his past weekend while attending the 76th Annual Grand National Roadster Show (it was actually on Friday), I realized something very important as I was walking past the GNRS Hall of Fame members’ autograph signing table (in which I calculated roughly 1,000 years of accumulative history): I/we owe a lot of gratitude to those who paved the way for this thing we do! A lot.

As we lose more and more of our “founding fathers” each year—the most recent being the amazing Cam Father himself, Ed “Isky” Iskenderian—we have to understand the importance of the roles they played in the formation of this great hobby of ours. That realization hit home even more so that same evening as I had the honor of attending the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where my good, longtime friend, Mooneyes’ Shige Suganuma, became part of the “club.” Some may see it as rubbing elbows with celebrities and whatnot—I saw it as being in the midst of living history, literally. Sure, there are some so-called celebrities in attendance, as expected, but when I looked around the room and noticed exactly who I was surrounded by, even if for just a few hours, I was greatly humbled.

Our segment of the hobby is not that old in comparison to hot rodding and customization in general, where our roots are planted. Long before the formation of Truckin’, Sport Truck, and ultimately, Classic Trucks and Custom Classic Trucks, there was Throttle Magazine (first published in 1941 and devoted to dry lakes and dirt track racing), followed by Hot Rod (1948), both of which showcased the men AND women who pioneered the forthcoming aftermarket and stitched the quiltwork that would eventually lead to the creation of street rodding and, ultimately, classic truckin’! While most of the prewar and, sadly, a great number of post-war founding fathers are gone, the second and even third generation of hot rod pioneers—the Roy Brizios, Alan Johnsons, Troy Trepaniers, the guys I’ve spent my career following and admiring—are still blazing the trail for us to follow, even if some of us don’t recognize that. Above and beyond that are the company owners/operators who not only continue to develop new products to better our old junkers but go above and beyond supporting the hobby in so many ways.

What I’m trying to convey, in a roundabout way, is the importance of paying our respect to all the types of people I’ve mentioned—even the truck owners who continuously commission the high-end, cover-gracing builds that inspire us with our own projects. When it comes to those aforementioned founding fathers, the ones who are still able to get out to shows and events, shake hands and sign autographs—tell them how much you appreciate everything they’ve done for us … for the hobby. Gratitude goes a long, long way.