{"id":101712,"date":"2025-07-16T05:18:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T05:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/the-camfather-turns-104-ed-iskenderian-celebrates-a-century-plus-four-of-speed-smoke-innovation\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T05:18:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T05:18:25","slug":"the-camfather-turns-104-ed-iskenderian-celebrates-a-century-plus-four-of-speed-smoke-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/the-camfather-turns-104-ed-iskenderian-celebrates-a-century-plus-four-of-speed-smoke-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CAMFATHER TURNS 104: Ed Iskenderian Celebrates a Century (Plus Four) of Speed, Smoke & Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few names in drag racing \u2013 or hot rodding, period \u2013 carry the weight of\u00a0Ed \u201cThe Camfather\u201d Iskenderian<\/strong>. The legendary founder of\u00a0Isky Racing Cams<\/strong>\u00a0turned 104 years old this week, and if the birthday bash at Lions Automobilia Foundation Museum was any indication, he\u2019s still got plenty of gas in the tank.<\/p>\n

From pioneering camshaft design to shaping the marketing that helped define early hot rodding culture, Isky isn\u2019t just a part of the sport\u2019s history \u2013 he helped invent it. And at 104 years young, the Camfather is still full of stories, insights, and the kind of old-school swagger that built drag racing into what it is today.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEd had a great 104th Birthday at Lions Automobilia Foundation Museum,\u201d read a post from the Isky Racing Cams team. \u201cLana Chrisman and the whole staff put on a wonderful event and many thanks to Jack Beckman for being the emcee. Thanks to all who came to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first of several celebrations planned throughout the week, the Lions event was filled with racers, friends, fans, and industry legends \u2013 many of whom owe their careers in some part to the innovation and integrity of Ed Iskenderian.<\/p>\n

And while the festivities were fittingly nostalgic, a recent sit-down interview with\u00a0Alex Taylor<\/strong>\u00a0on the Isky YouTube channel reminded everyone just how deep Ed\u2019s roots run.<\/p>\n

In the nearly hour-long conversation, Ed recounted the earliest days of Isky Racing Cams \u2013 from building his first brochures three days before the first Hot Rod Show at Exposition Park, to running full-time dyno testing in his California shop, to playing a crucial role in land speed and circle track development.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can only do so much talking,\u201d Ed told Taylor. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have something worth reading. Something informative. People want to learn \u2013 and that\u2019s what I gave them.\u201d<\/p>\n

His commitment to educating customers through advertising and technical literature was decades ahead of its time. While others ran glossy, vague marketing campaigns, Ed delivered value \u2013 and built trust. \u201cTeach them,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t just tell them your name.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Isky also dove into the legendary partnerships he forged with racers like\u00a0Vic Edelbrock<\/strong>,\u00a0Art Malone<\/strong>, and\u00a0Don Garlits<\/strong>, detailing how camshaft development was often done in real time, grinding and testing multiple variations across a single afternoon on the dyno. His stories aren\u2019t just history \u2013 they\u2019re the blueprint for how high-performance was born.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one day, we tested four different cams and had results from each,\u201d Ed said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we figured out what worked. You learn by doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

From smoking cigars to keep calm on the phone in the early days to sneaking into seminars to call out long-rod myths, Ed\u2019s tales are as bold as the man himself. And in the midst of it all, there\u2019s an unmistakable theme: he always told the truth, always helped racers go faster, and always had a trick up his sleeve.<\/p>\n

Now, at 104, he\u2019s still making appearances, still sharing stories, and still influencing the sport \u2013 whether it\u2019s through Isky\u2019s continued innovation or the generations of racers and engine builders who consider him the ultimate source.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy\u2019s not just behind the legend,\u201d Taylor said during the interview. \u201cHe is the legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

From all of us at Drag Illustrated \u2013 happy birthday, Camfather. The sport you helped build wouldn\u2019t be the same without you.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on July 15, 2025. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post THE CAMFATHER TURNS 104: Ed Iskenderian Celebrates a Century (Plus Four) of Speed, Smoke & Innovation<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few names in drag racing \u2013 or hot rodding, period \u2013 carry the weight of\u00a0Ed \u201cThe Camfather\u201d Iskenderian. The legendary founder of\u00a0Isky Racing Cams\u00a0turned 104 years old this week, and if the birthday bash at Lions Automobilia Foundation Museum was any indication, he\u2019s still got plenty of gas in the tank. From pioneering camshaft design […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}