Here's your chance to show up ol' Editor Brennan and prove that your ride is a real ride. This year the 2006 PPG / STREET RODDER Road Tour enters its 11th year, and as the second decade opens, so does a new approach. Road Tour Chauffeur Jerry Dixey has driven each of the past 10 years and managed to accumulate nearly 25,000 miles per year, proving any number of points, not the least of which is that Jerry has got one heck of a constitution!
For starters, the 2006 PPG / STREET RODDER Road Tour is taking a different approach with the intent of getting you (the rodder) more involved. There will be six legs to this year's Road Tour and you are invited to bring yourself, a companion of your choosing, and your street rod. Ol' Chauffeur Dixey is already making plans for stops along the way that promise to make each and every drive well worth your time. There will be a nominal fee (you will get a goodie bag with worthwhile keepsakes), but you can select one or more of the six legs and cruise the highways and byways of this great country in your street rod along with the Road Tour '34 Chevy coupe (made from an Outlaw body, resting on a Roadster Shop chassis, outfitted with Heidt's independent suspension, and built at Boyd Coddington's shop). Depending upon which of the six legs you travel, you will also be riding along with one of the industry's manufacturers (Jack Chisenhall of Vintage Air) or one of the top flight builders (Bobby Alloway of Alloway's Hot Rod Shop). In fact, should you believe you can really pick 'em up and lay 'em down, you may even find yourself crusin' with me. There will be stops along the way that are both automotive and non-automotive with the idea to make this a vacation that anyone in the family would enjoy. Fair warning, if you travel on the several legs I go on, we will be stopping at some of the finest fast food and donut shops in the world-rest assured.
The six legs of the Road Tour begin May 19 at the Cruisn' Ocean City event in Ocean City, Maryland, and we work our way through North Carolina and Tennessee, arriving in Springfield, Missouri, for the NSRA Mid-America Nationals on the May 28. The second leg will run from San Antonio, Texas, under the guidance of Jack Chisenhall of Vintage Air and end up at the L.A. Roadsters' Father's Day Show in Pomona, California. Be prepared to stop at every Dairy Queen on this run! Again, the trip will visit both automotive and non-automotive places of interest in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California along the way. Next up will be the Road Tour run from Pomona to Pueblo, Colorado, to the NSRA Rocky Mountain Nationals beginning on June 18 and ending on June 25. If you like the "great outdoors," this will be the drive for you-it promises to be spectacular. The fourth leg begins in Norwalk, Ohio, at the Blue Suede Cruise sponsored by PPG Industries and begins on July 28 and continues onto the NSRA Nats in Louisville, Kentucky, ending on August 6. Next up, the Shades of the Past Rod Run in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, on September 8 and then "runs" to NSRA Nationals North in Kalamazoo, Michigan, ending on the September 17. This one should prove to be a great deal of fun as all of us will find out if Bobby Alloway really can drive one of his hot rods all the way! (Well that should be enough to get me in enough trouble for one month, right?) Lastly, we begin at the STREET RODDER offices in SoCal on September 30 and take in any number of really cool sights before ending at the NSRA Golden State Nationals in Sacramento, California, on October 5.
Each leg of the trip can be attended separately or you may opt to attend more. You will be responsible for your own food and lodging, but there will be some general assistance with both, making it "almost" painless. For more information, stay tuned to STREET RODDER magazine, visit www.streetrodderweb.com, or call the road master, Jerry Dixey, at (800) 664-1362.