ometimes we forget all the work that goes into our everyday lives’ projects. With our hectic pace it’s no wonder this happens, and maybe this is as it should be. But sometimes, maybe a little more often, we should take a moment and realize what we are enjoying is the result of someone who came before and laid the groundwork. I was reminded of that at this year’s Triple Crown of Rodding event presented by PPG.

I found myself wandering around the Nashville Superspeedway before the gates were open to the public. It was then I came across the tribute that was erected by the show staff honoring, “Influential People That Paved the Way in the Hot Rod Industry.” It’s a reminder, albeit a sad one, that so many of our friends who came before aren’t here now to enjoy with us the fruit of their efforts. The promoters (Bobby Alloway and Gary Case) of the Triple Crown of Rodding event thought it would be a good idea to have many of today’s popular builders signing autographs and enjoying the event with many of today’s rodders beneath a little bit of memory of those earlier hot rodders. Hence the banner with so many names.

The first thing you realize is that this list isn’t complete and if it were to be a complete listing it would extend for a long, long way. In speaking with Alloway it looks like the list will have more names added from the past, names that “escaped” accounting this time around. Of course, the brutal part of having a list such as this is where do you draw the line? Ideally there wouldn’t be a line but there needs to be for practicality’s sake. And what about all those names from other aspects of the automotive industry aftermarket? Do we include rodders from the early days of the dry lakes, Bonneville, what about the magazine guys who write all these stories who have gone before, or what about famous rodders from the four corners of the country? You can see that this list could go on forever, and that, too, is as it should be. Each year there will be more names of more friends who have gone before and aren’t here to enjoy with us the efforts of their work. But that too is how it goes.

I guess the main point is to be aware that each and every one of us have the names that we remember and that, too, is as it should be. We may not see names on this list, and we may feel these names should be there, and they probably should, but to me we should look at this list as a “fluid” memorial. It’s here to remind each of us to take the time to remember those we knew and to give them their just due. If all of us follow suit I believe we are honoring history, and history should always be honored.

Keep this in mind: “A generation that ignores history has no past and no future.”