Tampa Racing - Route 66 Hot Rods Fun Run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXsR8fcXrTo

by Skips Dirt Lot Genius Adventures

A glorious day on Route 66. What an amazing opening day for the 2017 Route 66 Fun Run. Be there as all the hot rods classic cars and speedsters arrive for this Magnificent event. In 1926, the idea of Route 66 was born. Although much of Route 66 was in use that first decade during construction, it was not until 1938 that it was reported as "continuously paved" from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Originally Route 66 ran through Seligman along the railroad tracks, where Railroad Avenue lies today. Before long it was moved one block north to where it has remained. Because Route 66 crossed areas of the country that were mostly flat terrain with moderate climates, the new highway provided easy driving from the Midwest to the Pacific. Route 66's untraditional diagonal course connected numerous rural towns bringing greater mobility to the people of the remote communities as well as the travelers passing through. As traffic started flowing through town, the ranch and railroad-based Seligman became linked to greater America in another way besides the railroad. Because the birth of Route 66 coincided with the depression it did not immediately help bring a great deal of prosperity to the small town. But later in the more prosperous years after World War II, more mobile Americans started touring the country in their cars. Residents began to develop new businesses and services for travelers. Motels, restaurants, gas stations, and automobile service stations occupied the town.

Because America was becoming increasingly mobile President Eisenhower committed himself to building a system of efficient national highways across the country. In 1956 the Federal Aid Highway Act was passed. This led to the freeway system that we know today which runs past all the small towns that Route 66 once connected. By 1970 almost all of the original sections of America's Main Street were bypassed by freeways. In 1978, Interstate 40 opened just a couple miles south of Seligman, replacing U.S. Highway 66 as the main thoroughfare across northwest Arizona. Not until 1984 did the final section of the Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway get bypassed by the freeway system just 43 miles east of Seligman in Williams, Arizona. The most famous road in America was no more.

Seligman is known as "The Birthplace of Historic Route 66" not because it is the birthplace of Route 66 itself but because it is the birthplace of its rejuvenation as a historic highway. In 1987, residents of Seligman, most notably, Angel Delgadillo, along with fellow Route 66 lovers in Kingman founded the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona and through their efforts the State of Arizona dedicated U.S. 66 from Seligman to Kingman as "Historic Route 66." Now all stretches of Route 66 in Arizona are designated as historic and Seligman is its birthplace.

Seligman has the pleasure of being the first stop heading west on the longest uninterrupted stretch of Route 66. For approximately 160 miles, from exit 139 on I-40 all the way to Topock, Arizona, the nostalgic-minded can drive back in time and experience America's Main Street much the same as did travelers from different eras. Historic Route 66 has been resigned and many stretches are scenic byways.

There are even new Burma Shave signs up to help get the full historic experience. Route 66 does indeed live on and Seligman is proud to be a part of the living history that is "The Mother Road."