Hot Rod Power Tour 2014
 

Hi All - I know June 2014 is a long way away, but HRPT takes a lot of planning. I am definitely going, already registered. I know a few of you are considering it. Here's the link to Family Events, who does most of the event planning. I don't book my hotels through Family Events, but I know people that do.
http://www.familyevents.com/event/229

I might do a few legs this year since I won't be able to go to the fest this year!

I'll stay posted!

Pretty sure that I am doing the long haul this year.

I have a list of historic road courses in the US that I am going to drive, and this years tour will put me an hour from two on my list...Mid Ohio and Road America. I am going to contact both tracks and see if I make arrangements to take some laps on the days that I the tour will be close. If I get it arranged then I will definitely do the long haul this year.

thanks Diane. Hopefully hit my second Power Tour, first since 2005!!!!

Pat, myself, and Chase are in for the first 3 cities.

Long Hauler
 

My son and I are doing the long haul for his senior, graduation trip! First time for both of us so we booked the family events hotel package. Made hotel selection easy! If you get the track days worked out, count us in!!!

Good luck, David. That would be very cool. Love Road America, from Forza's (video game) view point, anyway.

I have a new job now. I'm still transitioning from old to new. I have no idea how vacation time is gonna work. The CEO told me my vacation time will transfer over. I hope he understood my question. Hopefully June is far enough out that they let me take 2 weeks. I can only stay hopeful at this point. :emoticon14:

If Gina and Jim show up tomorrow, let's try and have a little get together to discuss it. Hopefully your schedule will allow you to go.

I'll be there tomorrow, in it for the long haul, so time to make plans

I'm still on my way home, but definitely planning to go on HRPT.

I like your signiture photo, Jim.

-Only real men take their Camaro 4 wheeling.

LOL, it does look like he's going rock climbing! Did you all talk about HRPT:)

We did.

Thanks Dan, I thought of it more like lurking behind the rock, but rock climbing works too.

And..............:confused:

:smiling1:

It was good.... Just kidding.

Looks like Jim is in for the long haul, the muscle group is in for the first 2 or 3 legs, Dan is in for the long haul work permitting, and I am either doing part or all depending on Mid-ohio and Road America. Gina is supposed to be locating hotels for all is us to stay together (hotel not same room), but her reliability is in question .

LOL, well I have a couple of rooms already booked.

June 6th and 7th Charlotte - Homewood Suites/N Charlotte, University Park (lots of places to eat, about 10 minutes from track, stayed here last year) $99 for a suite with kitchen
June 8th - Dandridge, TN - Hampton Inn on I-40E towards Kingsport. $104
June 10th - Mansfield, OH - Hampton Inn $114

I think these are easy cancellation, so I can always change, but I like to get things planned early (and stay at Hilton and Marriott properties for points)
:cool:

Ok I am at least in through Norwalk.

Curious why Mansfield on the 10th?

Lol, trying to figure out why myself. :bonk: It's near a Nascar track (Mansfield Speedway) and I like to do some side trips, so I think that might be why. You probably noticed that HRPT doesn't take the interstate too much, so I was just hedging a bet I think............:iono:

Well um....just looking quickly at the map, um Mansfield is south of Norwalk and the next city is northwest of Norwalk..... Just sayin. Note to Gina...let's not stay with Diane in Ohio!

Lol, I like taking the path less traveled............sometimes it's good to find out what the route is before you plan..........which doesn't get released til close to the start. I can always change later if I want. Don't know what the Norwalk area is like either. Sometimes the venue isn't really close to hotels, or for example, in Memphis, the drag strip was way North of town, but the evening activity was downtown Memphis, so I was in between the 2, but more on the way of where we were headed the next day. Kinda hard to predict where the best place to stay is sometimes...........:iono:

I'm just messing with you....I have left all hotel planning to our travel agent (aka Gina), which is based upon the terrible places I got myself last year.

Actually I believe I will be going through Mansfield on my way from Mid-Ohio to Norwalk.

We should all get together when she finishes her research and plan the trip.

Hotel List
 

Here's what I've found so far. I'll update the list with more locations shortly. Most of the roms are available via Travelocity, cheap hotels, kayak, etc.

Also, there are several hotels listed on the Registration/Hotels page. We can book these same hotels without going through HRPT.

It looks like the fewest choices are in Charleston WV June 9 and Norwalk June 11. So, anyone planning to make these stops should consider making reservations sooner rather than later.

June 6-7 ZMAXX Dragway at Charlotte
(Walking distance):
Embassy Suites $150
Hampton Inn $152
Comfort Suites Concord $129
(5 miles away):
Springhill Suites $89
Hampton Inn University Place $84
Candlewood Suites University Place $77

June 8 Knoxville Chillhowee Park
Holiday Inn Knoxville $123
Hampton Inn Suites Knoxville $93
Marriott Knoxville $120
Four Points by Sheraton Knoxville $95

June 9 Charleston WV Downtown Kanawha Blvd
Holiday Inn Express Civic Center $109
Fairfield Inn $105
Holiday Inn & Suites $115
Hampton Inn $120

I hate that I can't plan this with you guys. :mad0259:

They are giving me more reason to get excited about this job though.

