“Times. . . They are a’Changin’”

Nine years. That’s how long we’ve been doing the Hot Rod Power Tour. Things aren’t the way they were 9 years ago.

Way back then, it was film cameras and e-mailing the story to a few friends at 9,600 baud. Of course, then we had to scan the pictures on a $2,000 scanner to get them on the web site a month after the Tour ended.

Then it was digital cameras and e-mailing at 14,400 baud.

And next — in a feeble attempt to get some sleep — it was digital cameras and e-mailing the story back to the office for next day posting to the site, with pictures going at 28,800 baud. Three hours of uploading for each day still meant little sleep for the weary.

But without us realizing it the Tour grew to have a large online audience who wanted to know the daily happenings each night, so for the last three years we’ve been uploading the story and pictures direct to the website. At least we were able to get closer to a 56K connection (except in some sleepy towns), but the task has remained a near all-night affair — even better cameras have meant better (and bigger) pictures.

This year we were “big time.” Every night, save one, we had high-speed Internet access in our hotel room and were able to upload the story and all of the pictures (including the hundreds not used) in less than 15 minutes. This is the life! Sleep was a welcome change on the Tour this year!

One thing that hasn’t changed over the years has been the friendships. Each year we make many new friends on the Tour, and it gives us a chance to see our many old friends, too. While we hold all of our friends dear, they fall into two main groups: other manufacturers like us, who sponsor the Tour; and car enthusiasts who come along for the Tour.

On the factory side, there are guys like Todd and Ed from MSD Ignition, Jay and his gang from Comp Cams, Todd and Beth from Baer Brakes, Richard Small of Flowmaster, Frank Currie, the Edelbrocks, Peter from SEMA, and many, many more.

Personal friends we’ve made over the years include Ted Dzus of Dzus fastener fame, Paul from KC, that big group that hangs with the Cutting brothers from Michigan (including Harry’s wife, Cindy, a true Southern Belle), Troy and Jack Trepanier and their bunch (including Moose, the hardest working guy on the Tour), and hundreds of others.

As for the list of car enthusiast friends — well, there’s just too many to name, but many of them have been pictured on these pages.

It’s nice to see friends when you walk into a strange restaurant. It also makes the work enjoyable (and as much fun as doing the Tour sounds, it’s an awful lot of work, too).

Rumors abound about next year’s route. Whatever it is, I assure you that you’ll see something red and shiny on the Tour.

I sign off for the last time this Tour, as I have every night before:

Your humble and obedient servant,

Forrest Tosie

Mothers® Polishes•Waxes•Cleaners