By Peter Tanshanomi
Drino Miller was a remarkable pioneer in off-road racing. He built the Baja Boot for Steve McQueen. He worked for TRD and Pro-Circuit. Along the way, he also created the first single-seat VW-based baja buggy. To my eyes, this will forever be the most perfect off-road vehicle: the simple lines, the short wheelbase, the simplicity of the dual-loop roll cage—this is what every vintage go-kart wanted to be when it grew up.
Last Call indicates the end of Hooniverse’s broadcast day. It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, it’s encouraged.
Source: Motocross Action
Jeff Glucker
I was thinking about origin stories the other day…
Somebody, sometime, must have been the first driver to do a burnout just for fun. Somewhere between baloney slick natural rubber tires losing it on dirt roads and the NHRA there must have been some hoon in a Model A that yelled “Smoke ’em if ya got ’em!” as they dumped the clutch and floored it.
Cheers to you, burnout badass!
Also, some cat on a bicycle pulled the first wheelie by accident, but I bet it wasn’t long before they did it on purpose.
There is surprisingly little readily available information about the origins of burnouts (aside from drag racing) and donuts. It would be very interesting for someone on this site to dig a little deeper if possible.
Kudos for the neat thoughts in your comment BSB.
I was shocked by the R&T article this month about Zanardi being the first celebratory donut in high-level motorsports.
Seems quite late, much like Gurney with the champagne.
Really, no one though of that before then?
Probably an Australian.
I read somewhere speculation that if it moves, it will be raced. There are stories from ye olde tymes of the olds getting their tunics in a twist from hooligans racing horses through city streets. It stands to reason that the first two automobiles that happened upon each other were likely lined up shortly after meeting and they went at it. The burnouts and donuts probably followed suit, as soon as the vehicles were capable of performing one.
Supposedly the first ever motorcycle race happened right after the second ever motorcycle was built.
[…] Drino Miller was a remarkable pioneer in off-road racing. He built the Baja Boot for Steve McQueen. He worked for TRD and Pro-Circuit. Along the way, he also created the first single-seat VW-based Baja buggy. To my eyes, this will forever be the most perfect off-road vehicle: the simple lines, the short wheelbase, the simplicity of the dual-loop roll cage—this is what every vintage go-kart wanted to be when it grew up. H/T> […]