Michelle is definitely the free swag whore queen! Think you have enough Christmas presents for your whole family now???? 

You know what you are getting!

Yup! Stickers and can coozies! 

Edited June 14, 20251 yr by Frosty

Now thats a reaction time !!!.... did you see that frosty ??????????

did ya did ya 

Nice R/T Joe! Looks like yall are having a good time. Thanks for the pics guys. Be safe 

21 hours ago, Frosty said:

Michelle is definitely the free swag whore queen! Think you have enough Christmas presents for your whole family now???? 

Her stash has gone down from the stuff Joe gave me today.  Thankz Michelle N Joe.

waiting on Frosty to post the dustoff pics from today. it seems his reaction time is slower than i realized LOL

22 hours ago, indymanjoe said:

waiting on Frosty to post the dustoff pics from today. it seems his reaction time is slower than i realized LOL

Coming from the guy who can't figure out how to post pictures to FP without IT help. 

HRPT - Day -1 - Traveling to Indianapolis

I departed home in Michigan on Saturday, June 7th for Indy. Indy is about a 5 hour drive down I-69 from my place. I made a single sightseeing trip.

Welcome to Auburn Indiana - home to.....the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum (ACD) and the National Automobile and Truck Museum of the United States (NATMUS). The two museums are literally next to each other. ACD occupies the old ACD HQ and NATMUS occupies the plant built in 1929 for the first FWD Cords and Auburns.

I decided to check out NATMUS.

Doc Hudson on one side and the Hudson Hornet on the other side!

This is the very first Hemi 'Cuda ever sold. They built three prototypes, when they were done, the first two were dismantled but this one was sold.

Dodge Challenger Indy Pace car. Seems no manufacturer stepped up to donate/create a pace car for the 1970 Indy 500. So the Indiana Dodge dealers stepped up.

A Sox & Martin Barracuda with an experiment Hemi. Note the valve covers, no spark plug holes. the spark plugs are located lower in the heads!

The Buick Reatta convertible prototype.

Land Speed vehicles

Every seen a semi land speed vehicle? Me neither....

 

I found this sitting outside, across the street in an overflow parking lot and memorial is Futureline #10. This is one of 12 vehicles GM built in the late 1930s as a traveling science and technology show. The whereabouts of all 12 are known. One is consider unsalvageable. The rest are still on the road somewhere in North America or Europe. The particular unit houses a display regarding the US Soap Box Derby. This is the same Futureliner that I took my picture with Lucy next to back in 2006!

HRPT - Day Zero - Credential Pickup

Not much happened except picking up our credentials on Sunday at the Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indy.

Lots of people getting their credentials and official PT souvenir swag.

Joe, Michelle and Dirty Girl made it!

Bald gentleman in front of Violet is John McGann. He is the current editor of Hot Rod magazine. He also co-hosted the very short lived Car Craft TV show. Nice guy, he thinks the Hearst company buying Motortrend is a good thing vs. Warner Brothers. He is hoping that since Car and Driver is currently six issues per year that Hot Rod can move from four to six issues per year in the future.

HRPT - Day 1 - Lucas Oil Raceway Park - Indianapolis Indiana

 

Wayne Carini, from Chasing Classic Cars, signs autographs.

New timing and VIP suites/tower being built.

Mike Cotton, co-host of Faster with....Newbern and Cotton and Roadkill, brought his Roadkill classic '80s Dodge Mirada Pro Street car called either Pepto Dismall or Cotton Candy.

Mike signs autographs and talks to people. Great guy to talk to.

Fantastic pics mate 🍻

Awesome coverage.  Great pic's,  Need more.

3 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Fantastic pics mate 🍻

 

23 minutes ago, JUSTA6 said:

Awesome coverage.  Great pic's,  Need more.

I have lots more. It takes time to download these pictures you know!

Fantastic photos! Think I can take that 6th gen Camaro though, the blower is only a few feet out of the hood 🤯

I love the lowered Black/Gray Impala. Gotta love a motor that sticks about the roof line!

HRPT - Day 1 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway Indiana

Before I got to Lucas Oil Raceway, I made a side trip to the greatest spectacle is racing, the home of the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sadly, I did not get a chance to tour the track, more on that later.

Race car garages - note the time period items in the garage, along with the cars themselves.

A very cool simulated starting line grid, complete with 3d surround images, including singing of "Back Home Again in Indiana" and a Blue Angels fly over! Very cool!

This is the actual Borg-Warner trophy that is award to the winner of the 500. Each winner driver has their face immortalized on the trophy and his name and the car owner's name goes on the trophy before next year's race. Currently there is room for 8 more winners. Once that is filled, a new ring will be made to add more names, simular to how the NHL does to the Stanley Cup.

