Can They Outlaw Hot Rodding?

[Ed Blown Vert]

Can They Outlaw Hot Rodding?

We may not want to admit it, but hot rodding has a long history of running afoul of the law. Making a car go faster or radically altering its appearance just doesn't sit well with The Man.We may not want to admit it, but hot rodding has a long history of running afoul of the law. Making a car go faster or radically altering its appearance just doesn't sit well with The Man. It's been that way since rodding's first big growth spurt following World War II, when the common perception was that rodders were outlaws blatantly ignoring traffic laws in fast, noisy jalopies. The reality then, as now, is that few rodders actually lived the thug life, but it didn't appear that way when local newspapers exploited the tragedy of street racing fatalities with lurid front-page headlines and grim accident-scene photos. In fact, one of the reasons this magazine was founded was to burnish the already tarnished reputation of the men who hopped up cars.


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[Schmalgar]

Of course they can. It just takes one knee-jerk reaction at the federal level. Like the Ohio state congressman who pushed that law through after his daughter was paralyzed (I think) by street racers. Sad and tragic, yes, and the racers involved derserve punishment, but his reaction was to push a quick law through banning NOS because the TA involved had NOS. Nobody really voted against it because his daughter was hurt and he had all the emotional support. All it takes is for a federal congressman or senator to go through something similar, and a federal law limiting or banning 'hot rodding' could easily get pushed through.

Simple driving is still the number one cause of death among teens and young adults, year after year, but they don't ban driving. But the few isolated racing related stories always get big coverage, so they get big reactions.