Cars were second only to surfing as a teenage obsession in California in the early '60s, and after establishing himself as the King of Surf Guitar,
Dick Dale set out to conquer new worlds by turning his attention to hot rods on his 1963 album
Checkered Flag. Like most of
Dale's albums for Capitol,
Checkered Flag is divided between the meat-and-potatoes instrumentals that were
Dale's stock-in-trade and vocal numbers that usually featured elaborate production and the work of outside songwriters.
Dale was producer on the sessions for
Checkered Flag, and he sounds like he's having more fun than usual on vocal numbers like "Hot Rod Racer," "Grudge Run," and the backhanded tribute to the Volkswagen Beetle, "It Will Grow on You" (and he manages to keep a straight face when he tells listeners about the "Big Black Cad" -- "Believe it or not, it's easy on gas!"). Of course, what most
Dick Dale fans are looking for are tunes where the great man goes wild on guitar, and
Checkered Flag certainly has its share, including the slow and slinky "Ho-Dad Machine," the frantic "The Wedge," and the supercharged closer, "Night Rider," and
Dale had some great players backing him up for these sessions, including
Hal Blaine and
Earl Palmer on drums and
Steve Douglas and
Plas Johnson on sax. While
Checkered Flag devotes a bit too much of its playing time to novelty-oriented vocal numbers, it packs enough punch to be one of
Dale's better albums with Capitol.