Hot Rod is an American monthly magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 devoted to hot rod

Hot rod

Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...

ding, —modifying automobiles for performance and appearance.

History

Hot Rod is the oldest magazine devoted to hot rodding having been published since 1948. Robert E. Petersen

Robert E. Petersen

Robert Einar "Pete" Petersen was an American publisher and founder of the Petersen Automotive Museum in 1994.Petersen was born in East Los Angeles, California and served in the Army Air Corps in World War II...

 founded the magazine and his Petersen Publishing Company was the original publisher. Petersen Publishing was sold to British publisher EMAP

EMAP

Emap Limited is a British media company, specialising in the production of business-to-business magazines, and the organisation of business events and conferences...

 in 1998, who sold the former Petersen magazines to Primedia

Primedia

PRIMEDIA Inc. is privately held American media company fully owned by TPG Capital.Consumer Source Inc. is the sole operating division of PRIMEDIA and helps millions of consumers find apartments, houses for rent, and new homes for sale through its Internet, mobile, and print products...

 in 2001. Today it is published by Ron Burkle's Source Interlink, who purchased the magazine in 2007.

Hot Rod has licensed affiliation with Universal Technical Institute

Universal Technical Institute

Universal Technical Institute, Inc. , is a for-profit nationwide provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians....

. The first editor of Hot Rod was Wally Parks

Wally Parks

Wallace Gordon Parks was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a legitimate amateur and professional motorsport. He was the Founder, President, and the Chairman of the Board of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA...

 who created the National Hot Rod Association

National Hot Rod Association

The National Hot Rod Association is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and host events all over the United States and Canada...

.

Sponsored events

The "Hot Rod Power Tour" is an organized tour where hot rodders drive a pre-planned route throughout the United States. It began in 1995 when Hot Rod staff members decided to take some of their project cars on a cross-country drive from Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 to Norwalk, Ohio

Norwalk, Ohio

At the 2000 census, there were 16,238 people, 6,377 households and 4,234 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,950.3 per square mile . There were 6,687 housing units at an average density of 803.1 per square mile...

. Thousands of people participated along the way but only seven participants (other than staff members) made the entire journey and were inducted into the original "Long Hauler Gang". Since its inception, this event has continued to gain in popularity and is now one of the most anticipated automotive events each year. It is typically six to eight days in length and held in late May or early June. In recent years, the tour has evolved to become what is essentially a continuous trek around the United States in that it begins in or near the location that it ended in the previous year. Each stop is combined with events or activities that vary as much as the participants themselves.

Video games

ValuSoft has published Hot Rod: American Street Drag

Hot Rod: American Street Drag

Hot Rod: American Street Drag is a drag racing game that runs on the PC platform, based on the Hot Rod Magazine. It is based around the American drag-race scene.The player starts the game with $5,000 to buy a car and build it up...

and Hot Rod: Garage to Glory, drag racing

Drag racing

Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....

video games in which the goal is to win the cover feature of Hot Rod magazine.