Power Tour

I’m not gonna lie, Mondays usually suck. But not on the Power Tour, where Mondays mean the fun is just getting started. On Sunday, Day 1 brought hail and tornado warnings and a deluge of biblical proportions. But none of that mattered on this Monday morning, because we awoke with visions of Power Touring dancing in our heads. Our wet cars couldn’t dampen our spirits (but my cheesy writing is enough to make anyone sad), because the weather was improving and we had 190 miles of open road between us and Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois. Our beloved ’59 Sedan Delivery and the 3dCarbon Mustang performed admirably despite Day One’s torrential conditions and we were more excited to drive today than a 13-year old girl at a OneRepublic concert. Come to think of it, Shane was just as excited as said girl (complete with the high pitched squeal). This beauty belongs to our new friend Keith. I have a feeling Keith is going to be right at home with the Mothers crew. Because the prospect of running out of gas sounds worse than Shane’s Best of Boy Bands play list we topped off our tanks with the finest fossil fuels Champaign had to offer. Shane stopped smiling after I told him Jimmy John’s refused to add his signature Makin’ Bacon Turkey Jerky sub to the menu. Oftentimes, genius is way ahead of its time. I really wanted Forrest to tell me who invented the modern day gas pump, but Shane needed consoling after his career as a sandwich magnate was tragically cut short. Our mom, Barbara Holloway and her first born son, Jim top off the tank in the ’59 Sedan Delivery. If it weren’t for the gas pump or the mulch in the background, this would be a really touching portrait of a mother and her son. Your move, Sears Portrait Studio. Yeah, this guy is actually using a squeegee on the INSIDE of his windshield. I know dem feels, bro. The cup holders in our Commando 9000 rental Yukon XL are actually too big for my 33-ounce Glaceau Smart Water bottles, forcing me to reach in the glove box for the supplied insert. It’s not at all easy to do when your hands are filled with, say a scone or a quiche. But these sorts of tales from the road are what make Power Tour such a memorable experience. Am I right? Shane explains to Jim exactly what makes his Makin’ Bacon Turkey Jerky sub so much better than anything else in the sandwich game as our crew waits patiently on the shoulder. It really was great to see our ’59 back on the road where it belongs and with our mom, Barbara behind the wheel. We spent the day chasing Barbara and Judy Trepanier, mom of Troy of the Rad Rides. Forrest likes to call these two ladies Thelma and Louise. One thing’s for sure, they are a couple of bad mothers and Shane struggled to keep pace as I struggled to decide whether or not to utilize the cup holder inserts in our Commando 9000 rental Yukon XL Our friends Brian and Janet Thomson of Thomson Automotive joined us again on Tour. This year they brought this pristine Chevelle SS with a 950hp LSX engine. It really is a beast. For most people, Plan B involves a crappy rental (with no cup holder inserts!), but not our friend, Steen Gilbertson. When the engine in his yellow Chevelle SS let go, he had a good friend trailer his Z06 down from Michigan as a replacement. I guess the only thing better than one yellow Chevy is two yellow Chevys. Any day at the racetrack is a good one. It was great to be back at Gateway Motorsports Park, a venue that houses both an NHRA drag strip and a 1.25-mile banked NASCAR oval. It wouldn’t be Power Tour without a mechanical or two. Some Tour goers were able to get some assistance from the Chevy Motor Medics. It’s always good to pack the essentials, like antifreeze and beer. Here’s another Nomad complete with beer in the trunk. What is it about Chevy wagon guys and light beer though? Our friends from The HOONIGANS are fully immersed in the Power Tour experience. They crammed six HOONIGANS into an RV/promo/support vehicle and set off from LA with their Napalm Nova and Tri by Fire ’55 Chevy and little else besides hopes and dreams. We hope to see the Nova back in action soon and the ’55 continues to soldier on despite a couple mechanicals. Gotta love that HOONIGAN ain't care spirit. This is Vinnie, a vintage 1960 Squarebird stocker built by Level 7 Motorsports. Among other goodies, this one rocks a 400hp 351 Ford with a Holley Terminator EFI system. Well done, Level 7! I think the “SLEEPIN” tag on this DSM ruins the fun. The Corvette LS swap can do most of the talking. Gary Lewis found this ’62 Thunderbird in Montana 13 years ago. He’s been slowly changing it up ever since. Slow and steady wins the race, Gary! Much more respectable than a selfie stick. What happened in ’08 and ’12, were you busy or something? I really wanted to race the go karts at Gateway, but Shane wouldn’t let me, saying that he really wanted to take a meeting with the Jimmy John’s people, but we don’t always get what we want. As a photographer, it’s an unwritten rule that you don’t jack another shooter’s shot, but I hate playing by the rules almost as much as riding in a car with ill-fitting cup holders, so I asked our friends from The Block if I could liberate (read: steal) this all-American red, white and blue Corvette shot. Thanks for being cool, even though I wasn’t! Nice to see some good old fashioned grudge matches at Gateway during the Day 2 stopover. Normally the burnouts take place before the drag racing, but at Gateway, Continental and Holley sponsored a burn out contest right after the grudge matches. Finnegan from Roadkill was the host and he kicked things off by cleaning the tires on the Blasphemi gasser. That’s our boy Hert from The HOONIGANS getting up close and personal to up his selfie game. Thug Life defined. Our friend, Brian Thomson wanted to try to roast his tires for the entire length of the drag strip, but they limited him to the burnout box. Brian responded by wooding his 950hp LSX Chevelle to create this… Massive… Burnout. For some reason, the judges thought this effort was not good enough to take home the prize. No matter, you’re number one in our book, Brian! Well, tied for number one, right next to Shane Christman, the inventor of the Makin’ Bacon Turkey Jerky sub. After we shook the tire bits from our shorts, we headed into St. Louis for a night out with Forrest Tosie and family in his hood. Forrest also wanted me to tell you that the famed Gateway Arch is 630 feet tall. Or is that inches? Yards? Meters? It would be nice if Forrest got the facts straight for once. Back at our hotel I had the chance to get a beauty shot of our ’59 in the fading light. Clearly, Hightop Holloway, professional photobomber thought otherwise, because there is nothing pretty about this pic. Mothers makes some of the world’s finest car care products and yet they still manage to act like big kids. No wonder I get on so well with them. Tomorrow for Day 3 we’ll go a whopping 311.3 miles to Memphis International Raceway in Millington, Tennessee.