From a previous nostalgia trip....the 2019 tour resumes at post #17...
June 6 - Orlando, FL to Charlotte (Concord), NC-- 541 miles
Finally, after a year of waiting and counting down days, it was time to leave for the 2014 Hot Rod Power Tour. Tara and I (in the Acadian) my parents (driving my Challenger) met up with our friends Ken and Kathy Lockwood and their '36 Ford Cabriolet at 6:00 a.m. at the Longwood I-4 rest area to begin the trek to Concord, NC.
The trip up was uneventful. We managed to miss a small rain shower that passed over Savannah and we had great weather the entire drive. It was cool enough in the morning that we didn't even need the A/C until South Carolina.
Sticking with our Power Tour Guru, Lori's rules (Rule #1: No chain restaurants), we made our lunch stop at Duke's BBQ in Orangeburg, SC. It was featured on the show "the best thing I ever ate." Contrary to its name, it was not really a barbecue place, but rather a low key southern cooking buffet. They had pitchers of sweet tea on the tables and the fried chicken was excellent!!
We arrived in Concord around 4. Amazingly, except for a '64 Malibu convertible that passed us in GA, we did not see any other Power Tour cars until we left the highway.
Once we were checked into the hotel, we threw some water on our faces, changed clothes and met up with the rest of our Florida crew to take advantage of the hotel's complimentary happy hour.
We had a few drinks, did some catching up, and then took the Hotel's shuttle vans over to Charlotte Motor Speedway where our 20 person group had a reservation for dinner at the Speedway Club. The Speedway Club is an exclusive restaurant with a spectacular view of the entire race track. The food was as good as the view.
After stuffing our faces (All You Can Eat prime rib and crab legs was the special), we shuttled back to the hotel and spent an hour or so checking out the cars in the hotel parking lot and meeting many new people who were taking advantage of the cool evening. Among the highlights in our parking lot was a 55 Chevy gasser (appropriately named BlaspHEMI due to its non-GM powerplant), our friend Fred's custom 56 Chevy, a gorgeous '57 Nomad, several Chevelle and GTO convertibles. There was even a '59 Convertible with a Kennedy/Johnson bumper sticker.
Saturday June 7th, the Tour officially begins at the ZMax Dragway.
Power Tour Day 1: Concord NC- 0 miles
Today officially started the Power Tour. Tara, Ken, Kathy, Jerry and Lisa got an early start wiping down and shining up the cars in the cool morning weather. We left the hotel and immediately knew we were on the Power Tour when we were in a mile long turn lane full of Hot Rods, classics, muscle and performance cars waiting to get into the ZMax Dragway.
Picking up our credentials and registration packets required a bit of creative parking because the registration lot was just a bit smaller than the number of cars that needed to register. Getting in and out was a real-life version of "Parking Mania."
Once we were registered, we got parked and started getting the full Power Tour experience. First things first, we got our credentials punched at the time clocks and walked the sponsors' midway and picked up all our free swag. Kathy was in slight shock as she quickly became loaded down with T-shirts, hats, coozies, bottles of Mothers Quick Detailer spray, and, of course, MSD's daily Power Tour magnets.
It's hard to explain the sensory overload that comes with seeking show cars in every direction as far as you can see. None of us could avoid drooling over a custom '69 white/blue Camaro with a LSA motor and the brightest white interior I have ever seen. Even the carpet was white. Tara, being Tara, took the time to check out every box Nova at the venue. They ranged from a virtually stock '66 that reminded her of her little 6 cylinder, to the supercharged black '67 we parked next to last year in Charlotte.