Power Tour

To give you an idea of what a blissfully draining experience the Hot Rod Power Tour is, we stayed at a hotel overlooking the banks of the mighty Mississippi river and I didn’t even realize it until Forrest clued me in after the fact. Speaking of river banks, who knows this little diddy, “Down by the banks of the Hanky Panky. Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky. With an eeps, ipes, opes, opps. One fell in and went kerplops.” Okay, maybe I’m a bit more blissfully drained than I originally thought. That’s half the fun of the Tour, not knowing exactly where you are, but having a helluva good time getting there. Welcome to Day 3 of the Hot Rod Power Tour and a 311.3-mile milk run from St. Louis, Missouri to Memphis International Raceway in Millington, Tennessee. Since this is Forrest’s hometown, he started the day by taking us to see the sights - one of which was this quaint little microbrewery. You know, a guided tasting tour would have been nice, Forrest. On our way out of town I had to grab another cell shot of the arch. It seems our Tour buddies Hunter Gilbertson and Eli Reed have been challenging me to up my Instagram game in a bid for money shot superiority. Challenge accepted. I’m ready to rock. No excuses. Except for the following: Shane was driving poorly; I ate a big breakfast and I didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Okay, starting tomorrow – no excuses! Unless tomorrow doesn’t work for you guys, then I can always pencil you in for a later date. Once on the road to Memphis, Mom Tour 2015 continued at ludicrous speed with our own mom, Barbara Holloway and Judy Trepanier. I’m half-tempted to ask the team at Rad Rides by Troy if they can add a speed limiter to our ’59 Sedan Delivery. Speed is definitely hereditary, because Barbara’s son, our own Jim Holloway also seems to struggle with the concept of a moderate pace. This was our view of the 3dCarbon Mustang for most of the drive. Only to be outdone by our fleeting glimpses of the ’59 on the horizon. Don’t mind us, we’re only trying to take pictures here. At our first rest stop I was finally able to get a good look at the Mothers Sedan Delivery cooling its heels. Sights like this while on the Power Tour make me feel good about myself. While sights like this make me question my judgment after agreeing to ride shotgun on a 1,509.5 road trip with this man. Would you want to be his Muddy Buddy? I always believed the reason Jim’s cars stay so clean on the Tour is due to the power of Mothers Polish, but after seeing his mad insect whisperer skills it could be that he just nicely asks the bugs to stay off his grille and windshield. We thought the signage on our Commando 9000 Rental Yukon XL looked good, until we put it up against the hand-lettered Mothers logo on our ’59 Sedan Delivery. Time to step up our vinyl game, Shane. On this day, Shane Christman did proclaim, that he admires this M3 Sedan so much so, that he will kneel at its M Sport wheels and capture this moment in time and upload for all the world to see. And they will like it. And he will feel good. While Shane was feeling social, the rest of us went in to Lambert’s Café to get our grub on. It’s a good thing Shane finally came in, because we needed his gangly arms to help pull down some of their infamous “throwed rolls.” Thanks to Forrest for the great call on the lunch stop chow house. It’s always nice to see our friends from AutoZone at the ready to help a Power Tourist in need. Once we made it to the Memphis International Speedway we were treated to the powerfully pleasing sight of Brad Young’s Hennessey Ford GT 1000 in our display area. After a long day behind the wheel of his ’67 Nova SS, our friend, James Schiefer relies on our California Gold Instant Detailer to remove 300-plus miles of road grime. It’s also nice to see that he relies on his flattering hipster jorts to show off his sexy gams. We’re not exactly sure what compelled this guy to strap a honking blower onto his Edsel, but we’re certainly glad he did. Ball and chain on the spring over drop front end. Check. Iron worked armadillo hood ornament. Check. Raccoon tail antenna topper, toy chihuahua lifting its leg on the front tire and a man cave sign on the front mirror. Check, check and check. Yup, Darrin Riddles’ 1939 Chevrolet pick-up checks all the boxes. Nothing more to see here. These guys are Power Tour regulars and boy do they know how to tailgate properly, from the supercharged V8 grill on its own trailer to whatever the hell it is in the Pennzoil can, makes us just want to pull up chair and chill out. We saw this DC2 Integra tearing up the autocross at the kickoff party. It’s nice to see it making the haul. Speaking of imports, we’re posting this STI just to keep our former-STI owner, Shane happy. We can see the headline now, “Wisconsin man moons old Chevy truck.” This is Karl Winklar’s ’71 Land Cruiser with 350 SBC, but he’s quick to point out that he still has the original 2F I6 engine. Karl’s been coming on the Tour for the past three years, driving all the way out from Portland, Oregon. First Karl brought his wife, then his brother, but neither of them wanted to come this year, so he brought his best friend. We’re sure Karl and his dog are having a blast. This is Bob and Pat Brown’s 1961 Austin-Healey 3000 MK II. There were 5,096 of these made from March of ’61 to June of ’62 at a price of $3,395. The 2,912cc tri-carb engine makes 132hp and Bob and Pat drive it to Healey events all over the country. Yet, none of that seems to matter when you park it next to that ship-like Caprice Classic. This is Dave Boice’s 1937 Plymouth Business Coupe. Look closely at the front fender… And you’ll see the complete documentation of Dave’s Power Tour to date. We would have gone with a blog, kinda like the one you’re reading now, but who are we to judge. Now there’s a rare bird. Ford Ranchero GT 429 with California tags, no less. Hot Rods by Dean Impala is obviously a well-done ride, but one thing stands out. And that’s the real deal Power Tour grime. It does our hearts good to see well-built cars being driven hard. A few years ago the world’s largest burnout was set on the Power Tour. Then the Australians took the record down under. Well, this injustice will not stand, so the Power Tour planned to take it back. And take it back we did, with 114 cars roasting rubber in the name of pride of country. Click here to see the entire record-setting burnout. ‘Murica! Forrest calls this one, “Still life with tire tread.” Burnouts are not without casualties and on this day it was the Roadkill Draguar. After the burnout smoke and the festivities died down at Memphis International Raceway we were invited to participate in the Comp Cams Hot Rods on Beale Street complete with a police escort. Honestly, this officer could have escorted us just about anywhere and we would have followed. Hot Rods on Beale was going off… And it was the perfect time for us to go off to dinner at Pig on Beale. Here we see Judy Trepanier, Jim Holloway, Shane Christman and Barbara Holloway transfixed by their screens as our friend, Steen Gilbertson mourns for our future. Tomorrow for Day 4 we’ll go 270.6 miles from Memphis to the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.