Advertisement
The 14th annual Hot Rod Power Tour, sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine, will wind its way through Winona on Friday.
Organizers estimate the tour, with up to 4,000 collectible and vintage automobiles, will leave Rochester, Minn., at 9 a.m. Friday. It’s expected to reach Winona — traveling east on Highways 14/61 — about 9:30 a.m.
Donald Atkinson, 60, of Onalaska, Wis., will be in his 1957 Chevrolet two door sport coupe.
“It’s a true hot rod,” he said.
While he’s always loved cars, Atkinson had given up restoring them — until five years ago — to devote his energies to running his custom metal stamping company, Venture Machine & Tool Inc. in Onalaska.
“I thought it was time to get back to my hobby,” he said.
This will be the first Power Tour he’s joined in on, he said, and he’s looking forward to the size of the tour.
“It’s going to blow people’s minds when it comes through here,” Atkinson said.
This year’s tour begins in Little Rock, Ark., he said, and continues over 1,400 miles, through seven cities, ending in Madison, Wis., on Friday. Atkinson will be going from Ames, Iowa, to Rochester, through Winona and La Crosse, Wis., and then to Madison.
“I’m totally excited about it because of the number of people I’m going to meet,” he said. “It’s pretty exhilarating.”
Bruce Miller, publisher of Hot Rod Magazine, said he expects more than 4,500 car will be in the tour, and at least 70,000 spectators from across the country will come out to take a look at them.
People come from all over the world, he said, but there are essentially three types who participate. Locals who come out for the day, other drivers — such as Atkinson — who do two or three legs of the tour, and those who drive the entire distance. They’re called “long haulers,” Miller said.
“They’re so passionate,” he said. “People build cars to go on the Power Tour.”
Bill Bauman, 56, of La Crosse, will also be on the tour starting
in Ames. He said he’s excited
and he hopes the weather cooperates.
“I’ve been aware they’ve been doing this for years and I’ve always wanted to do it,” Bauman said. “This year I thought I better do it. You can’t get much closer to home than this.”
Bauman will be driving his 1969 Camero SS convertible.
Although they don’t know one another, Bauman is just the kind of person Atkinson expects to meet on the tour.
“You can’t hardly find a bigger cross section of people who love cars,” Atkinson said. “Everybody’s got that in common.”
The Donald wrote on Jun 12, 2008 5:47 AM: