29th Goodguys Heartland Nationals w/Damon Lee: Change & Tradition
How do you measure hot rod ingenuity?
It’s hard to say. But ever since someone stripped the fenders and muffler from their Model T, hot rodders, tinkerers, and the mechanically inclined have always gathered to compare notes.
With a hundred years of hot rodding behind us, today’s scene is wildly different from what those early pioneers might have imagined. It’s also surprisingly familiar.
On Episode 3 of What Moves You, a Speedway Motors podcast, THAT’S what we’ll be talking about.
Host Joe McCollough and Damon Lee, editor of the Goodguys Gazette, cover how the 29th Speedway Motors Goodguys Heartland Nationals exemplified radical change AND timeless traditions.
In Des Moines, Goodguys crowned both the 2020 Street Rod of the Year and 2020 Street Machine of the year. The winning '32 Ford and '69 Camaro exemplify both change and tradition.
In addition to talking about these high-end cars, Joe and Damon also cover just how good homebuilders have become. There's a long tradition of resourceful hot rodders seeing something and saying, “I can build that better”, and there were plenty of great cars on hand in Des Moines that rolled right out of the home garage.
Damon also tells the story of how Goodguys Rod & Custom Association got started, and how Gary Meadors decided on the name .
Times certainly are a changin’, and Goodguys recently expanded their year cutoff to 1987. In a hobby so tradition-focused, it was an eye-opening move that brought surprising cross-pollination of old and new schools, while opening the door to new members young and old.
All that and more in Episode 3 of What Moves You.
Goodguys' Fuel Curve full feature on NATHAN POWELL’S ’32 FORD 2020 STREET ROD OF THE YEAR
Goodguys' Fuel Curve full feature on CHRIS MCPHIE’S ’69 CAMARO 2020 STREET MACHINE OF THE YEAR
Images provided by Goodguys/Damon Lee.