The story about the first caretaker of the trophy is quite amusing. According to the guy I talked to, he said the first caretaker was a Butler University student (which is near Indy obviously) was given the trophy to watch in the 1930s before race day. The young man hid the trophy under his bed one night and proceeded to have a night out. Upon his return to his fraternity house, the man found the trophy missing. He looked and looked and became very worried about the trophy's whereabouts. Upon looking in the frat house's basement, he found the trophy surrounded by men who were drinking beer out of it. All of 115 beers were inside of the trophy. Emptying the beer, he wondered how he would get the smell off of the trophy and decided to take a shower – taking the trophy in with him. It should be noted that the top of the trophy comes off and that is how the got the beer into the trophy in the first place.

The Marmon Wasp - driven by Ray Harroun - winner of the 1911 Indy 500 (the first Indy 500).

Other winners include....

A bust of former track owner Anthony "Tony" Hollman, who's family bought and managed the track for nearly 75 years. The track is now owned by Roger Penske (yes, that Roger Penske).

 

This eight-foot tall trophy is the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy. It was awarded to the winner of the first two races (in 1909 and 1910) held at the track, prior to the first Indy 500. In 1914, it was awarded to the car owner leading at lap 160 (the 400 mile mark). This trophy was retired completely after 1932.

More past winners.....

This area is dedicated to the 4 men who have the unique distinction of winning the 500 four times each.....A J Foyt, Rick Mears, Al Unser, and Helio Castroneves. Helio is currently the only active driver.

Indy is also home to NASCAR and the Brickyard 400. Past winners include....

Look closely at Tony Stewart's car here. Notice the different in the shape between the passenger side and driver's side fender? The driver is wider and slightly lifted up slightly, clearly designed for aero and turning left!

Next up is Indy car engines. One I noticed that was missing was the Buick Indy Turbo V6.

I signed up for a tour of Gasoline Alley and the Pagoda Tower. Touring the track was not possible as it had been rented out to host the Ferrari Challenge. We did get to visit Victory Lane, the media center though.

There are two Gasoline Alleys - one used by IndyCar and one used by NASCAR. This one is the IndyCar area. It's larger because of the number of teams that try to qualify. However the number of teams is dwindling. This year only 34 teams tried to qualify for 33 spots.

 

This piece of track is part of the road course at Indy. Motorcycles, road races, F1, and NASCAR have all used this road course.

This is the official media center and press conference room for the Speedway. Reporters from all over the world come here in May as well as other race events.

Welcome to Victory Lane. Victory Lane is above pit lane. The winner car is moved to a small elevator and the car and driver are moved up into Victory Lane!

Elevator and pit road

The front straight away. The flagman area is reported to be modelled after the crow's nest from the USS Indianapolis.

The USS Indianapolis was a US Navy heavy cruiser that delivered the first nuclear bomb. After the bomb was delivered, the Indianapolis was sunk by two Japanese torpedoes. Approximately 900 men survived the initial sinking, but they were left adrift at sea without proper supplies or communication for four days. Many died from injuries, exposure, and shark attacks. Only 316 of the original crew of 1,196 were rescued. Hundreds of sharks were apparently drawn to the wreck. After picking off the dead and wounded, they began attacking survivors. The number of deaths attributed to sharks ranges from a few dozen to over 150.

Practice for racing Ferrari's. They do about 180 mph on the straight away.

Note that for the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400, the cars go from right to left and turn left. For all other race events, the cars go from left to right and turn right or use part of the speedway and road course combined.

This locker contains the infamous "Blue Jackets". Every past winner of the Indy 500 gets a blue jacket when they come to qualifying or the race. Similar in concept to the Master's "Green jacket". The only time these jackets are worn is at the track, otherwise they are locked up here. The locker contains jackets for only current living past winners.

Here is the NASCAR Gasoline Alley and it was being used by the various Ferrari teams.

 

In the museum's souvenir shop is a miniature version of the flagman stand/crow's nest.

Violet stands proudly in front of the museum.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 20251 yr by Frosty

HRPT - Day 2 - Route 66 Raceway Park, Joilet Illinois

Day Two had us cruising from Indy to Joilet through mostly open farmland. Down US-52 for the most part. It was two lane farm field where wheat, corn, soy beans, and windmill farms seem to grow.

WTF?

Did I mention that the driving route took us down part of Historic Route 66 into Joilet?

The Polk-A-Dot drive in a legendary stop on Route 66 in Illimois. Lots of Power Tour cars were there.

At the track.....

I ain't gotta a clue what the hell this means.....

 

Mural at the track

 

GM's new 632 Crate motor. Asking prices was under MSRP at $31,100 USD.

Another Holden special - a Chevy SS.

Power to weight is everything in this sucker.....

This '55 4-door belongs to "12 Volt Dave" David Newbern of Faster with Newbern and Cotton fame. He was thrashing to get this car complete prior to PT. I watched his YouTube channel video prior to leaving for Indy. The car still had the front clip off!

