The NHRA or National Hot Rod Association was founded by Wally Parks in 1951, he wanted to get drag racing off the streets and onto safer, professional level tracks and in doing so he doubtless saved a lot of young men’s lives throughout the 50’s and 60’s.
This great 10:00 minute film covers the first ever national scale NHRA drag racing event in 1955, it’s Super-8 footage so sadly there’s no audio but it’s still well worth a watch.
Some of the cars featured are so unique that I was a a little frustrated that so little information is available on them, it seems that quite a strong cottage-industry had built up around drag racing and hand-built, one-off cars were a fairly common sight at the strip.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
Phil Hill is remembered as the only American-born Formula 1 World Champion, and one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport. Unlike many racing drivers, Hill was famously polite and softly spoken, he once famously said “I’m in the wrong business. I don’t want to beat anybody, I don’t want to be the…
This Tamiya 4×4 1:10 scale R/C car is based on the race-winning Datsun 240Z rally car used in the 1971 East African Safari Rally. The East African Safari Rally The East African Safari Rally was one of the most brutal, grueling motorsport events in the world. The race was founded in 1953 as the East…
The Lancia Stratos was the first car designed specifically for top flight rally competition – developed by the all-Italian dream team of Lancia, Nuccio Bertone, and Marcello Gandini, with engines supplied by Ferrari. We remember the Stratos today as one of the most successful rally cars of its era, but its conception and development were…
The Bizzarrini 128P was a personal passion project from the man most famous for developing the Ferrari 250 GTO – now by far the most expensive car in the world, and the most sought after by (very) well-heeled collectors. Although the 250 GTO is his most famous work, Bizzarrini developed countless other cars over his…
This series of 26 images were taken in March 1993 by Matt Thompson and his family, on a special birthday trip to the Britten workshop near Christchurch in 1993. These photographs been completely unseen by anyone other than Matt and his family for the past 26 years. 1993 was a big year for the John…
Tim Caraco has made a name for himself in recent years by capturing the zeitgeist of the 21st century chopper/bobber scene in America, Australia, and Europe. The hardcover book is 148 pages long and it includes a huge array of bespoke photography as well as the work of world class builders like Max Schaaf, Chase…
