To combat the problem of teenagers drag-racing their hot rods on city streets, sympathetic Lt. Ben Merril (Connors) has set up a dragstrip for them where they can race under controlled, safe conditions.

A biker jacket-wearing bully named Bronc Talbott (Mark Andrews) arrives in town and after terrorizing the teens, appoints himself leader of them, replacing Jeff in that role.

Bronc is cockier than ever after winning, but Flat Top has realized that chicken-racing is insanely dangerous and tells his girlfriend Judy (Carolyn Kearney) that he was stupid and promises to remain "a coward" for the rest of his life.

Jeff is safety inspector for the dragstrip and after discovering several serious problems with Bronc's car, refuses to clear him to race.

[4] Roxanne Arlen's and Mark Andrews's names appear in the credits as "introducing" them, although both actors had roles in earlier films.

[5] Hot Rod Girl was distributed by American International Pictures (AIP) in the US with an official release date of 15 July 1956.

[3] According to TCM, an article in the 13 September 1956 issue of The Hollywood Reporter says that the film had gross receipts of $600,000 by that date from theatres in "fifteen key cities.

One writes, "America's car culture came into its own in the 1950s when the Interstate highways were built, Detroit boomed and high school shop classes trained auto mechanics.

"[9] Such films, frequently distributed by AIP, "featured large doses of sex, violence, hot rods, drag races, and rock and roll.

The anonymous reviewer wrote, "As a job of picture making, it is woefully weak, and that concerns scripting, production values and acting," but went on to say that "apparently, the film is enjoying surprisingly impressive patronage in the few situations where it has had pre-release runs.

"[15]Somewhat less seriously, Hal Erickson, in his synopsis on allmovie, calls the film "a whole lot less exploitational than its title,"[1] while reviewer Laydback at The Grindhouse Cinema Database writes that since Lisa doesn't do "anything except help pressure" boyfriend Jeff to get back into the hot rod scene, viewers shouldn't "go into this one expecting some 'Hot Rod Girl' kicking some ass (as I was led to believe).

Critic Nick Pinkerton refers to the teens in Hot Rod Girl as "misunderstood but essentially good kids" who are, however, "strictly squaresville.

"[19] Original music for Hot Rod Girl is by prolific film and TV composer Alexander Courage was performed by "noted jazz musicians" including saxophonist Bud Shank and trumpet player Maynard Ferguson.