Hot Rod, Pro Touring?

[Bob Johnson]

AS everyone knows, Hot Rod Magazine has been saying Pro Touring is dead. Well, looks like they are eating their words!


This months issue has several PT cars in it, but with a twist. They are not calling them Pro touring or even G Machines. They are now Euro Style.

So, I guess instead of admitting they were wrong, they are trying to give our cars a new label, are are pretending that they are starting a new trend!

Check out this months issue. There are a couple of sweet cars though. I really dig the over the top vette!

Hot Rod still says Pro Street is alive and well..try and sell a pro street car unless it's a Willys..believe me it's dead..they just haven't buried it yet. Love for them to go back and go over their crystal ball predictions for the last 5 years, then analyze if any came true..and what percentage was correct. That 56 Ford Pickup that Tim Allen bought at Barrett Jackson for chump change was in the finals for Hot Rod of the Year..and Leno's Toronado wins it.... Two hollywood guys out of ten..what a coincidence..How about the Alloway built Challenger..the Roy Pickford Nova..the Ring brothers Mustang..and an altered T pick-up drag car is in the finals.. whoa..I do agree with Royce Glader's 29 Pick-up built by Peratt.. It's one of my favorite cars..Hot Rod doesn't even recognize my Cuda as one of the top projects in the country. Just because another magazine has the first shot at a project, doesn't mean that it is not first rate. The Power Tour coincides with Goodguys Indy..guess where we will probably be. There's shows every weekend somewhere in the country, and most weekends there are several to choose from. I have deleted a lot of shows from my schedule because of politics, and other factors. Gotta go where you have fun and they want and appreciate you being there.

[67SSDan]

Yeah I've noticed the magazines are getting a lot lighter here lately too.. interesting.

Maybe they figure they started it all with Stielow... so they should get to finish (rename) it too?

I must say though, IMHO HotRod used to be an awesome mag until the current editor came over (didn't he come over from CarCraft?), and like several of you I've let my subscription go now. PHR and CHP seem to be the only ones doing anything worth while on a consistant basis. Well.. and GMHTP... but you never can find those around hardly.

[Ackattack]

I get hot rod, I've been getting it since high school, so I'll probably keep getting it, though it is not that good any more. I mean they feature a few cars, but that's about it. They always fill half the damn thing with articles from the 50s, that I could care less about (and therefore skip them). What happen to the engine buildup, and other mods to cars (other than simple bolt ons that any body can do with a screwdriver)

I remember one particular in depth article that I'm talking about. Something like "the 350 Chevy should have built". Basically they took a 327 crank, 400 block, some long con rods (from a straight 6 ford I think) and made a kick but 400+HP engine. A little more in depth than what I've seen from them lately (and you can't just do that with a screw driver!!!)

Oh, I do like Hot Rod Power Tour. I went on it in 2002, and would love to go on it again. My car ended up in the mag too (1"x1"....but its still in there)

[vanzuuk1]

I still like hot rod but phr is more to my liking.

I dont know if this is thread jacking, but fscope's camaro is on the cover of car craft.Thumbs up for him.

[Steve Chryssos]

Hot Rod still says Pro Street is alive and well..try and sell a pro street car unless it's a Willys..believe me it's dead..they just haven't buried it yet. Love for them to go back and go over their crystal ball predictions for the last 5 years, then analyze if any came true..and what percentage was correct. That 56 Ford Pickup that Tim Allen bought at Barrett Jackson for chump change was in the finals for Hot Rod of the Year..and Leno's Toronado wins it.... Two hollywood guys out of ten..what a coincidence..How about the Alloway built Challenger..the Roy Pickford Nova..the Ring brothers Mustang..and an altered T pick-up drag car is in the finals.. whoa..I do agree with Royce Glader's 29 Pick-up built by Peratt.. It's one of my favorite cars..Hot Rod doesn't even recognize my Cuda as one of the top projects in the country. Just because another magazine has the first shot at a project, doesn't mean that it is not first rate. The Power Tour coincides with Goodguys Indy..guess where we will probably be. There's shows every weekend somewhere in the country, and most weekends there are several to choose from. I have deleted a lot of shows from my schedule because of politics, and other factors. Gotta go where you have fun and they want and appreciate you being there.

The politics suck indeed. As an insider, I know that Frieburger has done an amazing job of stealing the title back from the beancounters. Compare 2005 to the previous five years. That said, the Allen truck is a joke since it is way older than 2005 while the 29 is absolutely awesome.
Politics aside, the Toro is a great car built by real car people who stretched a frame, cut out floorboards and had to make everything work--Hollywood or not. So two out of ten very cool pro-touring cars is fine by me. Doesn't matter what you call em.

[Norm Peterson]

As a mostly-continuous long-time subscriber, I've come to understand that no matter whatever other automotive directions that HRM may wander off into, its prime focus will always be the straight line/quarter mile. In that respect it's a perfectly good magazine - I'm not too picky about where any knowledge might come from, and there's at least a dollar's worth of that in any given issue. Not to mention that a little exposure to things outside one's own main direction of automotive interest is probably a good thing. Blinders are for horses.

In the meantime, I'll appreciate whatever PT/G-Machine oriented articles/pics/notes/etc., that make it to print. A quick scan of the December 05 issue does turn up quite a bit of relevant information.

I'm seeing worse trends in other magazines (which will remain nameless) - higher page counts with less technical content and formats aimed more as introductions to those with short attention spans.

Norm

[vintageracer]

Steve,

I have to agree, "I" think Hot Rod has become a better magazine over the last several years. So much so that I took their 2 years for $10 bucks deal. The variety, quality of the print/paper, color pictures have all improved. Hot Rod STILL has an uncanny ability to miss the BIG trends in our hobby while they continue to promote the past. However that is to be expected from the oldest rag in our hobby.

Look who runs Primedia? Senior management is still old school/old age and Hot Rod IS Primedia's premier rag. Primedia tends to experiment with trends in their other magazines long before making any major change at Hot Rod. When those changes do occur at Hot Rod, to say the changes are "little late" is being kind!

I think one of the worst mags out there is "Super Chevy". Between all the ads for products and Super Chevy event coverage, the magazine has little or nothing of interest and I like Chevy's!

We consumers sure are a fickle bunch aren't we????

[Johnny Blaze]

If I want a good drag mag, I get car craft! If I want PT I get PHR or CHP. If I want to see a lot of chevys I get Super Chevy, if I want to see old man fluff (no offense to the wiser folks here!) I get Hot Rod.

I understand that Hot Rod may be geared more towards drag racing, although CC blows it away in that aspect, I just find it so funny that they called PT dead, and are now trying to reinvent it!

[Bob Johnson]

As a mostly-continuous long-time subscriber, I've come to understand that no matter whatever other automotive directions that HRM may wander off into, its prime focus will always be the straight line/quarter mile. In that respect it's a perfectly good magazine - I'm not too picky about where any knowledge might come from, and there's at least a dollar's worth of that in any given issue. Not to mention that a little exposure to things outside one's own main direction of automotive interest is probably a good thing. Blinders are for horses.

In the meantime, I'll appreciate whatever PT/G-Machine oriented articles/pics/notes/etc., that make it to print. A quick scan of the December 05 issue does turn up quite a bit of relevant information.

I'm seeing worse trends in other magazines (which will remain nameless) - higher page counts with less technical content and formats aimed more as introductions to those with short attention spans.

Norm

I think the entry that Hot Rod Magazine made in the Challenge that all the magazines had X dollars to build a car to compete in several speed contests that included drag racing, auto cross or somethinghandling, braking etc..Ol Freiberger and crew built a dragster..he won the drag race but couldn't even show on the other parts of the competition....what kind of ignorant strategy was that? I think the bike won it..makes sense..Hot Rod seems to be hopping around trying to find something to hang their hat on..but i agree it is a much better mag than it was a few years ago..I did also renew at that ridiculously low rate..it's cheaper than Charmin at that price..a little slick and coarse though..damn I miss those Sears catalog index pages..they were fine..I wish PHR had half the staff, news stand locations ,etc as Hot Rod, Car Craft etc. they don't have a fighting chance..they do know what their focus is..G-machines..PT..only way to go..

[EPYON]

Well , the thing that Hot Rod Magazine forgot along with alot of other people is "THERE HOT RODS!!!" . Theres no such thing as a $50,000.00 hot rod , period . They lost there way ,it's like being a hard core biker with a $300,000.00 chopper and a silk jacket .I hope you guy's don't lose it to.

[Bob Johnson]

The politics suck indeed. As an insider, I know that Frieburger has done an amazing job of stealing the title back from the beancounters. Compare 2005 to the previous five years. That said, the Allen truck is a joke since it is way older than 2005 while the 29 is absolutely awesome.
Politics aside, the Toro is a great car built by real car people who stretched a frame, cut out floorboards and had to make everything work--Hollywood or not. So two out of ten very cool pro-touring cars is fine by me. Doesn't matter what you call em.

with Leno's pocketbook, General Motors engineers, Jays guys and a whole hoard of other California guys working on it, damn right they got it done..we'll invite Jay over to the Year One Challenge and see if that 4,000 plus # car qualifies as pro-tour..Not taking anything away from the Toronado, because I like it much better than his Buick or the 33 or whatever year Chevy Roadster he had at SEMA..but i don't see that Land Yacht pulling .9G on a skid pan..if he wanted to really impress, it shoulda had 4 wheel drive..with some traction control..he had all the big guns there to do it..now that would impress me..

[Bob Johnson]

with Leno's pocketbook, General Motors engineers, Jays guys and a whole hoard of other California guys working on it, damn right they got it done..we'll invite Jay over to the Year One Challenge and see if that 4,000 plus # car qualifies as pro-tour..Not taking anything away from the Toronado, because I like it much better than his Buick or the 33 or whatever year Chevy Roadster he had at SEMA..but i don't see that Land Yacht pulling .9G on a skid pan..if he wanted to really impress, it shoulda had 4 wheel drive..with some traction control..he had all the big guns there to do it..now that would impress me..

[trapin]

Hot Rod's ripping on Pro-Touring again eh? You guys have got to give them a break and understand that people eventually get old. And unlike people, so do inanimate objects like dishwashers, sub-pumps, air conditioning units, the roof on your house, and even magazines. You see....what we have here is a tired/old drag racing publication that is growing increasingly frustrated with a hobby that has passed them by. So they rebel against it. It's like trying to convince your 85 year old Grandfather that your state-of-the-art Rattle-Trap Gizzard Shad Lure is going to catch more Largemouth than his tried and true slip-sinker/worm and hook method. It's never going to happen. So don't let it bother you. The next time old Grandpa (Hot Rod) starts shootin' off at the mouth, you just smile and pretend you're listening. After all...this might be his last Christmas with us.

[Bob Johnson]

Hot Rod's ripping on Pro-Touring again eh? You guys have got to give them a break and understand that people eventually get old. And unlike people, so do inanimate objects like dishwashers, sub-pumps, air conditioning units, the roof on your house, and even magazines. You see....what we have here is a tired/old drag racing publication that is growing increasingly frustrated with a hobby that has passed them by. So they rebel against it. It's like trying to convince your 85 year old Grandfather that your state-of-the-art Rattle-Trap Gizzard Shad Lure is going to catch more Largemouth than his tried and true slip-sinker/worm and hook method. It's never going to happen. So don't let it bother you. The next time old Grandpa (Hot Rod) starts shootin' off at the mouth, you just smile and pretend you're listening. After all...this might be his last Christmas with us.

Hot Rod is not going anywhere..literally and figuratively..they still own the high performance magazine circulation numbers and no one is even close..you can subscribe for half of what PHR cost..they're on 10 times as many distribution points..and it isn't going to change..they're Primedias Flagship performance book and always will be..gotta love an underdog though

[Steve1968LS2]

<-- Being the underdog just keeps us on our toes

[trapin]

Hot Rod is not going anywhere..literally and figuratively..they still own the high performance magazine circulation numbers and no one is even close..you can subscribe for half of what PHR cost..they're on 10 times as many distribution points..and it isn't going to change..they're Primedias Flagship performance book and always will be..gotta love an underdog though

Bob.....the "last Christmas" thing was just a joke. I wasn't predicting that they were going anywhere only to make the point that no matter how hard they pump their Pro-Street fist into the air....nobody's really listening anyway.

[andrewb70]

For what its worth, the new issue of Hot Rod has talk of a Pro-Touring Showdown. It is to be an event similar to Drag Week and more details are to be announced later.

Andrew

[Bob Johnson]

<-- Being the underdog just keeps us on our toes

If being an underdog keeps us on our toes,, I missed my calling..should have been a ballerina..245# in a tutu....that'd back buzzards off a meat wagon..but holding those limber legged byatches with their crotch in my face sounds like it's worth the verbal abuse I'd get...put me in coach..I'm ready to play

[Castlesmith]

I like the mag's. I like car coverage for coverage's sake. The truth of the matter is I used to read Hot Rod and other Mag's to get information and see new things. We do that every day here and the need for the printed magazine is beginning to wane if not gone all together. If I want to see pictures of any car, or any possible combination of engine,tranny,forced induction or other mod, I dont go to the newsstand and scour the rack. I sit down at the computer and go to pro-touring .com and ask my friends. While I see the pic's I can talk "type" at the people who did the work and get information. The only thing better is being together at someone's shop with a full fridge.

Just my take on it!

[Derek69SS]

Maybe HotRod is just bitter that PTers make their "Power Tour" look like a cake-walk... remember when it first started, their coverage of the long-haulers was praising them that they built a car that could actually make it the distance, like it was nearly impossible to achieve...