...I was one of the three original staffers on a strange new magazine called Super Street
. This was a book launched by then Petersen Publishing (now Primedia) to target the next generation of hot rodders. It was theorized that maybe, just maybe, kids born after 1980 wouldn't want to read about pushrods and carburetors. Being a young Mopar muscle car freak myself, I found the idea quite preposterous...
But this was years before The Fast and the Furious, and most people outside of Los Angeles and New York didn't "get it" when it came to import tuning. I tried to explain the magazine to friends and relatives back in Denver and they always got this glazed look in their eyes, followed by a question along the lines of "People are trying to make Honda Civics go fast?" It's ten years later, and Super Street is one of the more successful sport compact books out there. Do I take credit for its success? Not as far as you know, but if you pick up the October 2006 issue you'll see an interview with all the original staffers (it's right after the pictures of the "import models" -- and I'm not talking cars here).
By trackwrex
on September 14, 2006
02:20 PM
yay karl! you know, super street and sport compact car (before modified came out) were my favorite mags... i subscribe to those 3 but... you know, i work at edmunds now so... what subscriptions? lol
By trackwrex
on September 14, 2006
02:21 PM
why is nads on the ground again??? jdm wong is doing the asian crouch and i don't know what ricky's doing... i'm not sure i want to know... lol! is that derek in the middle? lol
By bigdaddycoats
on September 14, 2006
02:51 PM
you seem a little more conservative than the rest ;)
By editor_karl
on September 15, 2006
09:27 AM
Conservative? I was like Bob Dole at a Ludacris concert during most of those import events. Between Matt Pearson (guy on the left, and original editor of Super Street) and I the big joke at the shows was to catch import tuners in the act of saying, "Who invited the white guys?"
But truthfully, the people at those events were very cool and easy going. Matt and I always had fun. I think the car enthusiast thing really does cross all lines.
By carlisimo
on September 18, 2006
02:16 AM
I read it today. Good stuff =].