Kirk Slack and his Out West Family Films have released a 34-minute DVD about the history and attractions of Route 66 in Arizona, according to the Kingman Daily Miner.
The documentary begins with the route’s Arizona origins along the Beale Wagon Trail in 1928, progressing to its role in the 1930s dustbowl migration, into its 1950s heyday as America’s Main Street. Slack said he interviewed a number of people who drove the route during its height, including one motorist who first traveled it as a child in 1951.
“I worked on it from about August to January, about five or six months accumulating stuff and doing interviews, researching stuff at the museum here in town,” Slack said.
As might be expected, the documentary prominently features Kingman and includes plenty of footage of the annual Street Drags events, as well as interviews with some of the participants. Slack also speaks with Route 66 connoisseurs and museum curators from Holbrook to Oatman, emphasizing the route’s recent resurgence as a large draw for European tourists.
“To us, it’s just another old road, you know? But I interviewed people from Swtizerland, Brazil, Germany, and they just love it for some reason,” Slack said.
You can order the film for $15 here.