Today was my birthday and my girlfriend promised me a surprise event.  I don’t really care for surprises.  I’d rather just know what I have in store for me so I can get excited or depressed before hand…surprises just tend to make me anxious.  Around 2 o’clock, we got in the car and started heading west…the same direction I drive to the ‘ol 8 to 5.  Nervous she was playing some sick joke taking me to work on a Sunday, we passed my office and exited a few miles after.  As we drove through a huge industrial park, it hit me.  We were headed to the new MB2 indoor electric go-kart facility in Thousand Oaks, CA…and man was I excited.

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I would imagine, that back when transportation fantasies consisted of a healthy horse, and fertile hunting grounds…guys still stood around and said…”If you had 2 gold pieces and you had to spend it on horses, what would you get?”
Because, I’ve played that game since I was a kid, and I can’t imagine variations of the discussion ever not existing.  Its kinda like space….its always been there in some form…and it will continue long after we are all dead and gone.  So this morning, Chris and I had the conversation…and I just happen to have the transcript….

me:  So, if you had 300g’s and you had to spend it all on cars. what would your first purchase be?
Christopher:  it was given to me today?
me:  yep. you get a check at lunch.
Christopher:  FIRST
I’d go straight to the auto gallery and pay cash for that GT3RS
without thinking.  it’d be a reflex
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So yesterday, Chris and I made a trip to the post office…great right? Well, yes, it turned out to be a gem of an outing.  As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a sparkling 88 Ford Crown Victoria LTD.  No, its no supercar…and it doesn’t handle the canyons well…or really at all.  But it DOES have space…and plenty of it.  So after spending a few minutes talking to the old lady that owned it, we found out it only had 44K miles on it, and it had been driven to the gas station, the grocery store, and the car wash.  Thats it.
The little lady was so eager to tell us about her car, about how she could fit her mothers wheel chair in the trunk, no problem, and how she could still fit all her groceries in there as well.   Anyway, on the drive back to the office, Chris and I really starting thinking, that a car like that would be so fun to drive..because its not what everyone is doing.  Its not expensive, its not fast…and by commercial standards, its not cool.  But it totally is.
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There were actually three Pacers on the Power Tour in 2009. Ours, a somewhat beat-up 77 station wagon, and a built 76 coupe with a Mopar 440 under the hood.  We had actually met the 440 guys two years ago when we did our first Power Tour, and this year they came back with a fully rebuilt car.  From day one we knew that there was going to have to be a Pacer on Pacer showdown, and on the final day at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, TN it went down.

My dad had run a few passes in the Pacer before hand and after red lighting the first pass and spinning the tires half way down the track on the second, we knew we were in for a challenge.

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Today we set out for Detroit from South Bend.  I was looking forward to being somewhere familiar, but I soon remembered why I moved to Cali.  Crappy roads, horrible drivers (alright, SoCal’s no better there), and humidity.  I do miss all of the American iron, and boy was the meet at Metro Beach chock full of classic iron. Easily the biggest yet, it was nice to have the sun out over acres and acres of cars.

Today, unlike yesterday, was completely uneventful…which is a good thing.  We skipped the driver’s meeting again today as our hotel was on a street under construction and getting to the meeting would have been much more hassle than it was worth.  My dad reconnected with an old friend he hasn’t talked to in years driving solo in his 67 Nova Wagon, so we added one more to our crew.  A motley one at that with a 78 Pacer, 03 Mustang Mach 1, and 67 Nova Wagon.
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Today started out where no Power Tour participant wants to be…the shop.  As I had mentioned yesterday, when we arrived in Racine we noticed that the alignment on the Pacer was WAY off.  Could have been the hammering at the drag strip but somehow a few of the adjustment cams in the front suspension slipped and the front tires looked like they were ready to fold over.  We woke up early and busted out the Yellow Pages and made a call to the guys at Alignment By Klamm in Racine, WI.

The guy mentioned on the phone that they were super busy, but we called at a quarter to 8 and he said that if we got there ASAP, he could squeak us in. Our 3 month-old Kumho’s were ecstatic! When we arrived, they wasted no time and threw the Pacer on a lift and went to town with lasers and computers and as true professionals knew EXACTLY what they were doing. They also even gave us tips on how to keep the suspension from slipping again, which is the first shop to do that. I implore you if you’re in the Racine, WI area or find yourself in Racine, WI and need alignment work done, go to Klamm’s. They had us on the road by nine, too late for the driver’s meeting out of Racine, but still far earlier than we expected.

