 The turnout of rods and customs...  The turnout of rods and customs in Joliet was phenomenal, with row and after row lining up to the horizon. |
 Just as in Pontiac, the quality...  Just as in Pontiac, the quality of rods on display at the Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois was outstanding. |
 First a wedding proposal in...  First a wedding proposal in Pontiac, now a honeymoon in Joliet? Is this becoming the Romance Tour instead? (Please, no personal ads on the bulletin boards.) Dave and Michelle DiBartolomeo got hitched just a few days before the start of the Power Tour, and decided to spend their honeymoon with fellow participants in their '84 Grand Prix. Their wedding limo was a stretched '57 Chevy. |
 Even after the first day of...  Even after the first day of driving, some of the Power Tourers were showing signs of fatigue (the Hotrod.com staff included, after pulling an all-nighter to upload material to the Web site). And we still have nine more days to go! |
 Test and tune runs at the...  Test and tune runs at the adjacent Route 66 Raceway added to the high-performance level of excitement. |
 Things got a little hairy...  Things got a little hairy on one run, but this rod still nailed it the nines even after the driver had to back off the throttle to stay on the track. |
 Small Time Dave and...  Small Time Dave and the Windy City Band laid down some really tasty licks for the show car area. |
 One of Hot Rod Magazine's...  One of Hot Rod Magazine's latest cover cars made an appearance. |
 Some folks have all the fun--how'd...  Some folks have all the fun--how'd you like to do the Power Tour in this rat rod? |
 Don't even bother to clean...  Don't even bother to clean off the bird crap--just gas it up and go man go! |
 Dennis Overholser of Painless...  Dennis Overholser of Painless Wiring is justifiably proud of his personal ride. |
 Our first gas stop of the...  Our first gas stop of the Tour was at the colorfully-named, "115 Truck Stop," no doubt inspired by the illustrious exit number off I-94. The highway robbers in the convenience store charged us 33 cents for an empty foam cup. |
 One consolation at the 115...  One consolation at the 115 Truck Stick-Up was this enterprising local's use of a "Burnout Area" sign. We hightailed it out of there before the highway patrol caught on to us. |
 The friendly folks at Motor...  The friendly folks at Motor State Distributing (www.motorstate.com, a division of Lane Automotive) in Watervliet, MI supplied a Taco Bell lunch to the hungry tourers. |
 At the entrance to Lane's...  At the entrance to Lane's showroom and speed shop (located on the same premises as Motor State's 153,000 square-foot warehouse/shipping complex of high-performance parts), sits Mike and Jeanne Kunzman's pretty '32. |
 Inside the Lane's showroom...  Inside the Lane's showroom we encountered an impressive display of hardware. Note the Hot Rod TV crew at left filming the interior. |
 Vic Edelbrock had his shoebox...  Vic Edelbrock had his shoebox Chevy parked right out front for all to envy... |
 ...and Vic has every right...  ...and Vic has every right to be proud of this beauty. |
 Lane Automotive was founded...  Lane Automotive was founded by George Lane (center), who started out in the 1960s as a weekend warrior, selling parts out of his garage to his racer friends. His decades of high-performance enthusiasm is shared by sons Dave (left) and Doug (right). Today, most of the company's business focuses on supplying parts and collectible models to speed shops. |
 "Hey, what's this thing for?"...  "Hey, what's this thing for?" Hotrod.com's Online Editor Steve Temple struggles to keep up with the veteran Long Haulers by covering the Power Tour with, fittingly, a PowerBook G4 laptop from the cockpit of the Power Tour's Chevy van. |
 Peformance Exhaust, a cruise...  Peformance Exhaust, a cruise night sponsor for this portion of the Tour, displayed a cutaway hot-rod muffler with Z-Wave Technology that features a free-flow design for more power and torque and lower-frequency sound. |
 At the Bow Tie balloon, Bill...  At the Bow Tie balloon, Bill Jacocbs Chevrolet rolled out several Corvettes. His dealership also provided the iCan hand-control car, which made a run on the dragstrip with Hot Rod publisher Ira Gabriel and iCan CEO Heidi Van Arnem in the cockpit. |
 When smilin' Butch Bass of...  When smilin' Butch Bass of Holley began handing out raffle tickets for a speed parts, a long line quickly formed. |
 A couple dozen PT Cruisers...  A couple dozen PT Cruisers joined the first leg of the Tour, with more on the way, thanks to DaimlerChrysler's support. This particular concept is the Indian PT, obviously named for the motorcycle of the same name in the matching woodie-style trailer. |
 The convertible PT is supposedly...  The convertible PT is supposedly just a concept, but given tremendous popularity of PT mods, do you really think DC will pass up this sporty rendition? |
 With visible relief, Jim Youngs...  With visible relief, Jim Youngs embraces his new Rodster, a Chevy Blazer body conversion by Carouselli Design, after snatching victory from the menacing Jaws of Joliet (otherwise known as a drawbridge to you and me). |
LIST OF ALL DAYS
We're off! The 7th Annual Hot Rod Power Tour got underway on Friday morning, May 4, with a convoy making its way south through Detroit's bumpy city streets and onto I-94 West, toward Joliet, Illinois. Throngs of well-wishers lining the route to the highway waved and photographed the hundreds of rods on the first leg of the trip, likely due to all the local publicity the Tour has been receiving, including front-page newspaper stories two days in a row! Even after we hit the interstate, we spotted more thumbs-up spectators on the overheads encouraging us on, and likely hoping to be Long Haulers themselves some day.
The highlight of the traveling portion of Day Two was our stop at Motor State Distributing (part of Lane Automotive) in Watervliet, Michigan. In addition to providing free tacos and sodas, the company also gave out special-edition Hot Wheels Mustang model cars with a Hot Rod Power Tour logo on the packaging--cool swag, man! (Our warm thanks to the Lane family for their generous hospitality.)
Arriving at the Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois was a delight as well. The pristine facility has spacious grassy areas for our mammoth mingling of machines, along with a first-rate dragstrip. Some really quick rods making test-and-tune runs provided some extra spectacle to the event.
Another sort of thrill-ride took place in downtown Joliet, when one of emaps editors (the irrepressible Jim Youngs of Kit Car with wife Carolyn), took a wrong turn on a drawbridge in their freshly-painted Rodster. Pinned between the gate and the rising ramp of the bridge, they didnt realize a concrete counterweight was descending from above, and was about to add a whole new graphic treatment to the hood and roof (not to mention the Youngs and your Online Editor as well). Jim beat a hasty retreat by pulling a bat-turn, and we decided never again to risk life and limb on the "Jaws of Death" in Joliet. The towns dragstrip is a much safer place to play. After all, theres nothing overhead to worry about.
Next stop: Effingham, Illinois and Mid America Designs, Inc.