Eh, its all relative.
When we were little, fuel injection, syncronized transmissions, independant suspension and all that crap was new. Older people then scoffed at it. I think its just new stuff to hot rod differently. They'll be plenty of internal combustion engines around for a long time. Shit - FIVE of my Eight 4-wheeled vehicles are carbureted. Says more about me than the times, but still...
Just for grins - those 5 vehicles use 14 barrels of carburetion, too. =)