Edited June 19, 20251 yr by Frosty

the windup vw is the guy that did my exhaust. mad skillz for sure

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

Look closely at Tony Stewart's car here. Notice the different in the shape between the passenger side and driver's side fender? The driver is wider and slightly lifted up slightly, clearly designed for aero and turning left!

bit like my butt !!!  reaching for beers 

look theres Pauls master cylinder in his 61, we are looking at in his thread but !! you can see a neeedle valve in the system to balance the front/to rear pressure 

Hbody's  still havin fun!

This guys DAD made MY Sunbirds rims.  His grandfather owned the machine shop.  

HRPT - Day 2 - Pontiac Illinois and the Pontiac Oakland Museum

The Power Tour route had us coming up part of Route 66 well north of Pontiac Illinois. I, of course, made the detour to head further south and head to Pontiac Illinois, home of the PTM's sister museum, the Pontiac Oakland Museum.

Lots of murals around downtown.....

The most famous mural though is by far this one.....in Centennial Square

 

This converted school bus is called the Road Yacht!

 

Violet looks good on Route 66!

 

Pontiac is the county seat for Livingston County, Illinois. The county courthouse reminds me of the clock tower from Back to the Future! All we need is a Delorean with a flux capacitor, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, a jigawatts of power!!!

Now let's see what's on display at the Pontiac Oakland Museum.....

The window display was having a hub cap contest. Can you name the year and model each come from? Me neither.

This surprised me. If's the Pontiac Hall of Fame display. It shows all the current inducted members in the Hall of Fame, for which I am a voting member of the HOF.

People I met or knew....

John was the Pontiac Historian until his passing in 2008. His sons, Jeff and John Jr and his wife Marge, are still members of the Michigan Widetrackers and Motor City POCI chapters.

Another former Widetracker! Eric was a good friend and died way too young. He started the 10,000 Lakes (MN) chapter of GTOAA and was the national president of the GTOAA at one time before moving back to Michigan. Eric wrote the Illustrated Guide to the GTO and GT-37. It is still the reference for judging by both the GTOAA and POCI. Damn I miss Eric. Hard to believe it has been almost 10 years!

A Pontiac Firefly - it was sold only in Canada. It is the first one I have ever seen before.

Let's go camping....in our Phoenix

How about some cool engine stuff?

Experimental aluminuim engine block - given to Mickey Thompson.

The Oakland/Pontiac V8. This engine was available in a handful of Oaklands and Pontiacs back in the very early 30s.

The legendary OHC 6

The Trophy 4 - half of a 389!

A 421 Super Duty Tri-Power

The much maligned and unloved 301 Turbo.

 

A Pontiac Buggy! Made even before Oakland Motor Car Company was incorporated!

 

HRPT - Day 2 - Standard Oil Gas Station in Odell, Illinois and Historic Route 66.

Heading out of Pontiac and heading north towars Odell, 10 miles away.

Interstate 55 to my left and railroad tracks to my right!

This is a restored 1930s era Standard Oil gas station. I came here over 20 years ago with my dad in Lucy. We were heading to a car show in Springfield Illinois called "Rockin' Rods on Route 66"! I have pictures of Lucy in front of this station as well.

 

Inside the station.

Back on ROute 66 heading north again, towards Joilet.

 

Occasionally I will see a small partial roadway between me and I-55 like this one. These are part of the original 1927 Route 66 platted roadway! Very cool.

 

Day 3 - US 30 (The Lincoln Highway) and Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne Indiana.

Day 3 meant traveling all the way down US 30, better known, as the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Highway. The Lincoln Highway was not as enjoyable as US 52 or Route 66 was. It was a lot of small communities near Chicago which meant a ton of traffic lights, lots of semi trucks avoiding the toll roads, and plenty of stop-n-go driving.

Chris Jacobs, former host of Overhaulin and current Barrett-Jackson and Mecum auction reporter was today's celebrity signing autographs.

As a Gold Club Long Haulers, Joe, Michelle and I were treated to a free lunch today. Hot dogs, sloppy joes, baked beans, salads, beverages, and cookes. Let's not forget the cookie!

We found the HRPT motor home!

This '71 GTO convertible is almost an identical twin to Lucy. It's numbers matching. It's Lucerne Blue with a 400 engine.

Day 3 - Street Freaks Car Show - Hamlet Indiana

The Street Freaks car club partnered with Power Tour. All participants were invited and encourage to attend the Street Freak's car show at the local county fairgrounds. Since I hit the road very early most often, I got there when they were still setting things up. The food vendors were starting the pulled pork or brisket smokers, etc.

 

Signs leading us off US 30 and into Hamlet Indiana and the car show.

When I got there, I had finished my coffee and I went to find a restroom. I found it near the food vendors. When I came out and on the other side of the rest room was this......certainly not what I was expecting to find in nowhere Indiana.

 

More to come.....

Edited June 19, 20251 yr by Frosty