This short drama film from 1953, produced by Sid Davis and winner of the Trend Publications Award, gives viewers a look at the hot rod or drag racing culture. The film revolves around a teenager, Bill Bower, who moves to California and learns how safety and education have been integrated into the hot rod scene. The film opens with Bill driving his 1928-9 Ford Model A Roadster down a street in what is presumably Inglewood, CA. Cars pull in to park at a high school (01:28). Bill parks his roadster and climbs out of the car and walks into school. A group of boys sit around at lunch. Bill pulls his roadster out of the parking lot and speeds off (03:12). He is then pulled over by a police car. Bill sits at a school court, presided over by the school’s safety officer, Jim Daniels. The film reviews some of the driving fatality statistics following World War II, then cuts to a flashback of a high school boy, Tom, who died racing his hot rod. Tom and another teenager work on his car’s engine (06:40). Tom races his car, a 1952 Mercury, down a street against a train and tries to pass in front of the train but crashes. Members of the Knights Hot Rod Club perform a safety inspection on a car (09:35). Jim Daniels brings a car to the boys in the club to inspect. Mr. Hanks (Tom’s dad) and Officer Daniels examine an airstrip to use for drag racing (11:30). Viewers see a car speed down the runway during a time trial. Two boys change a flat tire (12:30). Footage shows students in a safe driving course. Famed racer Ralph DePalma speaks to the students in the safe driving course (13:28). People weigh and classify a dragster and then perform a safety inspection on it (14:44). A toddler drives a toy car at the dragstrip (15:20). Footage shows young men and women working on their cars at the dragstrip, including the dragster named the Bean Bandit (15:32), which holds the speed record for the dragstrip. The film shows the hot rods racing on the dragstrip (16:05). High school kids sit in the stands and watch the races. Bill drives his car but doesn’t set a new speed record. He then drags against another driver and is quickly left behind (18:17). A 1925 Star drives past Bill as he stands on the side of the road with his broken-down car (19:15). The film then shows him standing next to a driver’s education car; he then takes the driving course in a large vacant parking lot. A girl gives the Bill his hot rod club membership card (20:22). He watches as the rest of the club examines his engine. Bill works at a Mobilgas gas station pumping gas. Bill is shown working on his car (22:02), and then receiving a trophy for a reliability run. DePalma introduces Bill to other drivers at the Indianapolis 500 (23:10); the film shows famous racers like Manny Ayala, Harry Hart, Bob Estes and driver Don Freeland, Duke Nalon, Roger Ward, and Indy Speedway President Wilbur Shaw. The film then shows footage from the Indianapolis 500 (24:08). Bill and DePalma sit in the stands and watch the race. The film concludes with shots of Bill driving his car down a street (24:47), covers of Hot Rod Magazine, articles about student hot rod clubs, footage of 1950s cars, and a panoramic shot of the airstrip during a drag race.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com