"Hot Rod Race" is a Western swing

Western swing

Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...

 song about an automobile race out of San Pedro, California, between a Ford and a Mercury. Released in November 1950, it broke the ground for a series of 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...

 songs recorded for the car culture of the 1950s and 60s. With its hard driving boogie woogie beat, it is sometimes named one of the first rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 songs.

Written by George Wilson, it became a major hit for Arkie Shibley

Arkie Shibley

Jesse Lee "Arkie" Shibley was a country singer who recorded the original version of "Hot Rod Race" in 1950...

 and his Mountain Dew Boys (Gilt-Edge 5021), staying on the charts for 7 weeks, peaking at #5 in 1951. Trying to repeat his success, Shibley recorded at least four follow-up songs.

Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan

Jimmie Dolan

Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan , born Lee Roy Pettit, was a Western swing musician born in Gardena, California. He is best remembered for his hit single, "Hot Rod Race" on Capitol Records, which reached #7 on the Billboard country chart in February 1951.-External links:* at Hillybilly-music.com....

, Tiny Hill

Tiny Hill

Harry Lawrence “Tiny” Hill was a band leader of the Big Band era. During the height of his career Hill was billed as “America’s Biggest Bandleader” because of his weight of over . His signature song was “Angry” which he first recorded in 1939 on Columbia records Vocalion label...

, and Red Foley

Red Foley

Clyde Julian Foley , better known as Red Foley, was an American singer, musician, and radio and TV personality who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II....

, all released versions in 1951; Hill's version reached #7 on the Country

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 charts and # 29 on the pop charts.

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.

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

Ford Model A (1927)

The Ford Model A of 1927–1931 was the second huge success for the Ford Motor Company, after its predecessor, the Model T. First produced on October 20, 1927, but not sold until December 2, it replaced the venerable Model T, which had been produced for 18 years...

.

These lyics set the stage for an "answer song" called "Hot Rod Lincoln

Hot Rod Lincoln

"Hot Rod Lincoln" was recorded in 1955, as an answer song to "Hot Rod Race", a 1951 hit for Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys. Hot Rod Race tells the story of a late-model Ford and Mercury who end up racing along the highway, neither driver gaining an advantage, and staying "neck and neck"...

", first recorded in 1955.

External links

• www.rockabilly.nl - Short article about Arkie Shibley and his difficulties in releasing the song.