When the Hurricane of 1938 struck New England, it was a disaster of proportions unknown to the region at that point. No storm in modern history had wrought more destruction or devastation than that one.

Beyond the cities and towns, past the population centers, there was another looming nightmare...the forests. Nearly 1,000 square miles of New England Pine Forest were blown down, placing nearly 2 billion board feet in logs and lumber in jeopardy of not only waste but of becoming a massive fire hazard.

No salvage logging operation on the planet before or since has been as large or as robust as that of the New England Timber Salvage Administration of 1938.

In this video we tell the story of the hurricane, the aftermath, the plan, and the execution of this most audaciously bold plan. Somehow a Hurricane helped restore the forests, prepare the country for WWII, and in a plot twist has had a very pleasant after-effect on modern life in New England.

The story of this amazing and massive collaborative effort has been largely forgotten until now. If you love American history, you'll love this tale of grit, gumption, and communities rising up to take on a problem the likes of which the world had never tried to tackle before.

There are few stories in the history of drag racing that can compare to that of Alfred Gordon Fenn, known as Scotty.

He was a visionary and created the first commercial dragster chassis business in the world circa 1958, but his life story goes far, far beyond that. For the first time ever, learn the back story, learn the success story, his precipitous fall in the sport, and how he managed to continue his career for years after people thought that he had disappeared.

One of the sports most off the wall, acerbic, and out-spoken characters, it was Scotty's mouth that no only sunk his business, but dead stopped a career that was on track to be one of the most influential in drag racing history.

He was a man with dozens of patents to his name, the designer of the first four cylinder car in America, the first eight cylinder car, and the first V-8 production car, but have you ever heard of him?

The answer is no.

H.H. Buffum was a genius engineer of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He made a fortune making equipment for the shoe manufacturing industry and then turned his attention to cars. Take this fascinating ride back into the history of American cars, to the earliest days of the industry when anyone with some money, a machine shop, and a dream could be a car manufacturer.

This fast moving history talks patents, inventions, breakthroughs, theft, horsepower, and more. Where did the first V8 come from? How about a small town in Massachusetts.

No kidding.

This is the in-depth history of what I believe to be the greatest heavy duty truck of the second world war. The M26 tank retriever was a machine designed with armor, with an engine of 1,090ci, with brute strength, and above all, with loads of practical engineering built in.

The truck out-performed every other rig in this role worldwide and was just beyond cool. With nearly 1,400 produced between 1942 and 1945, many still exist today in the hands of collectors and more. Learn the fascinating story of the small forgotten company that designed it, the massive company that built it, and the fascinating engine company that powered it.

Mechanical history rules!

It's a stunning thing to realize that Ford mass-produced an 1,100ci, dual overhead camshaft, alunimum block, flat plane crank V8 in the 1940s. Sill the largest mass produced V8 engine ever, it was just what Uncle Sam needed to power Sherman tanks.

But how did it come about? In this video we not only look at the awesome specs and mechanical feats that this engine is known for, we also look into its murky and wild history.

A history intertwined with international governments, shifty deal makers, and perhaps a little big of industrial espionage mixed in. Far more than just an engine, the GAA is a fascinating piece of American mechanical history which in some ways is still unrivaled more than 80 years later.

This is the story of one of the greatest minds in the history of the sport of drag racing. Lew Russell Robinson known more widely as "Sneaky Pete" Robinson was an innovator without equal in the 1960s. He approached the sport as a trained engineer from Georgia Tech and took that education to speeds and performance unknown for his time.

He was the type of guy they write rules to slow down, to save from themselves and to prevent lesser talented people from trying to venture down avenues they have no business entering. Robinson's 10 year run in the sport both in top gas and top fuel place him among the greatest not just of his generation, but of any generation. His use of simplicity and light weight made him the Colin Chapman of drag racing.

His unique and off-the-wall ideas, rooted in aerospace engineering are the stuff of legend and don't seem real until you actually see them. Understand that had Pete Robinson not lost his life in a 1971 crash he would have gone one to likely be an incredible drag racing crew chief, innovator in open wheel racing, and the high performance aftermarket.

This is the story of drag racing's mad scientist, "Sneaky Pete" Robinson.

The Indy 500 has long been recognized as one of the most amazing hot beds of racing innovation in history. The 1966 race saw a car that may well stand as one of the most unique, inventive, and downright odd of the era. The Stein-Valvoline Special was a twin Porsche engined, four wheel drive, California garage built machine from the mind of a former midget racing champion and his friends.

The story of this car, its driver, and their attempt to qualify at the insanely jam packed 1966 Indy 500 is one every hardcore racing fan should know.

Every winter for 13 years between 1954 and 1966 the greatest sports cars as well as the greatest sports car drivers in the world would gather in the Bahamas for what may well have been the coolest racing event in history. 

10 days of partying, racing, hanging out on the beach, and enjoying life with some of the world's greatest stars is just as awesome as you think it is. Racers like Stirling Moss, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Masten Gregory, Roger Penske, Carrol Shelby and others showed up year in and year out to battle for the money and glory in the world's coolest cars. 

The first ever 427 Cobra race car debuted at this event, Duntov brought the Gran Sport Corvettes, Ferrari, Porsche, and on and on it goes. 

The history is interesting, led by a tyrant named Red Crise the event was his idea and with a unique combo of an iron fist on one side and a velvet gloved Baronet's hand on the other, he made magic. 

This is the fantastic story of Bahamas Speed Week. 

During three winters in the 1960s, hot rodders in Chicago had the unique opportunity to do something no one has been able to do before or since. They went drag racing indoors. The didn't just do it once or twice, they did it weekly. How? Where? Why? Who put it together? 

The story actually begins in the 1930s and the indoor drag strip followed go kart racing, midget car racing, even a road course indoors! The promoter, a man named Bill Schade is a story in and unto himself. 

This is a story of the city of Chicago, a brilliant promoter, and a hot rodding culture starved for action in the winter. Enjoy!

In early March of 1969, the single worst disaster in the history of American motorsports took place at a small, virtually unknown drag strip in rural Georgia. Yellow River Drag Strip was the scene of horror as a funny car flew off the racing surface and into the unprotected crowd. A dozen people died and scores were injured. 

In this episode of the Dork-O-Motive podcast, we tell the story in every way possible. The history of the track, the history of the poeple involved, the immediate aftermath of the incident, how it changed motorsports in America, and so much more. 

This is a bleak day for racing and one that carried with it very, very significant consequences.