inches of rain in just two hours, stranding hundreds of cars. Follow along as we talk about some of the issues that happened, the massive effort to get cars to higher ground, and the aftermath.

Over the years, some great stories have come out about the NSRA Street Rod Nationals. One of the best stories is about how it all started. The First Annual Rod & Custom Street Rod Nationals was a huge success with nearly 600 pre-1949 street rods from all over the country making the show. This weekend marks the forty-ninth NSRA Street Rod Nationals, and here’s the story of where it all began…

Have you ever owned a “normal” vehicle that had a special place in your heart? Most of the time, these vehicles are the ones that are the least valuable and the least exciting. It’s like going to the dog pound and rescuing the best dog you’ll ever own. Maybe it’s Grandpa’s old farm truck, Aunt Joan’s 4-door Valiant, or that beat-up Chevy Sprint that got you through college. Whatever it may be, these vehicles didn’t win your heart by their looks. They did it by providing you with experiences that stayed with you for the rest of your life.

When I get exiled from the living room, I either go out to the garage and tinker on the hot rods or grab something to read. On one particular night last week, the garage was too cold to paint the parts I was working on. I went back into the house to my mini-library of all of my car books and picked out one on Concept Cars. I had read this particular book many times before, but there’s one car in that book that has always intrigued the heck out of me. It’s the 1956 Chrysler Norseman.

If you’re a NASCAR fan, you’re probably as nuts about the night race at Bristol as we are. There’s just something about a big time race under the lights that makes it so much better than daytime racing. It’s 162,000 fans and 43 cars inside a bullring. Perhaps it’s the sparks generated when the cars bottom out, or the flames that shoot out of the exhaust pipes when they enter the corners. Whatever it is, we can’t get enough of it. Alex and Brian sit and talk with the “illuminati” of Bristol Motor Speedway, and become enlightened themselves.

The Gearheads offer their expanded thoughts and opinions on the topic of the Street Machine of the Year award, as well as the state of the hobby in general. Building from the eighth episode of the podcast, it’s a brief yet insightful look on where we are, and where the whole thing is headed, street machine-wise.