Spokane Hot Rodding

Book excerpt: Spokane, located just 20 miles from the Idaho border, is the largest city in Eastern Washington, and during the 1940s, it became a center point of an evolving postwar hot rod community. Auto sports were expanding at this time from stock car and midget racing to street cars and drag racing. Local car enthusiasts joined together with an influx of military personnel and college students who were just as passionate for hot rodding, and it was during this time that the Spokane hot rodding culture started flourishing. Together, they pushed the boundaries of hot rodding and created lifelong bonds in the process. This book explores that evolution of inland northwest hot rodding from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s, starting with the jalopy-styled hot rods that began popping up on local streets to the formation of new clubs and organized racing.