No one knows exactly who, what, when, or where the word “hot rod” came into being, but imagine standing right next to the person when it was first uttered. The guys who hung out at the speed shops before World War II called them gow jobs and hot irons. But we can pinpoint when another idiom was created that would describe the most explosive, mechanical projectile ever conceived, plus it also became the source of Dode Martin’s livelihood.
The late Dick Kraft had shown up at Santa Ana Drag Strip shortly after it opened July 3, 1950, with a contraption he called the “Bug,” that consisted of a Model T frame, a cowl, an engine, and a seat. After seeing that, Dode Martin, thinking he could do one better, built…