Hot Rod Power Tour
 

Well its been going on but nobodys talked about it? Anyone on here go?

We attended one of the legs of the tour on Monday in Champaign,Ill. Over 2000 cars in attendance with many late model Mustangs,Camaros and Challengers. Several nice street rods,street machines and classic trucks there also. It rained(sprinkled)most of the day but that didn't stop the huge participation. There were a few less vendors than years past.

I went to the first day at the gm proving grounds. A lot of cool stuff. The best part was the exit route took you through a section of all the test tracks.

I know Charley and Ken (Kwhizz) went. Tony from Planet LSX is there. I'm sure we'll be seeing pics when they get back.

I'm laying In bed in Arlington right now typing this. We picked it up in St louis and came the rest of the way. Good event, lots of cars, great weather and HORRIBLE traffic!! LOL. We are in the wagon and it is doing well other than the traffic. It creeps up there, got to 240* a couple times this week!! Prolly not too good on a 348!!:willy:

I was out there yesterday walking the parking lots. Plenty of late model stuff to look at if thats your thing. The main attraction for me was the Optima Qualifier. Great show going on over there. Finch's new Nova is Wicked!

I like late model stuff but don't really seethe fun in taking a 2010 vette or similar on the power tour

So absolutely right.....

A buddy of mine run the whole tour and is/was doing the optima challange. He's had a blast, I could have gone with him but had too much stuff going on. May be next year!!!

Howard

That track is TINY! Looked like it would be small for a Miata! LOL!:_paranoid

Agreed. Seemed like they hardly enough room to blip the throttle before having to get on the brakes. Couldnt have been much fun to drive. On the other hand though, the speed stop challenge looked like it was a blast.

Had a total blast on the Power Tour and at the Optima Qualifier. From the Detroit GP on Friday to sitting here in the airport waiting for my flight home, I'm sunburnt and smiling. Can't wait until next year!

We just went to the finale' on Friday. Cars were @ the park already by 9am & still coming in later in the afternoon. The common complaint I heard was the show 'route' was very poor (basically taking people on a loop around Dallas to see some of the city). As someone that lives here, the last thing you want to do is be on a freakin' highway driving around the city.

Lots of cars & the autocross did seem small-ish vs other venues. The show 'set-up' was kind of weird as well where participants parked vs where the auto-cross, speed/stop challenge, & vendor trailers were.

All that being said.... You gotta' love it when this many cars of all years, makes, & types show up @ one time/one place. Heaven for a gear-head. We also went to the Optima qualifier challenge @ Eagle Canyon Raceway on Saturday. That was a NICE place & it was cool to be there & see the action.

Taking the classics are always more fun, but I'd rather take a newer car on the tour then not go at all. I've done it twice, once in a '69 Camaro that was lucky to get 9MPG and once in a 2004 GTO that banged out around 24MPG and had A/C. Both times were a blast and I had just as much fun in both cars

It's about the experience, the people and the cruising, much more than which car you are driving

When it becomes a sea of late models - it will cease to exist. The name is HOT ROD power tour - not 2002 and newer tour... :lol:

It's like Hot August Nights... which has turned into nothing more than a "local show" of the same crap you can see any Saturday at the burger stand... Instead of the best or latest builds... People stop going when the stuff stops peaking your interest.

The draw for Columbus GoodGuys show is that if you want to see the top of the top that's where you go - and you're willing to put up with hot and humid and spend money on flights and hotels etc... if it turned into 1999 "custom" Corvettes and '83 Monte Carlos... would you go?

IMHO the more people that think it's just an "event" and you can drive your new car... the quicker it will become a non-event. :cheers:

:rofl: :thumbsup:

What he said:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Anything newer than 30 years should be excepted by application only. I wouldnt mind seeing any number of cars out there as long as theres been enough done to it. Hot Rodding is Hot Rodding no matter the vehicle.

I had my son out there with me looking over the sea of vehicles. To keep his interest (he is 6), I told him to pick out his favorite cars and I'll take his picture with it. Do I have to tell you how embarrassed I am at the number of pics I have of late model Vettes, Camaros, and Mustangs? Power Tour is working on the future of the hobby as well with this. So let them come but within reason.

POwer Tour
 

Me and my buddy went on the first three cities in my 1965 Fastback and we had a blast! now that I understand how it works I would do things a little differently next time, but it was great. It is all about meeting people, and the brotherhood of hot rodding. Seeing these old cars thunder along the highway and through small town America brought a smile to everyone's face. Rolling along past all the little houses with flags on their porches waving at us while listening to John Cougar Small Town with my friend for 35 years is something I will never forget. The Power Tour is a huge boost to these communities, It reminds them of better times, and seeing these works of art in action is better than any car show. My hero on the way to Muskegon was a lime green 1970 Challenger with blacked out 20's. He was a few cars ahead of me and he roasted the hides for a 100 yards at every 4 way stop no matter how washboarded the pavement. Behind me for 75 miles in a red 1965 GTO was a 75 year old woman by herself! rowing the 4 speed with just the windows down to cope with the heat. Thats a tough old bird, and seeing her made my day. How many 20 year old girls today would do the same??? I ran into guys in their late 50's who had battled cancer, and got in a chevelle with 3 high school buddies and said **** it! no more tomorrow, and did the Tour. These are just some of the memories I have, and it was a wonderful experience. As for the old vs. new, of course I am in favour of the old, and if its new, you better modify the hell out of it to be different, cuz thats hot rodding!

