Dragstrip Hotrodders [Drag-Strip Hotrodders] #1

In "Hot Rod at the Panam," Akton Miller takes to the dusty roads of Mexico in his wildly assembled Ak Miller Special—a patchwork marvel of Oldsmobile power and Model T charm—racing in the legendary La Carrera Panamericana. As he pushes the car to its limits across treacherous terrain, the story captures the grit and daring of a true pioneer on one of the most brutal races of its era.

When Jimmy Reeves rolls into town with what looks like a stock Detroit car, Todd Hamlin and the Safety Kings dismiss him as just another square—until Reeves challenges the club champ to prove his "creampuff" has real hot-rod credentials. What Todd discovers under the hood forces him and the rest of the Safety Kings to rethink their snap judgments about what makes a true enthusiast.

An aging pit crew chief stakes everything on his son Juan in a high-stakes drag race, but when the cunning driver Carducci—a rival from the Old Man's racing days—enters the competition, the pressure mounts in ways neither father nor son anticipated. As Juan battles for the lead over multiple laps, Carducci deploys every trick in the book to unsettle the inexperienced driver, forcing the Old Man to watch helplessly from the pits while his son's nerves are tested like never before.

When Len Williams crashes his older brother Bo's expensive car on a wet curve, Bo kicks him out and tells him he'll never be a race driver—but instead of giving up, Len decides to rebuild the wreck himself, teaching himself welding, engineering, and automotive mechanics through night classes and library study. His determination to master what he doesn't know transforms him from a reckless hotrodder into a serious automotive engineer, eventually designing an advanced racing car that catches the attention of major industry figures. By the time Bo returns to see the results, Len has become exactly the skilled professional his brother said he could never be.

Matt Ryder, a car enthusiast falsely accused by stockbroker Oliver Brant of reckless driving, gets Officer Simson's help organizing a proper hot rodders' club complete with safety rules and adult oversight. When Brant's nephew Jerry takes a dangerous joyride and crashes, Matt and the other club members prove their worth by helping save the injured boy—and finally convince Brant that organized hot rodding isn't the menace he feared.