This month marks the fifth year I have held the position of Marketing and P.R. Coordinator for Holley Performance Products. Realizing this causes many thoughts to flash through my mind but this month is also special because I find myself halfway through my fifth consecutive year as a vendor and participant on Hot Rod Magazine’s annual Hot Rod Power Tour. As can be imagined I’ve had quite a bit of driving time in between cities, and I’ve spent a considerable amount of that time thinking about what exactly makes the Hot Rod Power Tour so popular. If you haven’t had the pleasure of participating in this bucket list-worthy event, in this blog update I’d like to share with you some of the things that truly represent what the Hot Rod Power Tour really means to thousands of hot-rodders around the nation, and around the world. 1. First off, let’s get the marketing out of the way. Hot Rod Power Tour is a fantastic channel through which many OEM and aftermarket performance companies can travel alongside their actual customers and get to know them throughout the week. This generates several positive results for the industry: It allows us to see our parts in action with our end customers, true HOT RODDERS, while simultaneously keeping us true to our roots. Beyond that it allows us to keep tabs on current and upcoming trends, and lets us get a leg up on the products our customers want to see us market in the near future. It also allows our customers to put a face to the name so to speak. The companies that take part on the Hot Rod Power Tour are comprised of people that are gearheads as well, and we actually use the parts we produce. 2. The Hot Rod Power Tour is about fathers and sons, dads and daughters. Shoot, even entire families pile in their classic hot rod or muscle car and make the entire trek across all seven cities, and not just to attain the esteemed title of “long hauler”. The experiences gleaned from the time spent in the car together are hard to come by these days by us Americans and our busy schedules. Rarely do we find a time to relax and do it together. What better way to accomplish that task than taking a road trip across America?! A week spent on the road with your family and the coolest hot-rodders in the country is going to be far more memorable than beating the latest Xbox or Playstation game. 3. Hot Rod Power Tour is about cashing in on all the blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention hard earned dollars) you've put into your ride, and putting it to the test. There's nothing better for establishing an enduring bond between man and machine. To some mis-guided souls, the automobile has sadly fallen in rank, considered nothing more than a tool used to get from point a to point b, but us hot-rodders know better than to make that mistake. Beyond that, it’s a chance to be recognized for all that hard work you've put into your project by the most well-known automobile magazine on the planet (Hot Rod Magazine)! Need I say more? 4. Hot Rod Power Tour is about growing the community we all know and love, one city and state at a time. Whether we’re all cruising down the road firing on all cylinders or whether we’re stopped on the side of the road offering some assistance to a downed long hauler, we all want to see each other make it to the next checkpoint. I’ve been fortunate enough to see this on both sides of the coin, vendor to vendor and participant to participant. Vendors are here to help our the participants as well, with whatever they might be having an issue with. Programs like the General Motors and their Motor Medic Ambulance are great examples of this. There is an overwhelming amount of benevolence within our community if you actually stop and think about it. Realizing that makes me proud to be part of this event and happy to be a car guy. 5. Harmless automotive brand rivalries aside, Hot Rod Power Tour is about seeing what other kind of builds are out there and respecting them for hard work, their owners have put into building them, whether they’re a Ford, Mopar, Chevrolet or fill in the blank! Often hot rodders find themselves staring at a particular ride on Power Tour over and over again, amazed at the way a fellow hotrodder has decided to build a certain aspect of their ride. From there they can take home with these experiences and integrate similar ideas or completely new ones into their projects. This ultimately helps the industry progress when it comes right down to it. Trust me, a week spent on the Hot Rod Power Tour will do a lot more to help motivate the completiong of a current project than poring over Instagram builds on for a weeks on end! The pictures included in this blog entry are from the first four stops of the 2015 Tour. Make sure to follow our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/holleyperformance) to stay up to date with the latest news about Holley Performance and their 2015 Hot Rod Power Tour coverage.