Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Day 5: June 15, Grand Prairie, TX to Oklahoma City, OK (242.1 miles)

Our group of 9 cars left the hotel at 7:00 this morning since the route was one of the longer ones this Tour.  We hit a little Dallas traffic on our way out of town, but once we left the city, it was smooth sailing.  The route itself, was fairly mundane.  It was mainly a straight shot on 4 lane "rural roads" with 75 mph speed limits.  You gotta love Texas!! However, when we got to a school zone, the speed did slow to a more moderate 55 mph.  The road we were on was certainly one of the less traveled ones.  Except for the occasional tractor trailer, virtually all of the cars were Power Tour cars. 


We stopped for lunch at Mama Carol's restaurant in Chikasha (pronounced Chick-a-shay), Oklahoma.  Lori called ahead and they set up tables for the 14 of us.  The place was empty when we got there, but within minutes was packed full of locals.  You know it's a good place when the cops eat there.  I had the best chicken fried steak, I have ever eaten.  They even subbed in brown gravy for me.  

Scott's daughter Cody took some video of the Acadian

After lunch we gassed up and headed to the venue, Remington Park (a horse track and casino-not a real one though, only slots).  It was brutally hot again.  WeatherBug showed 95 degrees, but "feels like 110."  There was a strong wind, but it was more like a hair dryer than anything refreshing.  Tara spotted a lone shade tree and we parked on the curb in front of it.  The downside was that it was a long walk to the stage and sponsor's midway to get clocked in and pick up my magnets and T-shirt.  My parents headed for the hotel and Jacob and I went to clock everyone in.  No reason we all need to suffer. 
Feels like 110

Parking lot Panorama

It's only 95 in the shade.


While I was at the sponsor's midway, I spoke with the guys from Edelbrock and got the part number for their Stage 2 supercharger kit for the Corvette.  They also gave me a certificate for a jacket if I buy the kit.  I went ahead and ordered it from Summit Racing while I was sitting back at the car.  Z06 power, here we come!

We stayed at the venue for as long as we could stand the heat.  I made some quick trips to look at a 440 6-pack 1970 'Cuda and a few other cars.   A gorgeous 1963 Split Window Corvette drove by us.
Numbers Matching

I think I'm in love.

The headers make the engine look like as spider

Vanity plates aplenty on the Tour

The Viper's plate was "TRAK IT"

This thing's plate said "ITSADIO" which helps answer everyone's question

 In the "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" category, there was a Thunderbird convertible that someone cobbled into a "Batmobile" and a 1970 Roadrunner convertible that was transformed into a Superbird. 

Ummmmm....

It actually looks better in the picture than real life.



We met our friends Rick and Lisa (Dart Sport) at Pop's on Route 66 in Arcadia for dinner.  It was one of the roadside landmarks and had a giant soda bottle sculpture in front.  We weren't expecting it to be a gas station.  To our surprise, they had a diner section with pretty good food.  The big deal was that they had a soda cooler with 500+ flavors of soda.  Each section was organized by flavor and you could mix and match a 6 pack.  We bought butterscotch cream soda, peach cider, mango, raspberry, lemon, and some kind of berry flavored soda named for a hot rod shop in Torrance, CA (I bought that one solely on the label).  So much for cutting back on soda, but we're on vacation.

Attention grabber

They have pop and soda here.
Hot Rod soda.


We passed the Hot Rod Power Tour bus on the way home from dinner

Henry J Hot Rod

After dinner, we all met back up at the hotel.  I took Bryson for a spin in the Corvette.  I did a couple rolling accelerations up to 70 mph before I was finally first at a traffic light.  The light went green and I punched it.  The tires spun a little and once I hit 55 mph, a black Crown Victoria with "police hubcaps" turned left a few hundred feet in front of me.  I let off the accelerator and held my breath.  I've watched enough Street Outlaws to know that the OKC Police don't take kindly to racing and I'm sure they definitely don't want any out of town yahoos without a film crew and national TV show accelerating all around town.  He kept on driving and we were in the clear.

I got back to the hotel and Lori had the porta-bar out and was mixing drinks.  Finally, around 9:00 the weather finally felt cool.   We walked the parking lot which was packed full of show cars.  For the first time, people were out socializing.  Several people stopped Tara to ask her what an Acadian was.  We also met a couple from Texas in a modern GTO.  Turns out, they collect vintage tractors and so does Jake.  They spent quite some time talking tractors. 

Perhaps it was the bourbon, but I realized my shorts camouflage into the hotel floor.



Tomorrow we head to Wichita and it's supposed to be 110 degrees and not a drop of shade at the venue. 




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