Car modifying has been very popular among youth in the United States, especially in Southern California, since the days of hot rods in the 1950s and 1960s. There is significant evidence indicating that import drag racing first started in Southern California in the mid-1960s, with Volkswagen Beetles, Sit-up-and-beg Ford Populars and Austin A40 Devons including documentation of quarter-mile passes published in Hot Rod Magazine as early as August 1965.


