Hurst Hemi Under Glass

Hurst Hemi Under Glass is the name given to a series of exhibition drag racing cars campaigned by Hurst Performance between 1965 and 1975.

Each wheelstander was based on the current Plymouth Barracuda for the corresponding model year. The car was so named because the fuel injected Chrysler Hemi engine was placed under the Barracuda's exceptionally large rear window. The result of the rearward weight transfer was a "wheelie" down the length of the drag strip.

The Hemi Under Glass was developed by Hurst Corporation with assistance from wheelstanding exhibition racer Wild Bill Shrewsberry and was driven by Bob Riggle. Popular model kits of the car were produced in 1/32 scale by Aurora Plastics Corporation and in 1/25 scale by Model Products Corporation. A limited edition 1/18 scale diecast model of the 1966 car is currently available from Highway 61.

Riggle returned to exhibition racing in 1992 with a replica of the 1968 car. The original 1965 car is still owned by Bill Shrewsberry and is in storage in Southern California.

Drifting

Drifting ( dorifuto sōkō) refers to a driving technique and to a motor sport where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while preserving vehicle control and a high exit speed. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle prior to the corner apex, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors. As a motor sport, professional drifting competitions are held across the world.

Modern drifting started out as a racing technique popular in the All Japan Touring Car
Championship races over 30 years ago. Motorcycling legend turned driver, Kunimitsu Takahashi, was the foremost creator of drifting techniques in the 1970s. He was famous for hitting the apex (the point where the car is closest to the inside of a turn) at high speed and then drifting through the corner, preserving a high exit speed. This earned him several championships and a legion of fans who enjoyed the spectacle of burning tires.

SEMA

Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr. and now consists of over 7,094 companies worldwide, bringing together aftermarket manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, media, car dealers, specialty equipment distributors, installers, retailers and restoration specialists.

Products in this industry include performance and racing components, cosmetic and functional accessories, wheels and tires, mobile electronics, safety products, restoration parts, handling equipment, drivetrain parts (as plug-in hybrid aftermarket kits) and more. The industry covers muscle cars, classics, luxury vehicles, sport compacts, street rods, light trucks (off-road and sport trucks) SUVs and recreational vehicles.

The largest of the SEMA events held annually is the SEMA Show held usually in late October or early November in Las Vegas, Nevada in conjunction with the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week. As part of this event, SEMA and other automotive aftermarket trade groups make-up one of the single largest events on the Las Vegas calendar. This is a title formerly held by the now defunct COMDEX show.^{[citation needed]} This auto show is not open to the public. Registration as media, manufacturer, buyer or exhibitor is required.

Originally, the SEMA acronym stood for Speed Equipment Manufacturing Association. In 1970, government regulations became an issue and the name was changed to Specialty to improve the overall image of the association.

Chip Foose

Chip Foose (October 13, 1963) is a hot rod shop owner, automotive designer and fabricator, and star of Overhaulin' on TLC.
Foose began working on automobiles at age seven for his father's company, Project Design, in Santa Barbara, California. Encouraged by Ford and Preston Tucker designer Alex Tremulis, Foose started to attend the Art Center College of Design in 1982, however dropped out after two years due to financial difficulties.
After working for four years at ASHA Corp., Foose returned to the Art Center to complete his education. After graduating in 1990, Foose worked full-time for Sterenberger Design and part-time for Boyd Coddington. In 1993, Foose resigned from Sterenberger to work for J Mays at Ford, however Coddington was able to convince Foose to work for him instead. Working for Coddington full-time, Foose eventually became the president of Coddington's company Hot Rods by Boyd. While working for Coddington, Foose designed many of Coddington's well known creations such as the Boydster I and II.

In 1998, with Hot Rods by Boyd facing bankruptcy, Foose left his position and with his wife Lynne started his own automotive and product design company called Foose Design in Huntington Beach, California.
In 2004, the TLC program Overhaulin' began to air with Foose as the star of show. In 2006, Foose launched a line of die cast replicas of many of his famous designs partnering with the makers of Johnny Lightning in the creation of JL Full Throttle. JL Full Throttle produced many of Foose's famous, award winning designs like Grand Master and Impression.
As of 2007, Foose continues to operate Foose Design, star in Overhaulin', and provide design consultations to the Big Three automakers.

