Hot Rod Power Tour 2014

Twenty Year Itch
Two decades of the Hot Rod Power Tour and still going strong
As I’m writing this, I’ve been in South Dakota for a scant few days after completing a 10-day trek. Dakota Digital has been the official gauge sponsor of the Power Tour for a few years now, and if you aren’t familiar with the event, you should be! Best described as a seven-day car show in seven different cities, Power Tour is bigger than most local shows. As the event has grown, we’ve been seeing 2,500 vehicles show up to each stop; this many vehicles can cause some traffic headaches and flat-out lack of space at the venue, but it all seems to work out. Participants who persevere and check in at every stop are part of an elite group called The Long Haul Gang; event officials estimate approximately 1,700 long haulers make it to the last day.

As I’m writing this, I’ve been in South Dakota for a scant few days after completing a 10-day trek. Dakota Digital has been the official gauge sponsor of the Power Tour for a few years now, and if you aren’t familiar with the event, you should be! Best described as a seven-day car show in seven different cities, Power Tour is bigger than most local shows. As the event has grown, we’ve been seeing 2,500 vehicles show up to each stop; this many vehicles can cause some traffic headaches and flat-out lack of space at the venue, but it all seems to work out. Participants who persevere and check in at every stop are part of an elite group called The Long Haul Gang; event officials estimate approximately 1,700 long haulers make it to the last day.
You see all kinds of vehicles on Power Tour, and all kinds of people. There are drag cars, stockers, patina’d trucks and of course pro touring cars. If I had to guess, I’d say modern muscle cars make up half of the participants at any given stop, but there is plenty of old iron as well. An old body with modern underpinnings is the hot ticket these days, and as you can imagine, LS engines are king. This year I determined that, if your LS isn’t boosted, you’re behind the times. There are so many options for forced induction with such remarkable results, it’s no wonder there were so many blowers this year.

We were graced with a few choice vehicles that hung around our booth, the most notable being the 1965 GTO built by Kindig-It Designs and featured in the April issue. People were in disbelief that a car of this caliber was actually driving; luckily owner Ron Meis of Lead, SD knows that cars are made to be driven! The rest of the roster is filled out with our old friends Ken and Paulette Tibor’s new 1966 Chevelle, Larrie Matthews’ incredible 1956 Chevy, and Scott and Parker Pierce’s 1958 Impala. We’ll bring you more of each of these runners in upcoming issues, so stay tuned!
The last day of the show put us at Chula Vista resort in Wisconsin Dells with awesome weather and a neat venue. If you can make some room in your summer schedule, I urge you to gas up your hot rod and head east to see this spectacle in person. Even if you don’t join The Long Haul Gang, following along for just a few stops will stick with you forever. For more pictures from the road, head over to dakotadigital.com/powertour to read our daily blog from past and present excursions!