Great post Paladin :thumbsup:

X2...you sure painted a great picture. :cool:

I did the whole tour and maybe saw 5% of the cars. It is that big. The best part is at the end of the day you go to dinner with friends and then after dinner in the hotel parking lots everybody is hanging out. Usually a few burnouts occur. The Polce generally look the other way because the money that gets spent in these cities is a ton. I think Champaign Il said the one day would bring 1.3 mil. Figure at least 1000 motel rooms, at least 2000 dinners, 1000 tanks of gas etc. It is a big economic stimulator. Crusing thru a town with crowds on the sidewalk watching is fun as can be. Seeing the people like the old lady in her nightshirt a couple years ago out picking up her paper was priceless. You could tell she had no idea and she paused to watch the old cars go by but they never stopped going by. She probably figured 1 minute and it was probably more like 5 hours. Next year we start in Texas and I'm told one of the stops is Memphis. Beale street in Memphis on a summer night:willy: :cheers: Are we there yet ? Rendevous Ribs....ahhhhh

that's a great stop, and that waiter at Rendezvous is awesome!

Memphis on the Power Tour......last time I had food poisoning from the night before.....not good!!! The time before that the Camaro was down because of a machine shop issue that didn't get the engine back to me in time. The time before that, well I blew up the transmission on the chassis dyno at Comp Cams in front of a couple hundred people!!!! Dooh!!! But Comp was awesome and provided me the parts and place to get it back on the road and finish out the long haul!! And I met alot of cool people that week, that have helped me out along the way!

Memphis was done several years ago, the police stopped by our hotel while we all hanging out around 7-8pm and said I'd recommend someone sleep out here all night, cause something will happen to your car.

Just curious Greg, how many Power Tours have you been on?

It is much more about the actual drive and the people, than what you drive. Ask anyone who goes year after year.

Also, you said it's not about new cars because it's a Hot Rod "power tour"? Well, I almost hate to say it, but a lot of the late models on tour, have hundreds more horsepower than the classics taking the trip. just sayin';)

We had that stop two years in a row, 05 and 06 I believe. No problems at all, though areas of Memphis are extremely sketchy.

We stayed at a hotel downtown right across from a Hooters. Had it's own parking garage, no problems. Many of the Power Tour host hotels have security, knowing the cars that will be there. If you stay at another hotel you'd be on your own. I do remember driving through Memphis from the fairgrounds to the hotel the first time, very scary neighborhoods............. :faint:

It may be that way now, but when the power tour started,it was all about getting your OLD hodtrod out and driving it. Fixing it up, making it road worthy so that it just don't sit in the garage and go to mom and pop car shows and just sit there. I've been to several stops going back to i think 2000 when it started in california and ended in nashville tn. There weren't no newer cars hardly at all. It was all about the old Hot rods. I love newer hotrods(had Z06 etc) but its not the same and not a challenge. IMO

Yea I remember seeing parking garages for certain hotels but we booked it later and couldn't get any of those. The neighborhood certainly wasn't the best, but if you think about it that happens every town you go to.

yep, Little Rock for example. The venue is right in the middle of the "hood". And that's one of the stops next year....... :wow:

You have to book hotels a well in advance. We have a friend who books them as soon as the official route is set, usually around August/Sept the year before.

Yup, I remember little rock, that was certainly the ghetto. I forget if it was there or Memphis we had to drive down a 2 lane road to get to the venue and traffic was backed up for hours, and all the people hanging out their front porch drinking and watching the cars, was "interesting".

Did they release proposed route for next year?

that was Little Rock. And if you got off that street and tried to take parallel streets to bypass the traffic... :wow: :faint:

We'll post up the schedule as soon as we get it. Several stops are solidified, but we're guessing on the order of some at this point.

I've lived here all 46 years of my existence. 17 years in the local fire service. I definately do not brag about Memphis. We have rough areas and we have rougher areas. We also have lots of decent folks mixed in to that. We have a nice motorsports park and a strong hot rod/performance culture here. Comp cams, RHS, Hypertech, Lunati, all started here (many moons ago, of course). We have a huge BBQ and Music fest every year and fun festivals all over town through the summer.

That being said, we also have a lot of people riding the welfare system. We are consistantly in the top 5 for crime (top 3 for syphillis). Any place that is a tourist attraction is a crime attraction, Graceland, Beale, Dowtown/Riverfront. If anyone is planning a visit I would be glad to share what I know about areas of town and things to do. PM me.


Jeff-

Yeah I gotta tell ya, I'm wouldn't be there to watch newer high horse power cars drive by. Once the old cars start to disappear, so will the crowds. Just my thoughts.

Hmm.. your memory is different than mine. I was at the California kickoff parties in 1997-1999.. The ratio of modern hot rods was similar to what I see today. Difference is the number of participants.

Little Rock was crazy.. a car wash was an adventure!

where i was in nashville, at the end, it was all old cars that i remember, but i wasn't really paying attention to the new stuff, if there was any.

Here's my "Beater" that we drove this year.....Finished it Thursday night and left Friday morning........

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...t/DSC06494.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...t/DSC06472.jpg

Ken

Ken, that would be so cool. Nice car, it had to be a blast.:thumbsup:

that really turned out great Ken. :thumbsup:

Yep that car turned out great Ken. Nice talking with you at the Dells again.:thumbsup: