A Night at the Movies with Alex Xydias

“I started shooting movies when I stopped racing,” said original hot rod hero Alex Xydias. “When I had enough stuff I made this.”

“This” is "The Hot Rod Story," a documentary shot by the man himself from about 1962 to 1964 at the drag strips, dry lakes and cruise-ins of the day. It's a movie shot in the style of, say, a Bruce Brown surf movie or a Warren Miller ski movie. Xydias narrates a story strung together from 16-mm film shot at the places where the action was. Serious documentary is interspersed with corny jokes. If you've ever seen the genre--especially if you saw it in a high school auditorium or Civic Center back then--you'll love it. If you weren't around at the time but always wondered what it was like, this is your chance.

Xydias, for those who might not know him, was the founder of the So-Cal Speed Shop, the quintessential home of the hot-rod hobby way back when. He started it in Burbank when he was discharged from the Army Air Corps after WWII. The shop quickly became known for its fast cars, setting records on the lakes and at Bonneville back when hot rodding was becoming a real force in the car world. So-Cal cars were the first to go 170, 180 and 190 mph. The So-Cal streamliner went 210 mph in 1950. Brave men.

At that time, he was too busy racing to shoot any of his own exploits, but, as he said, when he stopped racing, he shot everything. He shot what later became his co-workers at Hot Rod magazine: Pete Petersen, Ray Brock and Tom Medley. He went to the NHRA and shot a very skinny, very tall Wally Parks, wearing a tie and sitting at a desk, working away building that institution. He went to Bonneville and shot Bill Burke and Don Francisco, Ak Miller, Mickey Thompson, Art Arfons and the Summers Brothers. He went to the drags and filmed seemingly everyone you've ever heard of from that era: Big Daddy Don Garlits, Connie Kalitta, Don Prudhomme, TV Tommy Ivo, Art Malone, Tom McKewen. He shot everyone and everything and strung it into a movie and took it on the road.

Now there's a new version of that movie called "The Director's Cut"--the director being Xydias. On Saturday, June 14, you will have a rare opportunity to meet the legend himself as he introduces and narrates the film once again. The event is called "A Night at the Movies with Alex Xydias." It will be held at the Sheraton Fairplex Conference Center on the grounds of the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., the same facility where they hold the Winternationals and the Finals every year. It's also the Saturday night of the L.A. Roadster Show weekend, so you can spend the day looking at the hot rods then spend the evening watching the movie. The evening is a fundraiser for the Alex Xydias Center for the Automotive Arts, which is a real-live entity that teaches the performance-car hobby to local high school kids who no longer get to attend auto shop in school.

The evening also benefits the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, also at the Fairplex. Because it's a fund-raiser, with the goal being to raise funds for these worthy causes, tickets are $100 each. But come on, can you think of a more worthy charity in the hot-rod world? And you get to meet Xydias himself. Maybe he'll even sign your program. See TLCfairplex.org/AXevent or call 909 865-4209.

If, for some reason, you cannot attend yourself (and it better be a darn good reason, like you live in an iron lung or you're in Joliet serving life-plus-25 for speeding), you can order your own copy of the DVD through the So-Cal Speed Shop, also in Pomona, at socalspeedshop.com.

In any case, hope to see you there!

For real land-speed fans, Xydias will appear in another upcoming documentary on land-speed racing called "Breaking Barriers," scheduled to debut on the the National Geographic Channel May 7. The one-hour documentary will air 8 p.m. (Check your local provider to verify the air time.)

The film features drivers, auto historians and racing entrepreneurs like Roger Penske, Alex Xydias and Craig Breedlove. It's hosted by car enthusiast and country-music star Tim McGraw.

By Mark Vaughn