Minnesota Motorhead

Photo: One of several crowd-pleasing burnouts in a South Bend, Indiana, hotel parking lot.

Finding Internet access every day of Power Tour is not as easy as I thought it would be. No luck at our hotel in South Bend, Indiana, June 8.

But our hotel made up for its lack of modernity – and cleanliness – by allowing burnouts in the parking lot. I’m not talking about a couple cars chirping tires, here. Several cars put on long, smoky displays of horsepower, smearing a stretch of asphalt with black rubber.

I have a small chip in my right front fender from a rock flung by a spinning tire to prove I was there. No worries, though. It was the most fun I’ve had in a parking lot in a while.

The drive to South Bend had its ups and downs. Traffic through Chicago was rough and construction in South Bend caused some serious traffic delays. And then there were the tolls.

But it was fun cruising with packs of old cars past the Chicago skyline and roaring out of the toll gates like we were at a dragstrip. The South Bend fairgrounds, where the show was on day three, had plenty of room and were very nice. The weather finally cooperated, too – sunny and 70s.

Day four was even nicer and the drive to St. Clemens was great. The route took us down winding country roads and past Michigan International Speedway. We also stopped at Ididit, Inc., a speed shop specializing in “hot rod stuff.”

This leg of the tour was initially supposed to take us to the GM tech center in Warren, Michigan, but GM’s financial fiasco caused the company to cancel that stop. A bummer, for sure, but the replacement venue, Metro Beach Metropark on Lake St. Clair, worked out fine.

Lots of sun on day four. Hopefully that continues. Next stop is Dayton, Ohio.

June 9th, 2009 | Articles, Event Articles