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We woke up today to even more rain.  Great.  Cold and rainy, we made our way to Alliant Energy Center and as I mentioned yesterday, the weather did not deter ANYONE from making it out.  Once the rain let up, we walked around and checked out some of the other participants including a gorgeous Buick Riviera, a dialed in Cuda, and ANOTHER Pacer.  That makes three friggen Pacer’s on the Power Tour…but ours became the first to drag race!

We set out single file after the driver’s meeting and it was a parade as we left.  Police blocked off intersections for us and locals parked and waved as we drove by.  Our first stop was at NASCAR’s number 17 Matt Kenseth’s fan showroom just outside of Madison.  Here’s a little view of the traffic:

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So if you’ve visited lately, you know that Chris is off to enjoy the power tour…and he’s already posting regularly with his updates and adventure notes.  I figured before the barrage of all things power tour really gets going, I’d hit you with one quick euro treat.
I first got my hands on an Audi S5 a little over a year ago when I was tagged along with a colleague to attend an Audi press event in the Bay area…specifically the Napa Valley and Infineon Raceway.  The sparkle of the event was the R8, but I came away with a real affection for the S5.  The car is strikingly elegant and completely Audi in its subtle sexy-ness.   Lets move to the SEMA show last fall in Las Vegas where I met Flourian from Abt Sportsline….a German  company that takes mostly VW & Audi production cars and turns up the heat.  Flourian was nice enough to show me a few examples on display in Las Vegas, and also to give me some insight into the company.

Shortly after the SEMA show, the Abt Audi visited my home town…and the photos that follow are the result….striking in every way.  The Audi is a bit more aggressive and for some it will seem over done. Myself, I’m not sure. The original design is breathtaking and the Abt modifications are dramatic. I think my only area of uncertainty is the colors and their delivery. I guess this is one of the beauties of design and the car world…we all have our own opinions, and that is all that matters.  If you like it. Perfect. If you love it, even better.

Alright, Chris will be pounding us with power tour material in the next week…so enjoy this last gallery before the storm really gets going!

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Today was day 1 on the 2009 Hot Rod Power Tour.  A wet, cold, rainy day 1.  Yesterday, I putted through an hour and a half of warm beautiful LA traffic to make it to LAX on time to make my flight to Chicago where my dad was picking me up in the Pacer.  Upon waking up this morning, it was a complete 180 from LA, rainy and cold, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.  Check out all my pictures here and my top 10 from today below.

We stayed in Rockford last night and made the quick drive up to Madison this morning.  The drive was smooth and easy, and we found the Pacer cruises best around 85.  Autobahn much?  Unfortunately not.  We arrived in Madison, and soon started to see muscle cars and hot rods and followed the pack to Alliant Energy Center where we registered and started checking out the power shenanigans.
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Every year during the first couple weeks of June, Hot Rod magazine organizes a 2,500 or so mile rolling car show through the Midwest.  Hot rods, muscle cars, street rods, motorcycles, tricycles (man, I hope this one comes out!), Pacers (two years ago, there were three on the tour!), you name it show up for a week of celebrating what makes these cars great:  driving the doors off them on the Hot Rod Power Tour.  I was able to accompany my dad in the Pacer two years ago, but due to life changes, I missed it last year when he got incurably hooked on the tour.  This year though, I’m a little more planted and finally able to get the time off.

The best part about the tour is that it’s not just a week of a bunch of car shows, it’s about people that love their machines…fanatical if you will.  I’m going to be sure to have my laptop and camera in toe, so wherever my little MacBook can grab WiFi, I’ll update our twitter with happenings and every night I’ll post a Fanatics top ten to the site when I get back to rest at the hotel.  Not to mention, we’ll get some formal ¼ mile times out of the Pacer and depending on how she’s feeling after that, I might try for some autocross action.  It’s going to be a blast and I’m going to bring you all along for the ride.

Check back this Saturday as I set out on the 2009 Power Tour and watch our twitter for updates.