The Rat Fink Goes Drag Racing
By Mike Bumbeck
8/8/05
Drag racers would rather mash the loud pedal
and hang on for the ride than hang out in a lawn chair and
talk about paint jobs or NOS windshield wiper knobs any
day. Car show folks would rather hang out on a quiet green
lawn and hob knob about NOS glove box grommets than get
covered in nitro fumes and tire marbles on any other day.
Every now and again these two seemingly disparate worlds
of automotive enthusiasts manage to cross paths. The results
can be at worst disastrous, and at the very best a wicked
good time.
The 6th Annual Rat Fink Party and Kustom Kulture
Extravaganza at LACR in the high desert of Los Angeles County
fell into the latter category. Where else could you go out
and get your NHRA Alcohol Dragster license, take in some
Rockabilly bands, mull over metalflake customs or trick
trikes, and get a chance to own on the very same bright
green sportcoat that the departed Ed "Big Daddy"
Roth himself wore to numerous car shows back in the day,
all in the same day?
Show MC Moldy Marvin himself
was the auctioneer for this genuine Ed Roth jacket.
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The Rat Fink is of course an unlikely hero.
Bright green, with giant teeth, often drooling, and sporting
a pot belly complete with flies buzzing around, the hot
rod icon was made famous by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth,
and continues to symbolize what it means to be free to build
crazy cars and kustoms, wacky bikes, lead sleds, trikes
and the other wheeled contraptions. As unlikely a hero as
a rat may be, the mighty Rat Fink is a hero to those who
know. The Rat Fink Party and Kustom Kulture Extravaganza
was born of collaboration between legendary kustom car icon
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and one Moldy Marvin. In 1999
Moldy and Ed had started up a web site surrounding the legend
of the Rat Fink. Moldy was also running a small art gallery
in North Hollywood California called Kulture Shoq. Moldy's
original plan was to have a small get together in his 3000
sq ft gallery location with Ed as a special guest.
Since then the party has grown bigger through
the years, and this year the whole show was hauled out to
LACR in the lovely Palm Desert area of Los Angeles County
Although the worlds of drag racing and hot rodding may have
drifted apart since the early days of dry lake beds and
flatheads eights and fours, it seemed only fitting to have
the party on the same day as a test and tune at LACR.
Intentionally, or due purely to chance, the
result of the two events being held in the same place ended
up being pure good times. The odd combination of old school
rides and new school drag racers worked well in the hot
desert sun. Seeing lead sleds go up against high-strung
Hondas made the racing action interesting if not a little
uneven. Even though it was officially test and tune, the
drivers obviously thought different, and put the screws
to their machines regardless if they came from Detroit or
Suzuka.
There was more than enough going on off the
track to keep eyes, ears and wallets busy. All manner of
cool stuff was available for sale out on the lanes. Everything
from stylish hats to turnkey old school choppers was available
for the right price. Music played all afternoon so folks
could take a break from the grandstands and turn their hot
shoe into their good foot. Rods and racecars in various
states of finish and polish were on display both stationary
and motoring down the 1320.
All told the 6th Annual Rat Fink Party and
Kustom Kulture Extravaganza was the kind of drag race that
a car show should be, and a car show drag racers could dig,
baby. 