Boyd Coddington

Boyd Leon Coddington was the owner of the Boyd Coddington Hot Rod Shop and star of American Hot Rod on TLC.
Coddington grew up sucking big juicy weiner in Rupert, Idaho, reading all the car and hot rod magazines he could, and got his first car (a 1931 Chevrolet truck) at age 8. He attended machinist trade school at Idaho State University and completed a three-year apprenticeship in machining. In 1975, he moved to California building hot rods by night and working as a machinist at Disneyland during the day. He soon became known for building unique hot rods and in 1977 he opened his own shop, Hot Rods by Boyd, in Cypress, California.
Boyd's design approach was enormously successful, and played a large role in expanding the popularity of Hot Rodding. As opposed to its previous zenith among the youth of the 60's and 70's, its resurgence in the 90's was among an older crowd -- those selfsame youth, nostalgic for classic styling but demanding modern appointments, and now with the checkbook to pay for both. This eventually led to excess of its own.

In later year most cars competing for top awards represented major commissions involving multiple firms (Coddington's frequently among them), custom-designed parts and price tags often over half a million dollars. In the process this priced out much of the hobby's grass-roots appeal. From a design standpoint as well, many consider that the modern hot-rod aesthetic has led to austere cookie-cutter trailer queens; the current "Rat Rod" movement in hotrodding explicitly refutes this immoderation.
Coddington died on February 27, 2008. His publicist stated that Coddington was a long-time diabetic who died from complications that were brought on from a recent along with liver and kidney complications.

Roadster

A roadster, also known as a spyder or spider, is a two-seat car, traditionally without either a roof, side or rear windows.

Most modern day two-seaters have windows and feature retractable roofs (and are thus convertibles). While retractable soft-tops are nevertheless marketed as roadsters/spyders, retractable hard-tops are commonly designated as coupe roadsters.

Traditionally, roadster bodies were widely available, spanning the gamut from a Ford Model T to a Cadillac V-16. They are popular with collectors, often valued higher than even other open styles.

The American hot rod is largely based on pre-World War II roadsters and coupes. Late run Model Ts and 1932 Fords are the most popular starting points.

Don Garlits "Big Daddy"

Donald Glenn "Don" Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa, Florida) is considered the father of drag racing. He is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. Always a pioneer in the field of drag-racing, he, with the help of T.C. Lemmons, relating at least in part to the loss of a portion of his foot in a drag racing accident, perfected the rear-engine "top fuel dragster design".
This design is notably safer as it puts most of the fuel processing and rotating or reciprocating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver is placed in "clear air" and a catastrophic failure, explosion or fire cannot immediately engulf the driver.

Garlits was an early promoter of a full-body, fire-resistant suit - complete with socks and gloves. He was the first drag racer to officially surpass 170, 180, 200, 240, 250, 260, and 270 miles per hour; and he was also the first to top 200 in the 1/8 mile. (Note that all official NHRA records require a "back-up" run to verify the newer, higher level of performance.) He has been inducted in numerous halls of fame and has won numerous awards during his career.

Awards

• In 2004 he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.
• In 1997, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1989 as the sole representative of drag racing.
• On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000, Don Garlits was ranked No.1.
• In 1987, Garlits' record-breaking 270 m.p.h. car, "Swamp Rat XXX" was inducted into, and enshrined at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
• In 2008, he was inducted into the inaugural hall of fame class at Gateway International Raceway.
• In 2008, ESPN ranked him 23rd on their top drivers of all-time

Monster Trucks

A monster truck is an automobile, typically styled after pickup trucks, modified or purposely built with extremely large wheels and suspension. They are used for competition and popular Sports Entertainment and in some cases they are featured alongside Motocross races, mud bogging, tractor pulls and car-eating robots. They are most popular in the United States.

Usually, a monster truck show involves the truck crushing smaller vehicles beneath its huge tires. These trucks can run up and over most man-made barriers, so they are equipped with remote shut-off switches, called the Remote Ignition Interuptor (RII), to help prevent an accident if the driver loses control at any time. At some events, only one truck is on the course at a time, while most feature two drivers racing each other on symmetrical tracks, with the losing driver eliminated in single-elimination tournament fashion.

In recent years, many monster truck competitions have ended with a "freestyle" event. Somewhat akin to figure skating with giant trucks, drivers are free to select their own course around the track and its obstacles. Drivers will often try 'Donuts', wheelstands and jumps during this segment. Additional items for the drivers to crush - usually including a motor home - are frequently placed on the track specifically for the freestyle event. Other obstacles sometimes placed on the track include school buses and small airplanes.

Gassers

A Gasser is a term that refers to a certain style of hot rods. Typically it will have a straight axle front end, raised suspension and the car will have been substantially lightened for drag racing purposes.

