Steve and Tara's Power Tour Adventures: HRPT 2018- Day 5: June 13- Hamption, GA to Darlington, SC (295.5 miles)

It was another early morning for everyone since today was our longest run of the Tour. Again we had cool weather as we left the hotel and headed for Darlington Raceway. Bryson wanted to ride in the Corvette. so my mom hitched a ride with Scott in the G8 which is probably the most comfortable car in our group.

The first third of the route took us on two lane roads through some small towns. I defy anyone to drive through Butts County, GA and not snicker. We passed through the center of two small towns. We ended up behind a farm pickup truck hauling melons and I tried to get Tara to jump out and buy some while we were slowly passing through town. We later saw the guy at a highway rest stop selling the melons.

Old Courthouses have some of the best architecture

I bet they have bumper stickers that say "I love Beautiful Butts"

We hit a pretty decent snarl when we were on a two lane road that was being repaved. They had it down to a single lane and were flagging cars through a few at a time. They also weren't getting much work done as most of the crew just watched the cars and even took photos.

Flashmob car show

Not much roadwork's gonna get done today

Needless to say, when there are a thousand cars on their way through, it's going to cause delays. We got through after only a few minutes, but it was certain to be a major issue as the day passed on. Indeed, we ended up parked across from an orange third generation Camaro that came over a rise at 70 mph to find traffic in front of him at a standstill. He cut the wheel to avoid rear ending a Nova and instead went sideways into the rear of a late model pickup truck.

Ouch!!!

We made a gas stop just before we were supposed to get onto I-20 for a long highway stretch. Lucky for us, we started talking to the guys parked next to us who told us that there was a really bad wreck involving a semi truck and I-20 was shut down right after were we were supposed to get on. Tara found a detour that spit us out a few miles past the wreck.

When we saw the route directions, we were not looking forward to the highway leg. Usually, we get pretty spread out on the Interstate and it just feels like any other day. But this stretch of I-20 was only 2 lanes in each direction and it was full of Power Tour cars.

Our lunch stop was at the Little Pig Barbecue just east of Columbia, SC. Lori called ahead and they had tables reserved for our group. It was a buffet style service and the entire town must have been there. They had 2 giant pork butts (the cut is actually the shoulder) at a station where you could basically do your own pulled pork.

We hit a bit more traffic on I-20 after lunch. As we snail-crawled along, another group was on the same walkie talkie channel as our group. After some cross-chatter, they realized that they were caught in traffic with Tim, Lori and Scott yesterday on the way out of Newnan. We entertained ourselves by talking with them until we cleared the traffic.

At our next gas stop, there was a big family that had just stopped for gas and a snack on their way to wherever they were headed and a young boy and his dad excitedly ran up to the Corvette (the kid ran, the dad was close behind). He excitedly explained that it was his favorite car. The kid actually had a 1:18 scale diecast model of a 2014 white Corvette with red interior with him (I have the same one in my office). Of course we pulled the car up so that he could sit in it and his family took a bunch of pictures. It clearly made the kid's trip. My dad also gunned the engine a few times for good measure.

He even opened the door of the model to match the picture

Traffic really began stacking up on the road into Darlington Raceway. We tried to bypass the long line by going past the entrance, making a U-turn and coming back from the other direction. It had worked well at Chattanooga and on other Power Tours. This time, it was a total bust. The line coming the other direction was even longer and it seemed that the officers directing traffic let way more right turning cars in than lefties.

We eventually got onto the property and went through the tunnel into the infield. On the walls of the tunnel were murals of NASCAR history. Darlington is the second oldest track still in use on the NASCAR circuit. It held its first race in 1950.

This was also a venue where we had better parking than the Gold/Platinum VIP people. We got a spot on some grass right near real bathrooms (no porta potties) and a short walk right to the main stage and punches. It was fairly warm out, but not too bad.

We got clocked in, got our magnets and I then spent some time talking to Clarence, one of the MCs who spends the entire day on the stage riffing with the crowd, introducing sponsors, entertaining Long Haulers and generally having a good time. I'm amazed about his ability to remember people. He's been doing the Power Tour for far longer than we have, but he immediately recognized me and asked if we brought the Acadian again. It's become one of his favorite bits of trivia ever since he saw the car in Muskegon in 2012. I stuck around and played a game of "Clarence Says" to try and win a set of tires. I ended up going out in 3rd place. Lori made it to 2nd.

People stake out their spots early and just sit and hang out.

I briefly walked the showfield near where we were. Without having to go very far, there were some amazing cars. I particularly liked this black and orange truck:

We ran into the guy with the Gold 1970 Chevelle that we saw at the car wash the first day and was at our hotel last night. Last night, he was McGyvering a cooler, some hose fittings and tubing to make a cooling system for his fuel. Apparently, the high volume fuel pump which is intended for running wide open for short distances was struggling with cruising or sitting in traffic for hours. It was pumping more fuel than the car needed. It went back into the tank via the return line, but was heating up and causing the car to vapor lock. To fix the problem, he made a coil from the tubing and connected his fuel lines to the coil and filled the cooler with 3 bags of ice. As the fuel cycled, it went through the coil and was cooled by the ice. Pretty ingenious if you ask me. It's based off an old racer trick, but they used a coffee can.

Keeps fuel cool and also holds beer

In the "it's a small world" category, we've now seen 2 cars that were built/customized by Orlando area shops. The first was the 1969 Camaro that we saw Friday before the Tour started that was done by Ultimate Auto. Today, we saw the second- this big Chevy that was done by Street Metal Concepts in Sanford.

The "Factoryish" sticker is a dead giveaway. Zip and his guys have done a lot of work on my Chevelle.

We had dinner at the Starfire Grill in Florence, SC, which was OK. Our hotel is on a road with 6 or more other hotels and the parking lots are packed with show cars. While Tara took advantage of the cool night air to wipe down the Acadian, my dad and I talked to 2 guys with a 1962 Studebaker wagon that had a sliding rear roof and a ladder step (I thought Ford invented that for the F150). They build the wagon specifically for the Power Tour and it had a 383 stroker motor with a Tremec 6 speed transmission.

It's like a swim ladder on a boat.

We then all walked around to the other hotel lots to look at the show cars now that the heat of the day had passed. Across the street we heard and saw the result of one guy doing a pretty good burnout.