For many of us, watching old drag racing footage while listening to early rock ‘n roll music is similar to watching old home movies of your extended family. You see images of people that are total strangers or that you vaguely know of. Yet they are seen in a context that is so familiar that you know instinctively that they are “your people.”

We found a great example of this phenomenon on some cool vintage video at the YouTube website.  It features classic drag racing action at the old San Gabriel Dragway with a soundtrack of a song called “Chevy Shut Down” by the Jaguars. The video is fun, familiar, and shows a little slice of Americana in a time gone by. It also shows a stage in the evolution of both hot rodding and music which continues into tomorrow.

Hot rodding is a journey, not a destination. At some point in time, it will be our images that are looked upon as “the good old days.” The video records of our events as well as the audio used to enhance those experiences will not only tell tales of history, they will also convey the cultural connections that we have with future generations of enthusiasts! What type of music do you think will be set to our video records that will be produced in 40 years?