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Rod House and his wife live on a small almond orchard in Clovis, Calif., where there’s plenty of room to pursue his passion for cars. Several years ago he found his ’52 Hardtop Deluxe as a stock driver. It was just like his first high school ride. However, after several years he decided to turn it into an unconventional Ford/Chevy rumbling beast that ran an 11:624 at 116 mph in the quarter mile test and tune at Famoso last spring. “It was a major rush. It does get the old 70-year-old heart pumping,” says House.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s marked a decade of the worst drought in U.S. history. Planted seeds would shrivel and die in the ground before they could ever sprout. With no plants to trap the soil or moisture, the parched dirt turned to powder that was easily carried away by wind.