The Hot Rod: Resurrection of a Legend

In the late 1950s a slightly mad kart racer named Frank "Duff" Livingston had the nerve to enter the quintessential American vehicle-a hot rod-in a sports car race. Hot rods may have been successful in crude American-style drag races, but according to conventional wisdom, they had no place competing on a road course against European sports cars. But Duff and his Eliminator defied that wisdom and beat some of the finest sports cars in the world. The Eliminator soon went into retirement, but many people remembered its achievements. One of these people happened to be Brock Yates, who acquired the Eliminator in the 1990s. Yates campaigned the car in vintage sports car races, and soon the Eliminator was once again beating Ferraris and Porsches on U.S. road courses.The car inspired Yates to build a modern interpretation of the concept, and he took one of the most potent engines available-a Viper V-10-and mounted it in a hot rod chassis with a road-racing-inspired suspension. His goal? To build the fastest, best-handling, and just plain coolest hot rod on the road. The resulting Eliminator Special proved a fitting tribute to the original Eliminator.About the Author:Brock Yates is one of the best-known and most respected automotive journalists in the world today. He is currently an editor for Car and Driver magazine and his byline has appeared on numerous books, features in major magazines, columns for websites and The Wall Street Journal. He has also authored movie scripts for Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit II. He is the creator of the famed 1970's Cannonball Run road race which he chronicled in the best-selling book Cannonball!, published by MBI Publishing Company in 2002.