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brought to you by
Detroit Locker
and Don "The Beachcomber" Johnson for the photos and daily reports!
Report is Don "The Beachcomber" Johnson, The CoPilot is Mac Bernd from Hot Rod Happenings.com and our photos are direct
from Mike Mulholland . We will be posting the days events, stories and photos late each evening......so if you would like to follow
along - please feel free to visit as often as you like!
ATTENTION HOT RODDERS WORLDWIDE
Sunday Night, June 5, 2005, 11:00 PM and live:
This is the second installment in our Hot Rod Power Tour reports coming direct to you from The 'fabulous' Renaissance Hotel (a 100 year old relic) in
beautiful, but a bit windy for our tastes, Springfield, IL.
Early this morning, after a brief breakfast, we departed from the confines of the Milwaukee Courtyard by Marriot with the top down in our Detroit Enduro
Chevy SSR with a clear sky dressed appropriately in shorts and slaps. Couldn't ask for better in the way of weather.... What can we say? This is where
every Hot Rodder wants to be...in a 500 HP drop top screaming (just a slight supercharger pitch) SSR in the middle of 3000 other hot rods on the way to the
Illinois State Fairgrounds. Just to make certain our ride was in proper mechanical condition, we floored it on the on ramp and quickly cleaned er' out by
wrapping the speedo to 140 MPH diving into the herd of anxious hopeless car freaks. What a gas! This is what we feel life is all about. People cheering from
bridges above, thumbs up along the highway and the start of a serious sunburn....Raise the top? No way!
After a quick lunch at a dive along the route, some 93 octane, another detonation free speedometer burying speed run and we dropped in again with our 3000
new friends! Awesome doesn't begin to describe this experience! I mean..... I've gone 300 MPH @ Bonneville, but this is the best life has to offer so far..
Dropped off the interstate to try old route 66 for about 50 miles and bingo!...we were in a mind boggling line to get into the fairgounds and park the Detroit
Locker/Axiom SSR in front of our display area.
We were able to break away from our Detroit Locker trailer for a brief time and speak to Rick Bottom and wife and check out his 2 tone brown SSR (no
supercharger-too bad). Rick does what we do at DJ&F International...builds cars and trucks for the factory, clients, and friends. We exchanged horror
stories regarding our build efforts and exchanged ideas and upcoming projects. Rick's two tone brown SSR is beautiful and will soon sport a turbocharger as
far as we know. We were also struck by the line up of SSR fanatics as we entered but were unable to get over to speak with everyone before the event
came to an end. No problem we've got tons of stops before Orlando!
The usual traffic snarl egress was soon overcome (engine temp steady @ 210 degrees) and we took the backroads to Springfield proper for a fine Italian
dinner and off to our golden gilded hotel room on the 12 floor. One needs a special elevator key to get this high in Springfield.....
My co-pilot Mac Bernd is deep in slumber as I write. I'm used to this grind as a result of my life of Drag Race touring and business trips. Mac, on the other
hand, is a 'nine to five hurry home to work on Hot Rods' kind of a guy! Mac is the school superintendent of the Arlington Texas School District (70,000
kids)....think about that one for a few seconds!
I might let him drive the 2 1/2 hours to Indianapolis Raceway Park tomorrow, but I truly hate to 'hand over' the wheel. No problem finding this place. Been
down this dragstrip many, many times!
We'll check with you tomorrow night from downtown Indy where good restaurants and racing history is a way of life. How cool is that? And...hey you
SSR fanatics....Do this Power Tour. This is an experience you will never forget! Go ahead.... plan it for next year-be a long hauler!
Yeah...... Greg Biffle again!
Until tomorrow ................................. Check out the Detroit Locker SSR Enduro
SSR Enduro
Somewhere on
Route 66
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All images copyrighted. Images not for reproduction without permission.
Hotrodhappenings, P.O. Box 14536, Arlington, Texas 76094