Just my opinion.....since your vacation time transferred over to the new job, you should plan with us. You can always cancel later if you can't go, but might be too late to get rooms with us later.

Glad things are getting better as the transition goes on.

Ok guys here's where I'm at, last year was a blast traveling with Dan, my plan is to plan for the long haul and hope its works out out for Dan, if for some reason it doesn't I might only do the first couple cities like Pat & Gina, unless I find someone to ride along with me so far no takers (wife, daughter, brother ), with David and Diane branching off in different directions I just don't want to make that long trip by myself. But I'm hoping for the long haul again, we'll just have to wait and see

Ok Jim I will agree to order the same meals as you in case Dan can't make it.

It looks like I am only going to break off for part of the day on the 10th, and if Road America doesn't work out the I will probably stop at Norwalk. If Road America does work out then I will most likely have to of there after (Saturday) the HRPT is over.

I would like to (sooner rather than later) get together with the list of hotels and see if we can all stay in the same places for as long as we are together.

I'd love to travel with you guys. Since this will be my 4th year, I've kind of learned that the BEST thing about Hot Rod Power Tour is all the new friends you meet. I've traveled with different groups every year, and different groups different days each year. I hate to say that I'm partial to a few hotel chains (points) and try to stay at those if possible (free nights), but it's just a habit when I travel. We can try to stay at the same hotels and travel together. It's hard to keep groups together (aka "herding cats"). As the event gets closer, we can form a group to travel up and travel together.:grouphug:

I agree we should have hotels booked early, can always cancel if needed most cases without a penalty, I do favor Diane's hotel choices Hampton inns, Marriott's, you know your getting a good clean room, (no bugs David ). Maybe I misunderstood you David I thought were going to 2-3 different places plus stopping to visit friends, I'll be happy to travel with you and we don't have to eat the same food as long as your buying lol. Diane's right though I met some nice people last year and we tried to travel as a group but it's hard, you usually see them later that day anyway. I'm out of town next week, but after maybe we can get hotels at least in Charlotte and some others together.

Yeah! I never drove one mile with Jim and Dan, but we saw each other EVERY day.:thumb:

I'll stay at any hotels you guys want, I would just rather pay a little more for something nice than to save a few bucks and take a chance. Hamptons are fine with me...I'll even make waffles for anyone that wants one.

The trip from Charleston to Norwalk is the only day I will probably have to go it alone, but I will be in Norwalk by probably 3p. If I can get on Road America it will be on Saturday after you guys leave to go home. My visiting friends will be on the way home, if I go to Road America.

It was just a pain last year in Chattanooga and Charlotte being spread out, so I think if we can we should make the effort to stay together. If enough of us want, we can get together in a few weeks and try and come up with a plan.

I think getting together to formulate a plan sounds like a good idea.

Hotel Plan
 

I'm going to suggest that anyone that wants to try and coordinate staying at the same hotels get together on either the 1st of February or the 8th of February at a location suitable for all. Doesn't matter to me where we meet, so feel free to throw out some options. Should be some place where we can get something to eat.

Keep in mind we have the muscle group coming from the deep south, Jim from Acworth, Dan (I hope) from Cumming, Diane from Gwinnett, and yours truly from Monroe. I have not seen anyone else posting any interest in this so if anyone else is interested then you are more than welcome to come. Also, if anyone else just wants to come have a bite to eat and hang out a little, you are welcome as well.

We are certainly not limited to these two dates, (Jim I know some Saturdays are bad for you),but I just thought I would throw them out to see if they work.

I think either would work for me. Don't know where we can meet, maybe Brookhaven area?

The 1st of Feb works for me, I return to work on the 3rd and most likely have to be available for work on the 8th, just about anywhere to meet is good for me too, once we work out the hotels the rest of it is easy,

I put this on another car forum and will post it here too.

I live just North of Knoxville, next county up.
I have a garage with a lift and most tools you might need at my house if anyone runs into difficulty and needs to make repairs while in the Knoxville area on the HRPT. Just shoot me a PM or something. I definatley plan on making it over to Chillhowee park that day at the least.

HRPT 2014
 

hi! i just signed up for the power tour long haul group. will be coming out of charleston, sc. be nice, to get a southern group together. thanks, jim. :clap2:

Thanks for the offer! That will be a great help if needed.

We'll keep things updated here as to our plans. It's really hard to keep a group together sometimes if you're not staying in the same place.

And, as the group knows, I sometimes get a "wild hair" to do my own thing. :doh: