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Photos courtesy of Lance Shores/city of Hoover.
Scene from the 2015 Hot Rod Power Tour, the last time the show was in Hoover.
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Photos courtesy of Lance Shores/city of Hoover.
Scene from the 2015 Hot Rod Power Tour, the last time the show was in Hoover.
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Photos courtesy of Lance Shores/city of Hoover.
Scene from the 2015 Hot Rod Power Tour, the last time the show was in Hoover.
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Photos courtesy of Lance Shores/city of Hoover.
The Hot Rod Power Tour drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 people in 2013 and 2015, said Erin Colbaugh, the city of Hoover’s events coordinator. This is the tour’s fourth time to come to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
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Photos courtesy of Lance Shores/city of Hoover.
The Hot Rod Power Tour drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 people in 2013 and 2015, said Erin Colbaugh, the city of Hoover’s events coordinator. This is the tour’s fourth time to come to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
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Photos courtesy of Lance Shores/city of Hoover.
The Hot Rod Power Tour drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 people in 2013 and 2015, said Erin Colbaugh, the city of Hoover’s events coordinator. This is the tour’s fourth time to come to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
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Photos courtesy of Lance Shores/city of Hoover.
The Hot Rod Power Tour drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 people in 2013 and 2015, said Erin Colbaugh, the city of Hoover’s events coordinator. This is the tour’s fourth time to come to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
People who love hot rods, street rods, custom trucks, muscle cars and other high-performance vehicles or classic cars are in for a treat in June, when the Hot Rod Power Tour returns to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Thousands of vehicles are expected to roll into the stadium parking lot on June 11 and be on display for the public to see for free.
Hoover is the third stop on a seven-day, 1,300-mile tour that begins June 9 at the Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and winds its way through six Southern states before ending at the zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina, on June 15.
Other stops along the way include: Chattanooga, Tennessee; Hampton, Georgia; Darlington, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina.
The tour is organized by Hot Rod magazine and is expected to draw more than 6,000 classic, custom and high-performance vehicles and more than 100,000 spectators over the nine-day trip. Organizers expect 1,500 to 1,700 vehicles to cruise the entire tour, while thousands more will attend part of the journey or register to be on display at one of the seven stops, said Jonathan Mill, publisher and general manager for Hot Rod magazine.
This is the tour’s fourth time to come to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, with previous visits in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
“Hoover’s an awesome stop,” Mill said. There are tons of people in Alabama who follow Hot Rod magazine, he said.
Plus, the large parking lot at the Hoover Met has enough room for an autocross course, which lets people who register their vehicles for the event see how well they navigate through orange cones and tight curves at high speeds, racing against the clock.
The Hot Rod Power Tour also features colorful mobile displays from more than 50 high-performance manufacturers and aftermarket specialists who show off the latest innovations in car technology and custom design and give advice to car enthusiasts.
There also is a main stage with local musicians, celebrities, games, prizes and plenty of food vendors, Mill said. This year, one of the celebrities is Mike Finnegan, one of the hosts of the auto-themed internet show “Roadkill,” produced by Motor Trend and Hot Rod magazines.
But the best part of the tour is just seeing all the different kinds of cars, Mill said.
“This is the most popular car cruise in America,” he said.
There’s nothing like seeing more than 2,000 custom and high-performance vehicles in one place or riding down the road together, Mill said. When a bunch of them pull into a gas station at the same time, it’s like a step back in time, he said. “It’s a pretty cool way to experience the automotive industry.”
Even people who aren’t car buffs appreciate the sight of it all, Mill said.
“It’s perfect for a family as well,” he said. “When kids see these vehicles that are 100 years old still on the road, it’s pretty impressive.”
But he warns guests who aren’t car aficionados: “You might get the automotive bug.”
The Hot Rod Power Tour began in 1995 when the editors and staff at Hot Rod magazine invited readers to join them as they drove their own prized hot rods and custom cars on a cross-country trek from Los Angeles to a Power Fest event at the Norwalk Raceway in Norwalk, Ohio. Eight readers showed up to go the entire distance with them, and a couple dozen more vehicles drove the first leg of the trip, according to the magazine’s website.
“Everybody just had so much fun, they kept on doing it year after year,” Mill said.
Doyal Marks, chairman for the Team Corvette Alabama club, said most car clubs and car buffs look forward to the Hot Rod Power Tour.
“It’s really a great opportunity to come out and see some of the best performance cars as far as hot rods and current cars that have been modified,” Marks said. “It’s phenomenal the amount of cars there are to see out there — the modifications to them, the latest innovations in custom cars.”
Plus, he likes being able to talk firsthand to the vendors who make the aftermarket custom products and get tips about installation, he said.
About seven members of Team Corvette Alabama plan to go to Bowling Green and join the “long-haulers” for the entire tour, while about eight more plan to make the trip from Chattanooga to Hoover to Atlanta, Marks said.
He’s taking his 2015 C-7 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 on the shorter trek but doesn’t want to drive the entire 1,300-mile route in a Corvette, he said. Team Corvette Alabama probably will have about 25 vehicles on display together at the Hoover Met stop, he said.
The Hot Rod Power Tour drew an estimated crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 people in 2013 and 2015, said Erin Colbaugh, the city of Hoover’s events coordinator. Because the Hoover Met parking lot is being used for registered vehicles, guest parking will be at Hoover High School, with free shuttles to the Met parking lot, she said.
The gates are open from noon to 7 p.m. While admission to see the tour is free, people who want to register their vehicle for display can do so at hotrod.com for $45 ($50 after June 1). Registering for multi-day display at several sites or for the long haul costs $129 ($160 after June 1). For more information, go to hotrod.com and look under “Events.”
Hot Rod Power Tour
► When: June 11, noon-7 p.m.
► Admission: Free
► Parking: Hoover High School, free
► One-day vehicle display registration: $45 ($50 after June 1)
► Multi-day vehicle display registration: $129 ($160 after June 1)