Power Tour

The house lights have come on at the 2014 edition of the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour. Much like any great show our senses are still ringing in the aftermath. This year, the Power Tour celebrated its 20th anniversary. Think about that for a moment. If the Power Tour was a person it would be able to legally drive, vote and defend our country, but not yet order a drink in it (which the logic of the last two befuddle me). The Power Tour could be well on its way to an undergraduate degree, mastering both a major of study and the art of beer pong. Yes, our Power Tour is all grown up. Mothers Polish has been supporting the Power Tour for every single one of its twenty editions, beginning with a small presence that grew into one of our beautiful Big Rigs stocked with the finest car care products and a contingent of cars. Every year, we go to great lengths to ensure that Mothers has a proper presence on the Power Tour. At Mothers we like to go as well as we show, which is why we partnered with Hotchkis Performance to present an autocross at each stop of this year’s Tour. Here’s our own Jim Holloway dicing through the cones in our ZR1 4 MOM. This is the crew that works tirelessly, every day for the duration of the Tour. From left: Eric Bevin, Hunter Gilbertson, Eli Reed, Jonathan Stone, Bernice Usserry, Steve Polen, Tyrone Canterino and Jeff Burton. These guys make up the machine that drives our Tour presence, with decades of professional car care experience, they host technical seminars at each Power Tour stop and are always willing to answer questions and share their knowledge. At the end of the day the Power Tour is all about the journey with six legs over seven different stops. This year the Tour stretched from Charlotte, North Carolina to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin covering a total distance of 1,602.1 miles. The quality of cars on the Power Tour never ceases to amaze me. Of course, there are some less-than-perfect builds on the Tour (and some even farther less than others). But there are also, those feature worthy cars hammering across the miles that I would imagine are more commonly seen trailered than driven. This is why I call the Hot Rod Power Tour the world’s greatest rolling car show. Our Mothers Polish crew has always been a part of this show completing just about every single leg of every single Power Tour. We’ve more than earned our long hauler stripes. No matter the weather, the Tour forges on, continuously powering toward its final destination. This is a common sight on each and every Power Tour. As we traverse over nearly two thousand miles, there are crowds of waving onlookers gathered on the road, taking in our rolling road show and cheering us on as we pass. I must admit, it’s quite the ego trip, although Shane and I were treated to fewer cheers than the rest in our rental Navigator. Another common sight is the camaraderie between the Power Tourists. Road trips and hot rods being what they are, breakdowns are all too common on the Power Tour. But people on the Power Tour are always quick to help a fellow long hauler get back on the road. This camaraderie grows as the week goes on, forging strong friendships from time shared on the road. Our Mothers Polish group changes a bit every year, but the bond between us always holds true. At each stop, the residue from hundreds of miles on the road is washed away, only to be accumulated all over again on the following leg. Speaking of stops, the Power Tour brings this set up of big rigs and cars that is built up and broken down for seven straight days. It looks more like a city than an event. Power Touring with Mothers Polish has its perks. While our own Forrest Tosie has a hankering to see all of the world’s largest household items, I would much rather be treated to private behind-the-scenes tours of places like Rad Rides by Troy. It’s good to have friends and partners like these. If there were a Spirit of Power Tour award, I would give it to our friends at Ringbrothers for bringing this somewhat sedately looking Winnebago. Once inside, it’s easy to see that Ringbrothers know how to bring the party, with an LS3-swap and lots of whimsy. While Ringbrothers’ Winnebago could be fun to bring on the Power Tour I would much rather roll down the road in this, our Mothers Polish 59 Sedan Delivery. This is just one of the rides we plan on bringing with us to the 21st annual Hot Rod Power Tour. Power Tour wouldn’t be the same without this man. Our own Forrest Tosie will be back in action next year, providing daily weather prognostications on stage. This closes out our coverage of the 2014 Hot Rod Power Tour. The 2015 edition can’t come soon enough. Thanks for reading our updates and we hope to see you out on the Tour with us next year.