The National Hot Rod Association hit the road -- literally -- in 1954 as newly hired Executive Manager Bud Coons (pictured), the former Pomona police sergeant, led the NHRA Drag Strip Crew, a four-man team towing a trailer full of the equipment necessary to stage a full-on NHRA event. The team, consisting of Coons, Don Cox, Bob Huff, Chic Cannon, and Hot Rod Magazine photographer “Rick” Rickman, took off on a three-month, 12,000-mile tour of Regional Championship events on what was known as the Drag Safari.

While the Drag Safari spread the word far and wide and helped conduct major events, NHRA further moved to standardize drag rules, convening a Drag Strip Council of representatives from 10 outstanding strips to design regulations that met the needs of dragstrips large and small.

As dragstrips grew across the country at a frantic pace, never was it more lively than on the West Coast, where racing continued to rage up and down the California coast, culminating with the inaugural California State Championship Drags at Madera Airport. The success of this event led NHRA to proclaim that each of the 48 states should host its own championship in 1955, culminating in a National Championship drag meet.

NHRA battled on for rodders rights in many areas, including insurance and positive publicity, leading to a bumper harvest of new racing facilities. By season’s end, 17 states had tracks enrolled in NHRA’s Drag Strip Sanction and Insurance Program, the forerunner to the current member track program.