Hot Rod Race

"Hot Rod Race" is a Western swing song about a fictional automobile race in San Pedro, California, between a Ford and a Mercury. First recorded by Arkie Shibley, and released in November 1950, it broke the ground for a series of hot rod songs recorded for the car culture of the 1950s and 1960s.^[1] With its hard driving boogie woogie beat, it is sometimes named one of the first rock and roll songs.^[2]

"Hot Rod Race"
1950 Gilt-Edge release
Single by Arkie Shibley and His Mountain Dew Boys
Released	November 1950 (1950-11)
Genre	Western swing
Label	Gilt-Edge
Songwriter(s)	George Wilson (credited)

History

The writing of the song was credited to George Wilson, but some sources suggest that it was in fact the work of George's 17-year-old son, Ron Wilson. George Wilson took the song to Shibley, who in turn took it to Bill McCall, owner of 4 Star Records in Pasadena, California. After McCall turned it down, Shibley recorded and released it on his own Mountain Dew label, but after it started to become popular McCall reconsidered and reissued the recording on the 4-Star subsidiary label, Gilt-Edge.^[3] Released as Gilt-Edge 5021, and credited to Arkie Shibley and His Mountain Dew Boys, it became a national hit, staying on the charts for seven weeks, peaking at number five in 1951.^[4] More polished cover versions were soon recorded on major labels by Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan (Capitol), Red Foley (Decca), and Tiny Hill (Mercury). Hill's version reached number seven on the Country chart and number 29 on the pop chart.^[3]

Shibley's record may have climbed higher and outpaced any of the others, but his second verse opened up with:

Now along about the middle of the night
We were ripping along like white folks might.

Eastern radio stations, never a fan of Western swing anyway, refused to play it.^[5] Dolan changed the verse to say "plain folks"; Hill to "rich folks"; and Foley to "poor folks".

The song ends with:

When it flew by us, I turned the other way.
The guy in Mercury had nothing to say,
For it was a kid, in a hopped-up Model A.

Shibley recorded at least four follow-up songs, but they were much less successful.^[3]

Legacy

"Hot Rod Race" prompted the even more successful answer song "Hot Rod Lincoln", a hit for Charlie Ryan (recorded 1955 and 1959, charted 1960, No. 33 pop), Johnny Bond (1960, No. 26 pop) and Commander Cody (1972, No. 9 pop). Shibley's record also directly influenced Chuck Berry's "Maybellene", Gene Vincent's "Race With The Devil", and the succession of hot rod records by the Beach Boys and others in the early 1960s.^[2]

References

1. Hoffmann, Frank: Sports and Recreation Fads, p. 179, Routledge, ISBN 978-0918393920: "The record industry was particularly successful in exploiting the craze [hot rodding]. The first genre recording, "Hot Rod Race," released in November 1950, sold 200,000 copies."
2. Jim Dawson; Steve Propes (1992). What Was the First Rock'n'Roll Record. Boston & London: Faber & Faber. p. 79-83. ISBN 0-571-12939-0.
3. Dik de Heer, "Jesse Lee "Arkie" Shibley", Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved May 31, 2024
4. Whitburn, Joel; The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 313, ISBN 978-0823082919
5. Grushkin, Paul; Rockin' Down the Highway, p. 54-55, ISBN 978-0760322925: "... but stations back East considered themselves too progressive to play such intimations of racism on the air."