"Isn't is about time that the thousands of hot rod devotees around the United States band together in a national association?" So began a letter to the editors of Hot Rod magazine, published in its March 1951 issue. Its editor in those formative days of the hot-rodding scene was a transplanted Oklahoman whose active automotive interest didn't really surface until his family moved to California in the early 1920s, but who quickly became part of the car culture, tearing down Model-T Fords and Chevy 4s for street use and in the 1930s and '40s racing in weekend time trials conducted on the dry lake beds of California's deserts. His name was Wally Parks.

The HRM staff, from their offices on La Cienega Blvd., in Los Angeles, wasted no time carrying forward the idea. It was at this time that the blueprint for a national hot rod association quickly became the National Hot Rod Association.

Within two months, Parks and the publishers of Hot Rod convened a meeting of “responsible parties who have demonstrated their loyalty and devotion to the hot rod sport, to lay the groundwork and select new officers.

The idea was an immediate hit with the acceleration nation. Membership applications soon hit 1,000 per month. Many of the membership applications were accompanied by letters of praise and congratulations, as well as offers to help organize local chapters.

With few exceptions, state highway patrolmen, police and sheriffs’ offices eagerly assisted the NHRA program, leading to the formation of club-run racetracks.