Today the Hot Rod Power Tour brought us to beautiful (and freezing) Racine, WI.   We left Madison this morning around 9AM after goofing around in a healthy downpour.  You’d think that the rain would have detered all of the hot rodders….but it didn’t!

We were ‘launched’ from Madison to Racine, which was a little over a 100 mile drive.  There may be few prettier places to drive than a 2-lane Wisconsin highway!  We pulled in to a small town called Whitewater on the way to Madison – and the hospitality crew from the town was out front a center.  There was a bakery giving away cinnamon rolls to people if you’d do a burn out.  My buddy Aaron was driving today’s leg, so he did the burnout while I ate the cinnamon roll.  Good stuff!  When we got to Racine we set up right next to Lake Michigan.  Racine is beautiful….and cold!  It was 52 degrees and super windy all day.

The people on the Tour are terrific – it reminds me a lot of the syle of crowd that attend EAA’s Airventure airshow in Wisconsin every year – polite and fun-loving people.

We took a lot of pictures during today’s event and met several people.  I’ll post the interviews once I get home to Ames.  For now, just enjoy to pictures!

-Robert

p.s. It turns out that my new 350 has a couple of bad piston rings.  It’s using about a quart of oil every 250 miles – and it’s fouling the spark plugs.  Aaron and I pulled into the hotel parking lot and let the engine cool while we went to dinner, and then swapped in a new set afterward (I’m glad I had a spare set in the trunk).  We chatted with some fellow hot rodders in the lot while working – they were happy to watch over our shoulders and talk cars.  Honestly, this is the best place on the planet for a gearhead!

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Somewhere in Wisconsin – between Madison and Racine
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The Chevelle – at a fuel stop
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A 1970 Superbird – Richard Petty signed the dash!
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’66 Mustang fastback – with a straight 6!
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A very cool ’69 Camaro – it has a LS7 engine from a new Corvette Z06
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My buddy Aaron with a GM Performance Division ’69 Chevelle
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A very neat ’71 Torino Cobra with a 351 Cleveland and a 4-speed. It’s the only one like it on the entire tour.
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A ’68 Shelby GT500 “M”. What does the ‘M’ stand for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The owner just wanted something unique. He may have regretted giving it the unique ‘M’ moniker as we were about the 500th person today to ask him that question!
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This may have been the neatest car we saw the entire day. It’s a ’71 Dodge station wagon….that’s outfitted just like a Super Bee would be (engine, suspension, and braking wise), and it was built that way at the factory! It’s one of 3 in existance, and is the only pistol-grip 4-speed station wagon I’ve ever seen!
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Vic Edelbrock himself!

3 Responses

  1. The pics look great and it looks like you guys are having a great time. If the temperature is below 80, at least you won’t have to drive with the windows open the whole time.

    I’m looking forward to seeing the complete recap and video once you return and post it here!

    Pat

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