Look It Up!
I vividly remember how important my “Thomas Guide” map books became in my life after moving to Orange, California, in 1980 to
palm of our hands simply serves up directions to our favorite food, even in unfamiliar places. Many of today’s rodders are long dis- tance cruisers so visit- ing new towns is nothing new and knowing rodders of
work for Street Rodder magazine. The job had me running all over Los Angeles and Orange counties with only the name and address of my destination to gather story material. Before heading out it became my procedure to plot the
every genre appreciate good food, the NSRA creat- ed a group of six “Preferred Restaurants” in the local area surrounding the Kentucky Exposition Center for your stay during the 57th NSRA Street Rod Nationals roaring into Louisville, Kentucky, August 6-9. Locally these six restaurants have great
course and if it was interrupted by road construc- tion, accidents or driver error by making a wrong turn, I would find myself sitting in a parking lot studying my ‘Guide’ trying to figure out my exact
location. Lawmakers think cell phone use while driving is dan- gerous (illegal?), they should have seen me trying to flip from page-to-
ratings and since ‘the world is open’ all you need do is put their name in your Map App and follow the instructions! Every year locals look forward to this
page through a 500-page distraction while steering with one knee and flipping the pages with both hands. By today’s standards, carrying that tattered 500-page block of wood around
four-day event, not only because it brings seven million dollars to the total economy, but also for the street rods, customs, classics and muscle cars, whose value easily exceeds $300 million dollars, visiting hotels and motels, gas stations, restaurants and most of all, cruising the streets of their city.
seems archaic, but my memory says it’s only been 50 years! It became my lifeline in the concrete jungle in which I was living out my dream.
This combination of high-value vehicles and large attendance makes the NSRA Street Rod Nationals a major driver of tourism and revenue for the city of Louisville. This is all coming from a 76-year-old rod-
While we’re on the subject, I understand why lawmakers think cell phone use is so dangerous while driving, but curious why they’ve basically allowed car manufacturers to install computer screens in the ‘middle’ of the dash and that’s okay. Many essential controls now force you to take your eyes off the road to focus on the screen! As active street rodders traveling to cities and towns across the USA more often than the average traveler, the ability to simply speak into a micro- phone, type into a keypad, or open an App on our cell phone has eliminated the need for maps alto- gether and has even prevented a lot of frustration and arguments. Instead, the technology in the
der, who at one time, ‘look it up’ meant 500 pages of gridlines and tiny type to find my way around Los Angeles. Today, “Alexa” and “Siri” have become familiar voices around my house and in my cars guiding me around the world.
Tom Vogele tomvogele@verizon.net
8 JULY 2026
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