Power Tour 2009

[Charley Lillard]

Once again the Power Tour was a blast. Towns you wouldn't think of going to on vacation are part of what makes it special. Madison Wi, Racine Wi, South Bend Indiana, Mt Clemens Mi,Dayton Ohio, Somerset Kentucky and Bristol Tennessee. It's not just about the drive and places you go. It's about all the people you meet. You leave your hotel at maybe 8:00am and head down the road. We used to go back to the previous days venue and do the driver meeting but there is really no need. You get to the next venue in early afternoon. Cars driving the entire trip are over 1000 and locals etc at each venue add another couple thousand. So you are probably at a car show each day with at least 3000 cars. You leave the show at maybe 5:00 pm and find your hotel, go eat dinner somewhere and then come back and hang out in the hotel parking lot. Summer evenings in the parking lots are great. If the hotels are close together you usually end up seeing plenty of people sitting in lawn chairs at the curb egging hot rodders on. One town that won't be named even had a law enforcement officer egging me on so me and Kwhizz did nice burnout in front of the crowd in my Camaro. I pulled back into the parking lot to get a pic of me and the cop car and the cop car went zooming out of the parking lot. He had told the crowd he was not going to be seen with me and was leaving before I got back. I'm from Ca. That could never happen out west. My car would have been impounded etc. I parked my Camaro with Jim, Forrest and the rest of the gang in the Mothers display. They were a great bunch. I did my first pass down the dragstrip in my new car against Jim from Mothers in his really cool 572" ElCamino. We were neck and neck down the track with me edging him by running a 12.66@119 against his 12.77@112. Weather was cold -hot-damp- wet etc. All part of the adventure. I will post some pics but you can also see some good stuff at the Mothers site. Mothers