In celebration of the launch of the Canfield Speedway Lap 02, guest writer John Biscaro unpacks the history and heritage of America’s fastest, loudest pastime—and the origin of the craftsmanship behind it.
Ever since mankind could manage not to get bucked off a horse, we have strived to go ever faster. Americans have been particularly nimble in the navigation of velocity’s limits. Speed, competition, and the open road are integral parts of American Heritage.
These pieces have been shaped by our history and have earned their stripes in the lanes of American culture, guiding how we value swift innovation and the endless pursuit of improvement.
Despite facing unexpected tribulations and setbacks, the American passion for hotrods, tinkering, and the open road triumphed. A driven community of individuals synthesized American dreams and passions into a single, material pastime that accelerated at the tilt of a pedal.
NEW ROADS
The automobile is an integral part of American Heritage, and the last one hundred years of auto innovation is a testament to the American passion and deeply engrained nostalgia for this life-changing machine.
While Americans didn’t invent four wheels, innovation in the United States made them fashionable and—importantly—available to all. Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company, made it the company’s mission to “make people’s lives better by making mobility accessible and affordable.”
Like home ownership, cars became part of the American Dream. They represented the freedom and possibility of the open road, a reflection of the hope of the country itself.
With the implementation of the modern factory assembly line in 1913, Ford paved the way for a working middle class to emerge in America, designing cars around affordability. [2] Until this point, a family automobile was a thing of children’s dreams, saving penny after penny to hopefully one day sit in the open-air design of the first crank-start “Tin Lizzies.” Ford made these twentieth-century sugarplums dance right into the driveway.
IF YOU CAN’T BUY IT, BUILD IT
In true American fashion, it was a natural extension from the purchase of a uniform-built vehicle to turn it into something unique and better than the next-door neighbor’s.
Not much time after mass production began, the Great Depression hit in 1929. With many people out of work, boredom among the young folk ensued. And since the car was in the driveway, the puttering of the idling inline four-cylinder engine of the Model T drew the restless hands of the American youth.
The do-it-yourself mentality of American culture grew, in part, from the production of Ford’s V8 engine in 1929. When buying a new car, customers weighed the options: buy the new uber-powerful V8 engine for $80 (equal to about $1,200 in 2021), or buy the less expensive standard inline four-cylinder and supe it up in the garage to make even more powerful than the V8. The choice was obvious for many, and thus was born the spirit of democratized innovation.
OFF TO THE RACES
The tinkerers were off to the races. In the 1930s, racing clubs and teams emerged. Friends gathered in warehouses or garages after hours to put their heads together. They crafted vehicles that would never remain the same race-to-race—constant improvement was the ante to play.
Races began as friendly competitions between rival teams but grew and adapted as more eyes were drawn to the burgeoning speed culture. The sport soon gravitated westward as many groups emerged in Southern California, competing in dried lake beds. Time was key, and they wanted as much real estate for flat, straight lines to break records at breakneck speeds.
These open-air venues began to draw significant crowds, bringing groupies and rivalries to the newfound American pastime. From fanatics to first-timers, wealthy to working class, the diversity of the racing community proved to be a true American melting pot.
Support and excitement grew exponentially in the late 1930s and the racing events became increasingly rowdy—nearly reaching a point comparable to a major-league baseball game. But the excitement was drawn to a screeching and deafening halt with the events of December 7, 1941.
A NEW GENERATION
In the end, the second World War was an American victory, both on the battlefield and from the innovations on the Homefront—and both of these factors propelled an interest in racing.
In the American barracks, excitement in the tinkering of automobiles grew while men discussed their hot rods and their plans to race each other when they got back home. Those who were not serving on the front lines were assigned to weapons and vehicle manufacturing roles. These men returned home with hands-on experience that seamlessly transferred to tinkering. Legend has it, they knew their trade so well that they had no use for calipers—they knew their measurements by hand.
Overcoming the monumental challenges of the Great Depression and Second World War had also produced an immensely patriotic generation, then who poured their new skills and fresh elation to their trades.
Big, loud, American muscle cars were the product of this highly skilled and proud generation of veterans. These men and their sons would be the pioneers of professional racing, representing American culture in wide-bodied, boisterous hunks of steel and rubber. Racing became so popular that it naturally extended into a national pastime, and eventually, into a national sport.
In 1948, NASCAR was founded because of a boom in unsanctioned, for-profit racing, and it remains a core piece of American culture today.[3] Crowds swarm to witness the awe of their favorite racecar fly bumper-to-bumper around the concrete oval that many call home. And after the popularity of television increased, passion for racing grew to reach audiences across the nation.
PULL AHEAD TO COME TOGETHER
Auto racing as a sport embodies American culture in that in the race to constantly improve, they’re really competing with themselves. Drivers edge ahead of one another, always trying to get the next inch of lead — but what they’re really trying to beat is their own last lap.
All the while, these driven individuals are surrounded by countless people—mechanics, spectators, aspiring speed freaks—brought together to watch with bated breath.
Storytelling is part of the American DNA. We pass on the things that fire us up—the things we obsess over, that thrill us, that bring us joy, that teach us lessons we’ll never forget. The American automobile has come to be an heirloom—a physical symbol embedded with countless stories. A mosaic of that which was important to the generation prior that will be cherished for many more to come.
We take to the open road as a sign of our freedom, blasting music in steel of striking color to be unapologetically proud of who we are. The hidden muscle, working ceaselessly under the hood, remains a testament to our constant strive for innovation—not earned without scars.