Classic Hot Rod racing evolved from a special one-off event between Barry Lee and George Polley at the NEC in 2004. The two of them wowwed the crowds in replica's of their cars from the 70's or the golden age of hot rod racing. 306 George Polley raced his usual purple Ford Anglia while 351 Barry Lee piloted the Burtons Ford Escort. The success of that saw the pair tour the country in display racing twinned with the F1's on their golden jubilee tour. The 2004 Spedeweekend had the pair reunited with 19 Mick 'Duffy' Collard in his Ford Escort mk2, the big 3 as they were known in the 1970's, many consider these to be the men that put hot rod racing on the map.

Spurred on by the ever increasing historic stock cars Incarace took the decision to run the class in 2005 after being approached by Gary Witcombe. The class was open to any British built car in production up until 1977. Most Classic Hot Rods have been built for this class barring two. Geoff Dixon's car was once raced by Iain Grayson at Buxton; while Rick Fray's Escort was built and raced by Billy Groom in 2001 as a retro style hot rod for Group A Hot Rods. Once the classics took off the car was modified.

There are probably a few other cars sitting in garages that could be resurrected for the classics, while the rules are holding back possible cars (eg Opel Kadett). Lee Fishwick ran an Austin A40 for years in the 1600 Hot Rods and then Group A's, where has this gone?

The class has yet to see the numbers like that in the historic stock cars or the replica cars but for many its shows the youngster what hot rods used to be like. The two cars that started the formula are now raced by different drivers. The George Polley machine is now red and raced by Ivan Russell. The Barry Lee Escort was raced in 2008 in the same colours but renumbered as 950 for former National Hot Rod World Champion Norman Woolsey.

The class features a mixture of long time racers and relatively young drivers with little racing experience. The cars do not race for any titles and money collected over the year is raised for charity. Some of the cars are very quick, Danny Brosnan was quicker than the 2 litre hot rods at the last Mallory Park meeting while Norman Woolsey has lapped an oval in under 15 seconds.

For 2009 Ballymena Raceway decided to promote the formula in Northern Ireland, the new year's meeting had three cars and more were expected over the course of the year. Some of the English drivers raced at Ballymena for the Irish Open at the end of August. These cars have now been phased into their Slick Car class.