Mr Nick

I thought I'd start a new thread on this, since it's only 4 weeks away!

I am from Chicago, Joliet to be exact. I will be doing the first 4 stops, and then headed back home and probably stopping in Nashville for lunch, Louisville for the night, and then Indianapolis for lunch before the final leg home.

Total will be around 1,750+ miles.

I know a few other guys local to me were talking about doing this. We should plan on meeting points and times, would love to meet a few more Olds guys and roll down the road together.

I'll be staying at the following hotels:
Madison, WI - Holiday Inn at the American Center, 5109 W Terrace Dr.
Champaign, IL - Americas Best Value Inn, Champaign 1019 Bloomington Road
St. Louis, MO (Venue is in Madison, IL) - Crowne Plaza Downtown St Louis, 200 N 4th St.
Memphis, TN - Holiday Inn Express, 5090 Cooper Creek Blvd, Millington TN

Some hotels have discounted rates for members of the Power Tour.

I'll be posting this on ROP as well for more coverage.

This is not the exact route, Hot Rod Magazine will post the official route soon, along with vendor lunch stops if applicable.



http://www.hotrod.com/events/hot-rod...ation-and-faq/

Nick

enginenine

My boys and I will be doing the last 3 days of the Tour this year(B-ham, Gulfport, Baton Rouge) with the Jetstar. Because they are all relatively local to us we are staying with friend all three night.
Nick are you only doing the first half?

pacekar

I will be looking for everyone in Memphis,tn some of us have to work be safe

Macadoo

The wife and I are trying to work out Champagne to Memphis. Depends on her work schedule.....and if I can get my interior done

DewChugr

I posted this on ROP a while back (December). I see you posted this there also, so I will copy this in that thread also. I literally live across the street from the stop in Champaign. I'd be up for going out for dinner with some Olds guys if we have some people in town. Might be able to cook out here depending on weather. Email me at my username @yahoo.com and I'll send you my phone number. You can text or call if you have any problems suggestions when you are in town.

If it were me, I would choose the Wingate or the Baymont or Comfort Inn above the La Quinta, although I haven't stayed at any of them myself. The Wingate shows a cancellable rate of $79. They are all in the same area with tons of food and shopping options.

For breakfast there are a couple local places that might not be to busy, one is Sammies, one is Merry Ann's or if you're into way to much overpriced food a lot of people like the Original Pancake House, not just pancakes. From my experience avoid Denny's up by Menards and Bob Evans, I have had really slow service at both. There's a Crapper Barrel in Urbana, a couple miles east on I74.

For dinner, there are the regular chains or if you like local, there are good BBQ places, one Hickory River, kind of fast sit down food, I've only had the sandwiches, but very good. Multiple state fair winning pulled pork. There's also Black Dog in downtown Urbana. A lot of people love it, but it's not my favorite, expect to wait to get in. Mexican, Dos Reales on Prospect pretty good, El Toro is better and a mile away on Springfield Ave. and other locations around town. For steak there aren't a lot of local places, I like Texas Roadhouse, near where the stop is or Longhorn Steakhouse or Fridays by the hotels. There is Alexander's by the Mall, where you can cook your own steak or have them do it, big steaks priced high. There is also The Ribeye on south Neil st, great salad bar, cozy place. Chinese got to Rainbow Garden, south Neil St or Urbana or Thai, next to Popeyes just off prospect by the highway. Best burger is a little hard to find, but it's at Billy Barou's Mattis and Windsor. Seafood, it's Dead Lobster or nothing. For pizza it depends on what you like, Monical's is local and has great thin. Poppa Dells is a local favorite for deep, not my pick, but good, there's also Old Chicago by the mall. Also, Jupiter's by Billy Barou's, good thin and nice bar with pool tables. If you want to hit a bar, there's a couple places downtown, on campus Murphy's is good.

There's three auto parts stores a mile from the stop and one out by the hotels. I've got workspace and tools in case of emergency.

