What started as 11 guys getting together to hang out, talk shop, and cruise around through the mountains in their pro-touring style rides has turned into something a little bigger now… okay, it’s much bigger.  This year there was some 50+ cars entered into the event, which consists of a lot more then sitting around a parking lot.  This ain’t your typical car show.

The premise behind what is referred to as a pro-touring style of build, is a car that does everything well.  These cars can go fast in a straight line just as easily as they can go around a corner.  Mash on the brakes… and get ready to stop on a dime, oh.. and all the while look good doing it.  These are not race cars we’re talking about here though, a lot of the cars have air conditioning and stereos as well as other creature comforts you’d look for in a street car.  Now, you may find a some roll cages in these cars, but talk to the owners and it’s safety first (seatbelt technology was not exactly wonderful in the ’60s)… not to mention it adds more than a little rigidity to the chassis.

So what all does this event consist of?  Well the event starts off Friday night with “Bill’s Back Roads Boogie” which is a spirited drive through some of Tennessee’s notoriously twisty roads.  Attendees in the event vying for top bragging rights must participate in the cruise to prove that the car is in fact a street car (the cruise generally lasts over an hour or more).  The cruise ends at some predetermined restaurant for some dinner and fellowship.  Although this is a competitive event, you wouldn’t know it by the atmosphere.  It’s obvious that the guys that come out every year value the hangout and shop talk time just as much as they do the actual racing, which makes for a great time, especially when you throw in the fact that the vendors are just as into the hang out time as anyone else.  Pull up a chair next to Kyle Tucker, owner of Detroit Speed and Engineering, and fire away with as much suspension talk as you’d like.  He, as well as the other vendors, are up to the challenge.

    As mentioned before, the event is more than just a hangout, and the real action starts on Saturday.  Saturday’s event is the Auto-X.  If you’re not familiar with the idea, basically you find a big parking lot, throw in a bunch of cones arranged with a nasty set of turns and straight aways, add in some fancy timing lights, and you’ve got yourself a mini-road course that can provide hours of tire squealing  entertainment.  The Albino Bowler jumped in and helped out as a cone judge (the drivers get deducted time points for hitting cones)… but quickly decided that might be a little too close to the action.

    On Sunday, it’s time for some good old fashioned drag racing.  For the purposes of the competition, it’s all about ET’s and reaction times.  The kicker is that you’ve got to run on the same tires you used for the cruise and the auto-x… which requires a bit of strategy, and keeps things interesting.  In the end, a total of points was counted up for all events, and one person was named ‘King of the Hill’.  The great thing about it is you can bet that title will be heavily contested again next year!  See you then!

– Dan Thompson