Hot Rod Power Tour 2009

This thing is unstoppable. With the depressed economy, the staggering unemployment, the devastation in Detroit, the increasing gas prices, and an encroaching government, there isn't an analyst on Earth who would have predicted that a mass of people would have paid $65 in advance to take a week-plus vacation burning fossil fuels and rubber while chasing friends on an eight-day, seven-city, 1,176-mile trip from the Midwest to the South.

But that's the HOT ROD Power Tour, and it continues to amaze. This year's 15th running was, once again, the biggest ever.

The margin of gain was not massive, but considering the situation, it was miraculous. We had the most Long Haulers (who drove the entire route with us) ever at 1,342 cars and 2,375 people. The total number of cars registered for all segments of the Tour was 4,571, and we've estimated that the total spectator count visiting the cruise scenes in the seven host cities was 69,000.

We should rebrand this thing as a home-front charity and become media heroes instead of evil hot rodders. Do some quick math and it's easy to see that Power Tour brings about a million bucks a day to the local economies.

For 2009, the cities visited by Power Tour during June 6-13 were Madison, Wisconsin; Racine, Wisconsin; South Bend, Indiana; Mt. Clemens, Michigan; Dayton, Ohio; Somerset, Kentucky; and Bristol, Tennessee.

On the road from city to city, the HOT ROD staff stood on the curbs nearby the coolest roadside scenes and waved in the hot rods as they drove by to collect photos for this story. The 80-plus rides seen here are the result of those efforts; they represent a great sampling of the cars and the stories that join us for the event but are not necessarily a best-of collection. You can see more at www.HOTROD.com, where you can also follow the news to learn more about joining next year's event. Come along and next time one of the cars in these pages could be yours.