When there were far fewer people around, far fewer laws and regulations, when the legal speed limit was 75 mph, when gas was cheap, when driving was a pleasure, if you owned a hot machine you could point the grill down an empty road and go!
Here's the flier from the 2nd annual Portland Roadster Show, October 1957. Admission is only ninety cents. Sponsored by the Multnomah Hot Rod Council (MHRC) -- same as it still is today!