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
Posted in Hot Rod Power Tour 2009 | 2 Comments »

So yesterday I forgot to mention our steed for the the Hot Rod Power Tour, a black 2009 Dodge Charger. Obviously we would prefer to be doing the Tour in an old car but the Dodge ties in nicely to my old Black ’67 Charger that I used to own.  They may only share a name but it’s a name that conjours up the menace of the villains in Bullet, the power of Blade and some good old boys delivering moonshine.

Saturday here in Madison and the first thing we did was register at the Alliance Energy Centre. As we queue to enter I saw a car I recognised instantly in my rear view mirror, the 66 Charger know as 1st Wing. If you don’t know the story check it out over here. It was a car that had some people fooled for quite some time. As soon  as we parked up I headed over to check it out and it looks every bit as good as I thought it would.

As the day progressed thousands of amazing cars turned up in Madison, I’ve never been to such a large gathering of Hot Rods and Muscle Cars in my life and didn’t know where to point the camera first. Everyone wants to talk cars and everyone has time to tell you about thier ride, it’s a fantastic experience. The guys at Erodz Customs had a 63 Bel Air and a bunch of Sharpies and were asking people to write messages in thier car.

There was a chance for people to prove that American cars can take corners in the Autocross, some cars were pushed to the limit.

Unfortunatley as the day went on it became more like a show in the UK as the sky turned dark and then the rain came. I felt sorry for the guys who were running slicks!

More photos in the flickr set here.

Tags: hot rod, Hot Rod Power Tour 2009, Madison, muscle car, Nick Grant, photographer
Posted in Hot Rod Power Tour 2009 | No Comments »