The “Hot Rod Power Tour” made it’s way through Smithville today (Wednesday). Participants in the tour left this week in Newton, Iowa enroute to Mobile, Alabama. Many of the drivers stopped in at Bumper’s Drive-In as part of the tour and made their way toward Chattanooga after they left.
The “Hot Rod Power Tour”, sponsored by Hot Rod magazine, is an organized tour where hot rodders drive a pre-planned route throughout the United States. It began in 1995 when Hot Rod staff members decided to take some of their project cars on a cross-country drive from Los Angeles, California to Norwalk, Ohio.
Thousands of people participated along the way but only seven participants (other than staff members) made the entire journey and were inducted into the original “Long Hauler Gang”. Since its inception, this event has continued to gain in popularity and is now one of the most anticipated automotive events each year. It is typically six to eight days in length and held in late May or early June. In recent years, the tour has evolved to become what is essentially a continuous trek around the United States in that it begins in or near the location that it ended in the previous year. Each stop is combined with events or activities that vary as much as the participants themselves.
Hot Rod is the oldest magazine devoted to hot rodding having been published since 1948.
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