Rat Rods Off the Strip

That day I refused to get on the pre-school bus, Annie taught me how to draw cars. They looked like space ships with wheels. Nothing like what Steve Darnell comes up with, these wild, wicked creations with the Cummins diesel engines that sit so close to the ground you could set sparks on the pavement. He ignites your imagination with these rolling creatures and takes you back to a time when kids threw pomegranates through the neighbor’s window and got chased by that same neighbor, naked in his car, screaming “I’ll get you little motherfuckers!” What kind of example is that to the children on this tour, with the f-bombs flying and the stories of back seat conceptions being thrown around like confetti to the wide-eyed wonder of the little ones? There is no better example, if you ask me. Steve Darnell busted his ass to get where he is today. He’s an all-American, good old fashioned success at what he does, and even though I don’t know a damn thing deeper than skin deep on a car, I love the look and the sound and the smell, and that makes me feel right at home in this garage off the strip in Vegas.