My old buddy, the Guy Formerly Known as Vortech Bob, was driving a tricked out Sean Hyland Motorsports GT/S2.

It looked good. Real good. Must have seemed strange to Bob, though, to be driving a Paxton-equipped car after spending so many years with Vortech.

But, Bob was happy to be on the Tour, and thrilled to be driving a car that runs the quarter in 12.7 at 110, pulls .95 Gs and is emissions legal. Good luck Bob. Don’t pick on too many other blower cars.

Gary checked the tranny fluid in the Vista-Cruiser and found he was 4.1735 ounces low, so he added some.

Jim did the same with the oil in the ’59, but he was 3.75227 ounces low, so he added some of that.

And we hit the road for Tulsa, Oklahoma — 2-plus hours early.

Justin found a new friend on the Turnpike.

He tried crawling out the window at 75 miles per hour just to say hello. We agreed to stop so he could shoot pictures of the cars from a different perspective — hers. Oh, to be young again. She says she’s not going all the way. Justin’s hoping she is.

Route 66 is known for its numerous Art Deco buildings, but this is not one of them.

It is different, though.

Somehow the state of Oklahoma has managed to charge a toll fee for the use of a Federal Interstate Highway. I guess they sneaked it through by calling it the Will Rogers Turnpike. The fee — only $3.50 per car, and one billet wheel center cap.

Gary said he’s going to apply for a refund.

We sent Justin back to negotiate for the cap, but he returned empty-handed, jumped in his new friend’s Trans Am with a Led Zeppelin CD, and blasted off.

While Gary and Jim positioned the cars, I walked over to the wheel stander — Tony Caprios of Texas Bandit fame. Tony seems to be a nice guy, although I must admit he’s got to be a few bricks short of a full load to drive that crazy thing with the big engine in back.

Everyone knows big engines go in front.

Tony was even using our Showtime® Instant Detailer to spiff up the ol’ Bandit.

Come to find out, there are 207 Dzus fasteners holding panels on this thing. I mentioned I met Ted Dzus a couple of days prior at Troy Trepanier’s place. Tony was jealous, so I offered to drag Ted over if I saw him.

Talk about extremes. The Texas Bandit has over 2,000 horsepower, and this Nash Metropolitan has forty-something with its flathead four-cylinder.

Which one would YOU rather drive on the Power Tour?

Sightseeing accomplished, we got down to making ourselves (okay, the cars — we’re beyond hope) presentable. Gary did the wheels on the Vista-Cruiser

while Jim reattached the door handles on the Sedan Delivery (pulled-off by Justin in his rush to get in the car of his newfound friend).

At least the rest of the door is intact.

Another Power Tour bud from years gone by is Ed “The Full” Monty, of MSD. He’s lucky enough to work with Todd “The Wagoon” Ryden, whose orange 455-motivated Pontiac wagon has been getting lots of press lately. Here, Ed and Todd handle autograph requests. They’re something, aren’t they?

The Hot Rod TV folks showed up again to shoot more footage on the cars. I pulled my Houdini act, hoping to prevent the dreaded “You broke my Beta Cam” syndrome.

Remember that blue wagon I wanted more info on yesterday? Well, come to find out Gary knows those guys (I think he knows EVERYONE who owns a wagon). It’s a ’65 Chevelle 2-door wagon with a stroked 454, now displacing 496 cubes. It eats gas through a custom Street Performance/BDS injection system, and is backed by a 6-speed Richmond and four-wheel disc brakes.

Hey daddy, can I have my bike back now?

Ro McGonegal came around again looking for cars with overdrives for a possible future tech article.

Gary explained why the Gear Vendors unit on the Vista-Cruiser was superior to anything else on the road.

The Wheel Mist® did a great job removing the brake dust. But in my enthusiasm, I got too close to the wheel as I hosed it off and ended up with dirty, grime filled cleaner splattered all over my new T-Shirt.

Next time I’ll remember to stick to supervising.

Tom Dzus walked by, so I steered him over to Tony at the wheel standing Texas Bandit. Tony related the 207 fastener story on the stander, and Tom responded by saying he built a Chevette back in the 80’s with more than that. A friendly wager ensued on who the top quarter turn guy was. Loser buys a new screwdriver to turn ’em all.

If you’ve read Hot Rod, there’s no doubt you’ve seen the byline of Steve Magnante. Steve is renowned for big motors, radio delete plates and his cheapness of eye glass frames. Like any star, he has his own groupies and wanna-bes.

Scary thought, huh?

I’m not really sure why this ended up in our coverage, but it’s a great filler (or maybe it tastes great?).

Oh my, little girl, what a big beer can you have!

It’s become a Power Tour tradition for burnout contests to be held informally in front of the venue. Jim helped this year by being the water runner while we packed up the stuff. He missed seeing a third ’59 Sedan delivery — this one done up as a Police car.