Good turn out at Krispy Kreme in New Malden today. It was my first time out in the ’57 Chevy too

More in the flickr set here.

Tags: Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, krispy kreme, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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A few shots from a wet morning at the monthly Krispy Kreme meet. Great turnout considering the weather.

Tags: 2010, Camaro, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, krispy kreme, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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Just starting to go back though my Hot Rod Power Tour Photos. One of the things I was on the look out for was just how far people had come to participate and an easy was to do that in the States is by checking out the licence plates. Here are just some of the states representing turned into desktop wallpaper.

Black and White

Colour

Tags: Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, Licence Plates, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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I popped along to the Chop N Rod show in Cobham at the Fairmile today.  I wasn’t able to stay long but it was nice to catch up with Adrian and Simon. It was shaping up to be a great show on a very hot day. I was able to run on open headers with my new electric cutouts and that seemed to go down well . More shots in the Flickr set here.

Tags: chop and rod show 2009, chopper, hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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Last night at out hotel (Super 8 Motel in Bristol) we were parked next to Jim from Pennsylvania, this Chrysler was the car we parked next to at the Quaker Stake and Lube in Madison before our epic adventure began so brought us full circle.

Our hotel is close to this huge cross, part of a Baptist Church.

So today was the final morning of the Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, all that remain was for us all to gather for the Long Hauler awards. A special plaque is presented to everyone who lasted the distance from Madison to Bristol. Cars filed in through the morning mist.

The awards were held in the other part of Bristol Speedway (not the drag strip), the NASCAR circuit. Here is is outside and in (click for larger versions)…

People poured in for over an hour.

There was a photo taken of everyone which will be in Octobers issue of Hot Rod. Thanks was given to all the sponsors and dates were announced for next years tour, starting a week later. Two crate engines and a 2010 Camaro were given away as prizes and that was everything wrapped up.

I’d just like to say thanks to everyone who has made this week such a special adventure. Everyone we have met has been welcoming, no one has sneered at our crappy rental car and we have been made to feel like part of a special group of people. Thanks to all the organisers, venues and sponsors for making it happen. Thanks to everyone who has followed this blog and given support. Thanks to our new friends.

Tags: Bristol, hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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Another damp start from London, Kentucky this morning but as we got towards Tennessee the sun finally showed it’s face. So much so we finally got the mount for the camera in action to get some on the road shots. Sadly most of these have been ruined by what appears to be a hair on the sensor in the camera but we got a few…

We stopped off on route at a view point to see an awesome view of Tennessee, the countryside is so lush down here.

Then as the heat really turned up we got to our final destination, Bristol Speedway.

This is two hours worth of cars arriving and parked along side the strip in Bristol. There were two other car parks of cars besides this one. We heard yesterday that there had been a count up of cars on show back in Racine and there were over seven thousand.

Time to check out some drag racing. I’ve never been to a track outside of the UK and the facilities here were incredible. I hope one day Santa Pod will evolve to this level, I know they have invested a lot of money over the last few years. It was amazing to see some cars that had driven 1200 miles with us run 11s.

The coolest dog at the show rode around in a Hot Dog!

Clivey if you’re reading this one’s for you, burnt orange in a ’70!

Here are our friends Maureen and Jim, they gave us a present to take back to the UK, a Super Sport key ring that Jim’s son made on a water jet machine, fantastic. Thanks guys.

Some other shots from around the show, I can’t believe it almost over.

Tags: hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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We were woken up at 5.30 this morning by thunder and lighting in Dayton. About an hour later we heard thunder of a different kind as all the V8s were starting up in the multi-story car park ready to roll. The rain came and went on the journey and it was fairly clear when we arrived in Somerset, Kentucky. First thing we did was hit Kentucky Fried Chicken, had to be done. We arrived at the venue and went to validate our Long Hauler cards when the sky opened. We took refuge in the Pypes Exhaust stand where I picked up a pair of electric exhaust cutouts and some Y pipes for the Camaro.

A mad dash back to the car and we waited out the rain and caught up on some sleep.

Luckily the rain did blow over and it turned out to be a plesant  evening. Once again a great turn out for the show.

More in the flickr set here.

Tags: hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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Lots of interstate driving today which is not the most interesting, more rain too, hopefully as we go further south it will clear up. It was hot and humid though as we completed the 250 mile drive to Dayton. We needed to go off and do some shopping so didn’t spend much time at the car show today. I was extremely pleased to see a very special car when we arrived, one the VW fanatics will appreciate, Project Death. How they drive this thing I’ve no idea but its uber cool.

I asked the owner of this van how long it took to mask the flames. Six weeks and $1000 of masking tape! He has the paitence of a saint.

A few more shots from the show…

There are some people we run into every day on the Tour, Jim and Maureen are always early to the show like us and some of the friendliest folks around. This is thier Camaro…

Tags: Camaro, hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
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We woke once again to grey skies in South Bend this morning. We hit the road early and arrived in good time for the lunch meet and shop Tour at Ididit. By this stage it was starting to warm up and we hadn’t seen any rain. It was cool to tour the shop and I bought a Grant steering wheel for my Camaro. Hot Dogs were provided for all.

We got to the Metro Park area just after one o’clock and by this time the sun was beating down. I’ve stuggled to capture the scale of the show here so I took a picture of the car park around 2pm…

This was the same car park about 2 hours later…

..and that wasn’t the only car park either! We were king and queen of the lawn chairs this afternoon, we found a great spot by the entrance to the park and watch a constant stream of cars come in for a couple of hours in the glorious sunshine.

Then we went back to our hotel in Warren to check in, only to find a local cruise night at the bowling alley right next door. This is the view from the window…

We went to check it out. Nearly all these cars have nothing to do with the Power Tour, just another couple of hundred Rod and Muscle Cars that have come out to play.

Let’s hope the sun is here to stay. See more from today in the flickr set.

Tags: hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer, Warren
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At the drivers meeting in Madison it look as if the weather was against us today as it drizzled with rain.

Things soon dried out as we hit the road and headed off into the country side, no interstates today so some great landscapes to fill the windows. We saw a few interesting cars at the side of the road that weren’t even part of the tour.

All along the route people had come to sit by the road and wave us on our journey it was great to see so much support. The first stop of the day was in Cambridge and the people of this small town had really gone to alot of trouble to make us welcome. Special breakfast meals were laid on and the whole town had come out to see what was going on. The locals even had a water box in the road and were cheering every car to burn out.

Even the gas tanker was tempted to burn out!

From Cambridge it was on to Union Grove Dragway to see the Peak Performace participants continue to use and abuse thier cars.

When we eventually arrived at the main venue in Racine I had a bit of a melt down. I have never seen so many Hot Rods and Muscle Cars in my life and didn’t know where to look or how to even start taking it all in. I can now see where the lawn chair thing comes in to play, pick a good spot and let the cars roll past you rather than trying to get round them all. There were litarlly miles of cars parked up along the lake front and in the old town of Racine. Amazing!

We rounded off an amazing day with a visit to the Bratfest. Mike and Carolyn had contacted us before we left the UK to invite us to a gathering at thier house. Thanks so much for the invite, great food and great company.

More photos in the flickr set here.

Tags: hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, Madison, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer, Racine
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