Yeah, I saw it also.
The problem with the staff of Hot Rod & other car rags out there today is that
the 25 year-old editors have no respect for the roots of the sport and couldn't
care less about "real" hot rods- now or then. This is a money game with them.
The "build-ups" they feature rely on donated parts and then the "donors" are
rewarded with the privilidge of advertising in their mag. It does work, as a
friend of mine with a fuel injection shop gets inundated with phone calls after
an issue comes out featuring his shop or parts. There's no money at Bonneville
for them and their readership has no interest in reading about "freak" cars from
another era. After all, if the bass in your car's stereo doesn't rattle windows
at stoplights your car is a loser! I'm not sure what turns on todays "hot
rodders" but the kids around here drive lowered imports with coffee-can exhust
tips, dangerously under-sized wheels & tires with intentional excessive offset &
camber, and oh yeah, the stereo. I doubt if many of them even change their own
oil .
The paradox with Hot Rod is they still have a dinosaur there (probably our age)
in Gray Baskerville. Gray is a hot rodder & USED to cover Bonneville annually,
but the money today is probably used to cover burn-out contests. With Peterson
Publishing running the premier hot-rodding museum in So. Cal. , you would expect
better treatment of the Geezers that built the cars that made the museum a
success. Yes, Ken Walkey's name is on the wall there, along with all of the
B'ville 200 Club Members. I doubt if any of the drones working for Hot Rod today
will ever find their names there.........
Just my $.02 worth.....
Ed
Wester S Potter wrote:
> Llist,
> Did anyone else see the put down reply to the letter to the editor on Hot
> Rod written by Ken Walkey. Sort of a "there's no racing but quarter mile"
> attitude. Now I remember why I didn't re-new my subscription. Obviously
> they don't have a clue about who he is or what he has done for salt flats
> racing. After you set a land-speed record over three hundred I think you
> have to get some courtesy for your opinion. For those who don't know Ken,
> he shares the announcing duties on our 1610 radio station on the salt with
> Ron Christensen. Wonder where the Hot Rod Mag. boys would be without their
> spell checkers and editorial assistants who re-write their stories? Most of
> them have never been to the salt and some of the others must have spent too
> much time inhaling nitro fumes at the drags. I was disappointed in their
> attitude to say the least. Oh well, I am very sure they have seen his work
> on the life-like animated characters at Disneyland
> Wes
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