HOT ROD Power Tour 2025 Day 5! The Final Push to Ohio and More Racing—HRPT Gallery
Our 31st Power Tour winds down with a cruise to Summit Motorsports Park and more tire smoke.
Day five the 2025 Chevrolet Performance HOT ROD Power Tour Driven by Hagerty gave participants one last blast through Americana on the way to its last stop for 2025. The crowds were huge and the turnout record breaking. Add in some pretty nice weather, and the 2025 HRPT was shaping out to be one for the record books.
AI Quick Summary
The 2025 HOT ROD Power Tour concluded with a record-breaking turnout in Norwalk, Ohio. The event featured a 116-mile cruise, drag racing, celebrity meet-and-greets, and unique cars. Over 6,000 cars participated, making it the largest Power Tour in over 30 years. Planning for 2026 has started—be there!
This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article
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Friday morning kicked off with a relatively short 116-mile cruise from the Monroe County Fairgrounds in Monroe, Michigan, to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. It’s perfect that Power Tour ends at a dragstrip, and after two days of fairgrounds, we’re sure participants were eager for some racing.
The back roads and byways of Ohio gave HRPT drivers exceptional open roads punctuated with small towns and rest stops.
A big part of the Power Tour is interacting with the spectators found in small towns along the route. Participants tossed toy cars to the kids, and locals begged for burnouts. By the way, “I did it for the kids!” won’t fly in court.
Drag racing was insanely popular in Norwalk, and we even extended the action a few hours to match demand so that everyone could have some fun on track.
The venue was also a chance for spectators and participants to meet and get autographs from some pretty cool folks from the hot-rodding universe, including Mike Cotten, David Newbern, Chris Jacobs, Cristy Lee, and others.
HRPT sponsor Chevrolet Performance brought out a bunch of cool hardware for the event, such as this LS-swapped G-body Monte Carlo SS and a brand-new 1,000-plus-hp Corvette ZR1 Indy Pace car.
Each day, designer Murray Pfaff and HOT ROD’s John McGann choose five rides for a Power Parker Award, which includes a sweet trophy along with a primo parking spot.
Pro Street Alley was a great addition to our 2025 Power Tour and will most likely return next year because people love checking out these big-tire and often blown, over-the-top hot rods.
Some of the oddball stuff that shows up at Power Tour defies description and shows what you can pull off with a good and maybe somewhat twisted imagination and a welder.
The manufacturers midway was packed as people checked out products, cars, and displays and grabbed merch. The midway also featured contests and activities such as driving simulators. Tremec and American Powertrain even gave away a transmission package to one lucky winner from the week.
The 2025 Chevrolet Performance HOT ROD Power Tour Driven by Hagerty is in the rearview mirror, and while we don’t have the final numbers, it looks like well over 6,000 cars participated. It was also our biggest Power Tour in over three decades. As for 2026, our team has already started hunting down venues and thinking about the coolest routes to get from point A to spot B, so keep an eye on our website and social media for 2026 HRPT news.
Born and raised in Southern California I started as the technical editor for Popular Hot Rodding (PHR) magazine where I learned the business before moving over to work with Nick Licata, at Camaro Performers, as his tech editor. At PHR I built a 1968 Camaro called Bad Penny that was one of the earlier pro-touring cars that actually ran the track hard. We won the first Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational in 2008 and placed well several other years. At Camaro Performers we started several project cars and did a ton of tech. Eventually I was made editor of Vette magazine for a short time before being slotted to run Super Chevy magazine. Running the brands was fun, but I've always enjoyed being a technical writer more. So after more than 15 years I'm back to writing tech content, this time for the HOT ROD network. I enjoy being with my family, shooting, and working on my latest car, a 1969 Camaro called Tri Tip.
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