Today started off fairly bad, I got up around 8:30 and it was storming by me in Milton. I thought it was going to be a horrible day, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I got everything loaded, said goodbye to my friends there and headed out to meet up with the Tour in Whitewater. I didn’t know if I was going to be in front of the main group or behind, but I thought getting there by 9:30 or 10:00 am would be a good time to roll with the group.
I cruised along the back roads to Whitewater, it was fairly uneventful. Pulling into Whitewater it looked as though the whole town was still asleep. There wasn’t anyone on the sides of the road or anything. I was wondering if I had come to the right place.
Just down the route is a great place for Custard called Frosty’s. I always love stopping there, so I pull in and the lot is empty. I’m even getting more worried by this time.
Walking in, I knew the owner from meeting him before. He said it had been slow, but the main group had yet to come through, cars were just starting to trickle through. I was relieved, grabbed some frozen custard and headed out.
Crusing the back roads of Wisconsin was fun, we didn’t have any real dangerous driving. I was traveling in a group of probably 20 cars or so. We just chugged along. Some of the roads were really incredible though, I guess every state has some hidden gems.
I needed gas, so I found a BP station right near the corner where you go to hit up Union Grove Dragway. I had no intention of hitting up the drag strip, but instead to head to a Mopar show I had been invited too. Not knowing how far out of my way I really went.
I plugged in the address into my GPS and headed off. I thought that I had only gone a little out of my way. When I finally looked more into it, I was almost 45 minutes to an hour away from the show! I thought to myself, should I just turn around? I decided to continue on, there was no reason not to. So I kept on going.
I made it there just as the MoPower Group was leaving. It was great timing on my part again. But I had a great time. It was a really nice show, the weather was overcast but no rain. Lots of incredible cars. Sad to hear that the dealership is one on the chopping block. I wish the best for the people. The club that sponsored the group was a real nice group of people, I chatted with Roy, the one who told me about the show. He had a jaw dropping 72 Road Runner with a very large Hemi between the fenderwells. You have to read the emission sticker.
I said goodbye to my new friends and headed back to Racine, which was all highway driving. I made my way back to the route and hung with another group of cars that were heading to the show.
Getting off the highway, you start taking smaller and smaller streets, and the traffic gets worse and worse. But everyone was under control, no issues on this leg.
After an hour of traffic I finally made my way to venue area, which is literally right on the lakefront. It was cold and windy, so no one was that happy. I parked at what I thought was the beginning, but I was very wrong.
I started making my way through the show, seeing what new cars had arrived, I ran into the group from Wicked Rides again. They pulled into the show just after me with their old Plymouth station wagon, 70 Hemi Challenger convertible and 62 Dart Nun-Runner Limo. I have to clarify that the Nun-Runner is a GREAT vehicle and ran GREAT the whole time. The car did NOT overheat the previous day.
Walking the car show I ran into the cars of my car club from Chicago, they were browsing the show already, so I didn’t stick around. The walk was getting bad. The problem with Racine is that it is not one large area, they spread it out, it is a very LONG venue.
Making your way through the venue, you think the end was where the Power Tour stage was, you would be WRONG. Just to the left is a road going up into Racine’s lakefront district. I thought that there was an awful lot of people walking up to that area, I had better check it out.
Glad I did, a good 1/3 of the show was up and down the main street. They lined both sides of the street and every little side street. The place was packed with people in bars, restaurants and even a wine place.
It was really nice just to walk down the middle of the street looking at cars. Ironically one of my friends from the Gearheads happened to have his car up in this area. His classic Chevy cop car was a big hit, so they told him to go up to the street to park, and not the normal area.
After chatting for a bit, I continued on, I noticed that there was a ton of AMC cars at this venue. I believe it was because they were built right down the road in Kenosha.
At the end of the rows of cars was a little pizza place, I was a little hungry so I popped in and grabbed a slice of Pizza, and apparently the place used to be a tiny White Castle. Kinda interesting.
Heading back to cover the last part of the show I had missed on the other side of the road I noticed I felt warmer. It was then that I noticed that the Sun was starting to come out, the temperature was going up and it was becoming comfortable again.
Walking back to the lower show, I kept an eye out for the MoPower Tour car, a new 09 Challenger SRT-8. I couldn’t find it anywhere. They had left before me from the previous show, but they were no where to be found.
I met up with a photographer that I had met online who has shot for Hot Rod, Camaro Magazine, Car Craft, Popular Hot Rodding, etc…. Him and I just were talking when I saw the MoPower Challenger drive by, I ran after the car, but they drove away. This was the closest I’ve gotten to them so far.
Making my way back to my friends at Wicked Rides, I sat most of the afternoon with them, just chatting, watching the rediculous amount of people going crazy over the 62 Dart Limo. We didn’t understand what was going on, next to the Limo was a immaculate 70 Hemi Challenger convertible, and it barely got noticed.
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching cars go in and out, talking with random people and just enjoying the beautiful day it had become.
We all left there tired, heading back to our hotels for a night of burnouts and general car talk with anyone nearby.
Tomorrow we head to South Bend Indiana… lets hope that 90% chance of rain doesn’t come true!
View all the pictures below!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemipwr70/sets/72157619407830740/
2009 Hot Rod Power Tour 