Drag Socks
Description: The only way to get big stroke in the early decades of hot rodding was taking an existing crank, building up the journals through welding, and then machine finishing it, and that is what Alex Alexander had a knack for. As a welder, machinist, and avid hot rodder, Alex started making his own welded strokers in the '50s. As orders stacked up from word of mouth, he eventually had to admit that he had a business and formalized his operation as the less than creatively named 'Crankshaft Company' in 1965. From mild to wild, Crankshaft Company could build it and build it right, whether it was a street driven small block or a top fuel big block, the originator of the welded stroker could be counted on to go the distance.
Description: Discover how Baldwin Chevrolet, in collaboration with Joel Rosen’s Motion Performance, transformed 1960s–70s Chevys into street-legal drag cars with high-performance crate engines and wild custom body kits—outpacing rivals like Yenko, Nickey, and Royal Pontiac. ### **Baldwin Chevrolet & Motion Performance: Long Island’s Muscle Car Revolution** During the 1960s–70s muscle car era, dealerships like **Yenko**, **Nickey Chevrolet**, **Grand Spaulding Dodge**, and **Royal Pontiac** dominated the “supercar” scene by upgrading stock-bodied vehicles with **tuned factory engines** or **high-performance crate engines**. However, **Baldwin Chevrolet** of **Baldwin, New York (Long Island)** carved a unique legacy by partnering with *
Description: C&T Automotive was started in 1951 in Sherman Oaks, California by Don Clark and Clem Tebo, hence the C and the T in the name. While they did a little bit of everything as far as making parts for racing engines, turning out competition grade stroker crankshafts was their bread and butter. Whether you were drag racing, burning up the dirt oval, or swapping paint on the stock car circuit, there was a good stretch there when it was safe to say that the fastest guys were running C&T crankshafts.
Description: Designed as a value brand, Plymouth was well-suited to serve the post-war baby boom youth market as young men (and women) began taking to the streets, but Plymouth knew that customers wanted more. The combination of a line of lightweight vehicles with low price points, and easy access to some serious powertrains would propel the brand’s ascension from economy car nameplate to muscle car legend. Taking these lightweight cars and jamming a 426ci Max Wedge Hemi into them made for instant drag strip missiles, and professional racers saw what Plymouth was going and got behind them in great numbers. By 1970, Plymouth’s line of affordable muscle cars had blossomed into the Rapid Transit System, a group of true performers.
Description: John Bandimere, Sr. built his first race car in 1937, an old coupe running a flathead V8, which he raced in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb to a ninth place finish. Always known as an innovator, Bandimere went on to become a nationally known expert on supercharging, and began manufacturing and selling speed parts as Bandimere Auto Parts in Denver, Colorado. In 1958, Bandimere purchased land just west of Denver, where he and his family began constructing a drag strip that was to be used to augment their auto parts business. That small drag strip on the hill would become Bandimere Speedway, or as many call it, Thunder Mountain. The drag strip would grow and eventually eclipse the speed shop, with Bandimere focusing on its operation full time.
Description: In 1923, George Wight opened an auto parts yard on Gage Avenue in Bell, California. The shop was a combination of salvage yard and machine shop, and it catered to the race crowd in the early days of dry lakes racing. George began removing speed equipment from the junkers he bought. George sold the speed equipment separately under what eventually became Bell Auto Parts. Bell Auto Parts is one of the first, if not the first, speed shop in the United States and it didn't take long before it was the center of racing and rodding activities for the greater Los Angeles area.
Description: Carl's Speed Shop is a legendary name in high-performance motorcycle tuning, known today as a go-fast landmark in Daytona Beach, Florida. But long before it became a destination for speed enthusiasts on the East Coast, Carl's Speed Shop had its roots in Whittier, California, where it operated until 1996. Founded by Carl Morrow, a pioneer in motorcycle performance and drag racing, the shop built its reputation on making American iron faster, louder, and more powerful. In Southern California's hotbed of car culture, Carl spent decades tuning engines, crafting performance parts, and pushing the limits of speed.
