Hot Rod Hierarchy: by Steve Chryssos
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2

The world wide web is a powerful tool. It’s changed the way we think, learn, work, play, and communicate. Anyone with a computer and some baud rate can instantly find information. But instant gratification is a double-edged sword. Gathering information is not the same as gaining knowledge. Experience plays an important role in wisdom. No matter how much research is firing across your synapses, you must apply information in order to be enlightened.
Internet message boards or forums are the cornerstone of web-based research and camaraderie. Hot rodders embrace forums as virtual car clubs. I’ve made dozens of friends through message boards and I’m always first in line to praise the virtues of the “post & reply” forum. You can show off your ride, search topics, or just shoot the breeze. Ask a question on your favorite forum and you will most definitely get an answer. That’s power, but the quality of the response is variable. The concept of applied knowledge is easily lost on message boards. Frequently, inexperienced members are quick to provide “expert” advice based solely on their research efforts, so sometimes it isn’t easy to differentiate an amateur from an expert.
The problem is understandable. Most hot rodders become deeply immersed in research, checking out each manufacturer’s website, reading every magazine article, and cruising every message board. Some even use number-crunching software. There is certainly enough information available to make you feel like an expert--dotting “I’s” and crossing “T’s” until you are in a blue rage and double-checking data until you choke on decimal points. But continuously regurgitating information does not somehow yield carved-in-stone facts. Research, in itself, does not—under any circumstances--replace execution and repetition.
Usually, the most rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth forum “experts” haven’t completed a project. Their tone is condescending and they seem more interested in belittling those who ask a stupid question rather than sharing their knowledge. Dig deeper and you will almost always find that these spurious individuals haven’t driven their cars since the last millennium or may have never driven their works-in-progress. Instead, they overcompensate by gettin’ loud on the message board. If you have only screwed one engine together for a buddy, or have not finished your car, you are a freshman, a student of the hobby. Conversely, members with real experience help others by politely dishing out knowledge. They have built and driven their cars and they don’t get excited, because experience breeds confidence.
Until you have applied information through actual car construction and use, you are not qualified to teach others. You have not graduated. You must turn wrenches, spend money, make mistakes, finish your project, and—most important of all—drive your car. You should participate in events such as Power Tour or Run Thru the Hills 2 where you will encounter warm-blooded humans with actual running hot rods. Until then, you should humbly defer to those who have accomplished these goals. You must respect those who have made it to the end of the line. And to qualify for hot rod expert status you must repeat the process more than a few times.
That concept can be tough to swallow. With such readily available data, it’s easy to feel a false sense of certainty. It’s even more difficult to accept that hot rodding has a pecking order. You get enough hierarchy crap in the real world, right? Why must you endure subservient status within your hobby? Freshman? …"Poopie!" you say.
Like it or not, hierarchy is a natural force in the universe. Though the Internet might suggest otherwise, true knowledge isn’t acquired overnight. Be patient. Finish your car. Drive your car. Hot rodding or pre-med, that’s how it goes in the real world. Experience, follow-through, and repetition are as important as research. True knowledge includes all of those key elements and more. Did I mention follow-through? Oh yeah, I did.
/Steevo


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