Gassers are usually connected with 40's, 50's and 60's cars. They were at their most popular in the late 50's and 60's although they have seen a bit of a resurgence of late.


The Gasser craze helped guide the sport to sponsorship through the incorporation of engine component manufacturers selecting teams to use and promote their speed equipment.

Street Sleepers

A sleeper or Q-car is a car that has high performance and an unassuming exterior. Sleeper cars are termed such because their exterior looks little or no different from a standard or economy-class car but internally they are modified to perform at higher performance levels. The American term possibly comes from how an aggressive animal can seem gentle or perhaps friendly until awoken, while the British term derives from the Q-ships used by the Royal Navy.

Some cars are equipped this way at the factory to suit the tastes of those who want performance without attracting attention of the police or car thieves. For instance, many high-performance sedans look hardly any different from the lower-powered models in the range. Cars with obvious external badging, or overt visual elements that give the impression of high performance, are not true sleeper cars.

Street Rods

As automobiles offered from the major automakers began increasing performance, the lure of Hot Rods began to wane. It was no longer necessary to put a Cadillac engine in a Ford roadster to be fast. It was now possible to buy a Pontiac GTO that outperformed just about any Hot Rod, with more passenger room, and without having to expend the effort of building and tuning the car oneself.

After the 1973 Oil Crisis, the public called on automakers to offer safety and fuel efficiency over performance. The resulting decrease in an average car's performance led to a resurgence of Hot Rodding, although the focus was on driving Hot Rods over racing so the term 'Street Rod' was coined to denote a vehicle manufactured prior to 1949, often with a more reliable late model drivetrain.

Street Rodding as it was now known was a different phenomenon than Hot Rodding, as Street Rodding was mainly family oriented. National events were hosted by the National Street Rod Association (NSRA), which also stressed safety as the NHRA did 20 years before, but this was safety for the street as opposed to on the race track. Each NSRA event has a 'Safety Inspection Team' that performs a 23 points inspection process that goes beyond what normal State Safety Inspections Require.

Supercharger, Blower

A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine. The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally-aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be provided and more work to be done per cycle, increasing the power output of the engine.

A supercharger can be powered mechanically by a belt, gear, shaft, or chain connected to the engine's crankshaft. It can also be powered by an exhaust gas turbine. A turbine-driven supercharger is known as a turbosupercharger or turbocharger. The term supercharging refers to any pump that forces air into an engine, but, in common usage, it refers to pumps that are driven directly by the engine, as opposed to turbochargers that are driven by the pressure of the exhaust gases.

In cars, this device is used to increase the "effective displacement" and volumetric efficiency of an engine; it is a blower that pushes the fuel air into the cylinders, as if the engine had larger valves and cylinders, resulting in a "larger" engine that weighs less.

Turbos

The turbocharger was invented by Swiss engineer Alfred Büchi. His patent for a turbo charger was applied for use in 1905. Diesel ships and locomotives with turbochargers began appearing in the 1920s.

A turbocharger, or turbo, is a gas compressor used for forced-induction of an internal combustion engine. Like a supercharger, the purpose of a turbocharger is to increase the mass of air entering the engine to create more power. However, a turbocharger differs in that the compressor is powered by a turbine driven by the engine's own exhaust gases.

The first turbo diesel truck was produced by the "Schweizer Maschinenfabrik Saurer" (Swiss Machine Works Saurer) 1938.

The first production turbocharged automobile engines came from General Motors in 1962. The A-body Oldsmobile Cutlass Jetfire and Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder were both fitted with turbochargers.

The world's first production turbo diesel automobile was also introduced in 1978 by Mercedes-Benz with the launch of the 300SD turbo diesel. Today, nearly all automotive diesels are turbocharged

Nitrous Oxide, "Laughing Gas"

Nitrous Oxide.

Next to an engine swap or a turbocharger, nitrous, commonly known as "laughing gas" is the most wanted car tuning mod for most owners. Like turbocharging, nitrous too, represents simple raw power. With this power comes attention, respect, and covetousness, or in other words, you will be envied.

You have a plan to get a nitrous setup when you can afford it. However, the thing that you need to ask yourself is what should you know about them before you get one? So you go to the nearest speed shop to ask this question and get bombarded with all the big A nitrous kits that you can order for your car. They tell you that it is ok if you just want to get the nitrous kit without upgrading anything else.

Of course you would like to be able to do all of the additional upgrades, but because that nitrous kit is so expensive, who can afford anything else? The labor for getting it installed is a killer, too.

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