Is Power Tour getting too big?

[cstmwgn]

... I can't remember where it was moved to ...

Madison

[Broken041]

/\ This!
I gotta brag on my hometown boys; Raleigh PD and the PNC Arena did a great job of getting folks in. I never touched my brakes and didn't hear the first complaint about traffic (at/near the arena). Sure, there wasn't any hot laps or auto-X but the venue traffic was smooth.

Raleigh traffic direction was the best, hands down!

[Damon23]

The Dells? We shouldn't be talking about the Dells. What a horrible way to end a great trip.

Is Powertour too big? Absolutely. But what can you do without excluding people and the company running PT is in it to make a buck, not to please everyone. If you go on the tour and expect everything to be layed out perfect and you have no tolerance for error or miscommunication then you are wasting your money. You might as well drive to a parking lot and sit in the heat with 70 other cars angling to win a $5 trophy. Make the tour your own. You know where you have to go and the route is a mere suggestion. There is no prize for getting there first, there is no prime parking you'll miss out on cause hot is hot. On the last day we left at 9am. I thought for sure we were going to be late. You know what? That leg was the most relaxed drive I've had on the tour in a long time and we were far from late. I had a lot of fun this year so I have no real complaints. The only rough time I had was in Raleigh that evening cause I opened my work email by accident so that's on me.

[elcaminogirl59]

Vic and I discussed this while on tour this year. We were caught in the Wisconsin Dells catastosphre (sitting on the highway for 2 1/2 hours and then having to park on the golf course green when we DID get in) and the Charleston, WV venue where we waited for 1 1/2 hours to get off the highway and then had to walk 2 miles to the venue, and the Bettendorf, Iowa casino where there was one way in and one way out, and that was only one lane, this year was not too bad. More and more participants mean more traffic. Maybe two different tours, one West Coast and one East Coast, would be the answer?? How do they tell people they can't participate???!!!!! And they really need to promote better. I can't tell you the amount of hotels, restaurants, gas stations, etc., that didn't know we were in the area. Maybe make sure the local Chamber of Commerce gets the word out in the cities selected for venues would help greatly!!

[>>>>head]

I going to be somewhat of a contrarian here. Prior to my rant, I would NEVER endorse restricting the number of folks on the tour, period.

Having said that, after 10 long hauls, IMO, the management of the traffic in and out of most venues is “significantly below acceptable”. I can’t think of a better way of discouraging first timers from going on repeat tours. Darlington and Chattanooga were this year’s poster miscreants. Typically, the source of the problem is the venue’s local parking staff who appear to be auditioning for the coming year’s ‘misfit toys’ musical. I am never sure if the staff is incompetent or the management of the staff is incompetent but the result is “significantly below acceptable”.

To be clear, I am not complaining about sitting in traffic in small towns where local folk take pride that you visited their town. But in that case, if I don’t want to sit and wait, I can create my own detour. There is NO such option at the venues

I take the tour for 3 reasons: (1) driving 2 lane blacktops; (2) the friendships I’ve renewed and those newly began & (3) visiting parts of this country that I would otherwise not likely to see. I would suggest that those reasons are why the tour started back in 1995. It certainly wasn’t started with the intention of 100s or 1,000s of cars to sit idling for 45+ minutes waiting to get into a venue in order to get that day’s magnets.

As others have noted, certain venues were easy to get into and out of this year (e.g., Raleigh). That demonstrates that if the ‘management’ of the Tour is really putting “the customer first”, there is no need to be idling more than a few minutes for long haulers to park at venues. It just has to be a priority for them. Sad to say, my opinion of the management of the tour for the past several years, and TEN for that matter, is “it’s all about the money”. Did I express these thoughts on the survey, you bet your derriere I did.

[JRoberts]

The only venue I found troublesome due to traffic was Chattanooga. We discussed with friends in another car, what to do from there on out. We got up earlier, left earlier and got to the other venues earlier. We only deviated from the route twice. Once in Pine Bluff, NC where we stopped by a building that had been a Studebaker dealer and took pictures of the '65 in front of it. The second time was just outside of Pinehurst where we went for a great barbecue for lunch in Carthage, NC just off the official route. As a first timer, I found the large numbers beyond what I had imagined, but not unsettling. We figured that was part of the adventure and as such we made adjustments.

One final note. We were not so surprised as pleased when it came to local communities' acceptance of us. People cheering us on, little kids yelling and holding up their Hot Wheels cars (this happened in several places) and of course the local law enforcement out to make things run smoothly. A great example took place when we went straight on Murdocksville Road in Pinehurst instead of following the route onto Juniper Lake Road seeking the Pik n' Pig barbecue place. About five miles later I looked in the rear view mirror only to see a police vehicle with flashing blue lights pulling over our friends in their yellow Corvette. I knew we had not been speeding and couldn't figure out why the pull over. Very quickly the light were of and the officer rolled up next to us in the Studebaker. I looked at the officer and spoke a good morning. His face was red and he began with an apology. He caught up with us to tell us we had missed a turn! When our friends in the Corvette told him why we left the route, he apologized to the folks in both cars. I told him I appreciated his attempts to let us know and thanked him for his efforts. I believe at this point he may well have been out of his jurisdiction, but wanted to make sure we were not lost. I think that in and of itself showed how much local folks supported us being in their communities.

[papasmurf587]

The Dells? We shouldn't be talking about the Dells. What a horrible way to end a great trip..

One more comment about the Dells, the anniversary Power Tour ended at a golf course for God's sake, where old people wander in a foursome at a time, not hundreds per hour. Now that I think about it, the only "driver" I have is my GTO. Hmmmm. I think Hot Rod is a closet Bang Shifter....they heard our complaint and relocated the next years (2015) start to Madison Wi at the Alliant Energy Center.

[a_d_a_m]

Completing the Long Haul and getting a full set of magnets was on my bucket list, but turned into a bit of a chore as the week went on. Some of that had to do with the overwhelming amount of cars trying to squeeze into venues.

And anyway, my main enjoyment of Power Tour is more in the driving, side trips, roadside attractions, and talking to people at the hotels.

As such, I have been kinda-sorta considering doing a single-day registration next year. I'll pick the venue that's most interesting and actually attend that day, but I'll skip the rest of the venues. It'll still be a Long Haul, but I won't get the plaque at the end of the week. The trade-off is less stress and more side trips. :D

[stu yoakam]

Just realize if you do more than one stop its cheaper and less hassle to register for the whole trip "multi day". One day at a time you have to register at every stop before you go in. You are free to do whatever you want. I never do the long haul and have yet to drive any of the routes.

[a_d_a_m]

Right, but if I only plan to enter the venue one day out of the entire week next year, then a single day registration is by far a money-saver. I can still follow the route when I want to.