DewChugr

I assume from Bloomington to Champaign they are taking route 150. I don't know their directions but I would go this way.

Macadoo

That would be cool. 150 used to be a good road, although I haven't been down it in a while. It's gotta' be better than I-74.

DewChugr

I haven't been past Mahomet in a while so I don't know. I assume they will probably take the two lane roads like 150 instead of the interstate, but I could be wrong. They would probably go all the way to Mattis ave and go down to Parklands main entrance, but it's faster to go south on Staley (by the big grain elevator) then left at the stop sign (Bradley ave, then left on Duncan (first stop sign) and in the back door of Parkland (first right).

Macadoo

Do you folks still have a Garcia's Pizza? The wife and I were talking about them the other day. Haven't been there for more than a couple decades. Is it still good I wonder? I remember the gut-buster was pretty amazing...and their stuffed pies were good too.

DewChugr

There is one still on Mattis, it's less than a mile from the show. They sold the one on Green street to apartment developers. I would skip it unless you REALLY want. It, it's nothing like it was. We used to have fun going over to the original one on campus when we were in high school, but I don't go there any more. I think Ralph and Joe are just old stoners now, hardly ever see their hot air balloon any more but they must be ancient now. If you like deep Papa Dells is the local favorite.

Macadoo

Meh, if we would go to Garcia's it would be for nostalgia more than taste. But if it's not good anymore, we can certainly skip it.
Man, I have a ton of work to do before I'm ready for this trip. Still gutting the interior but only a couple more days of school and then I can live in the shop.

Mr Nick

One more week of working out of town and then I'll be spending much more time in the garage as well.

From my limited experience last year, the "official route" is usually on side roads and more rural & scenic highways, only using major interstates when needed.

Macadoo

That would be good news for me; more small towns with gas stations and I haven't fixed my fuel gauge yet

tbristol

wont be attending this year. Last year was my first year. It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I know a new promotion company is handling it this year. I will wait and see how it plays out before giving it another try.. Have fun guys.

pacekar

what didn't you like about it?

tbristol

3 plus hours waiting in line to get into the venue. The only Venue that was well ran and got 6000 cars in was Norwalk. Crown Point was a Joke. It took the experience of getting from one stop to the next from being fun. To hurry up we got to go, so we can get into the venue before they close. We just gave up on one of them went to the hotel and next morning got up and headed home.

Macadoo

I've been reading much of the same on the Power Tour Facebook page. An event with that many cars is going to need uber management. I'm not sure I'm going to make it anyway; my interior is taking longer than expected. We may just head up to Michigan later. Sounds like a lot of fun car stuff up there in the summer.
I wonder how many of us are in the midwest. Maybe we could put together a mini [Olds] Power Tour of our own?

RROLDSX

And here I am drooling for a Power Tour on the west coast.

DewChugr

Just heard the Champaign stop in not allowing any spectator parking at the college, they say they need all of the spaces for the show. So, that's going to be a bit of walking, but I guess you have to expect that with that many cars. Spectators are encouraged to park and take a shuttle.

If they were smart they would have more than one entrance, but I doubt it.

If you are coming as a spectator PM me, I have the best spectator parking. Any questions about the area let me know.

Mr Nick

The tour has a different management company than last year, because (from what I've heard) the previous company couldn't cope with the crowd size.

One of the things they changes is registration will NOT be at the same entrance point as the venue entrance. At Crown Point last year there were so many cars parked with no drivers, because they were in line to register, that people who registered at previous stops couldn't make it in. I agree it was a mess.

I'm optimistic they have learned from the previous years mistakes, but if you expect zero traffic, you're dreaming. I kind of like rolling slow (within reason) with a bunch of other muscle cars. But over 30-60 minutes of that my clutch gets a bit sticky and unforgiving.

DewChugr

FYI, they were recently closed for a short time by the heath department.