The Advanced Plating Tour is the second in the 2007 Street Rodder/PPG Road Tour series. The Tour began with a weekend of rod fun at the NSRA Mid-America Nationals in Springfield, Missouri. The Springfield event has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last few years with this year's registered participants numbering more than 2100.The beautiful weather on Saturday brought spectators out in record numbers.
Sunday afternoon after the awards it was time for the Advanced Plating Tour to head out on the four day journey to the NSRA Nationals East in York, Pennsylvania. Our journey was mapped out to take us through Nashville, Knoxville, Charlotte and Virginia before completing our trip on Thursday in York. Stops have been planned at Lokar Products in Knoxville, Dennis Carpenter's Reproductions and Hendrick's Motorsports in Charlotte, a visit to the home of author Ken Gross and a stop at the Gettysburg Memorial in Virginia. We will arrive in York on Thursday in time for the famous Nationals East kick-off party.
Our Sunday afternoon trip was a short one as planned and we spent the evening in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Dinner was at a local steak house and the Tour participants got a chance to get to know knew friends and in some cases renew old acquaintances. A number of the Road Tourians on the Advanced Plating Tour were veterans of some of the 2006 Tours. They already knew the fun involved in a week on the road with fellow rodders. The Advanced Plating Tour includes folks from California, Oregon, Texas, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Memorial Day Monday morning was beautiful as we made the trip across Missouri, through Kentucky and on to Nashville, our destination for the day and evening. Some folks headed to the huge Opryland Hotel while others paid a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It was sunny and hot and after a day of seeing the sights we got together for dinner and discussed plans for Tuesday. It will be a long one as we visit Advanced Plating in the morning, lunch at Lokar in Knoxville and then on to Charlotte and a visit to Dennis Carpenter Reproductions.
Check back here as we bring you updates from the Advanced Plating Tour to the Nationals East.