Top 10 Musclecar & Pro-Touring Cities

[Taman]

The weather may suck in winter but I like the Chicago area in the summer. Every week from April till October there is at least 75 car shows and cruise nights within an hour of my house. I have traveled to other states and have never seen so many car cruises and shows every week.

[kochevy67]

The weather may suck in winter but I like the Chicago area in the summer. Every week from April till October there is at least 75 car shows and cruise nights within an hour of my house. I have traveled to other states and have never seen so many car cruises and shows every week.

I live here in Chicago and I can say one thing I don't know of any show in the city itself. I will say one thing there are shows but they are all in the burbs. While they may be good they aren't great. My vote goes to the Phoenix area.

[montessaj]

+1 For team Austin, TX. I live about 40 minutes north of Austin and there are car things to do EVERYWHERE in this area.

[showa]

Vegas.
Roads nearby aren't very fun but plenty of tracks nearby.
THINK Arizona without taxes and humidity...
SEMA
optima Ultimate
Some HOT conventions...

[asifnyc]

+1 for bay area overnight shipping from summit racing (out of reno, nv)

[MCMLXIX]

Vegas.
Roads nearby aren't very fun but plenty of tracks nearby.
THINK Arizona without taxes and humidity...
SEMA
optima Ultimate
Some HOT conventions...

+1

[SixD7]

Scottsdale AZ, you see almost every car imaginable on a weekly basis. Did anyone mention Barrett Jackson, Russo Steele & other auctions.

[lawbreaker2]

Cleveland, Ohio












Just kidding

[lawbreaker2]

Hey you can buy a house here for less than what some of you spend on a set of wheels.

[67 ls1 vert]

I would have to agree with AZ also, but the heat is pretty hot there in the summers.

I would have to say Southern Calif. Good weather most all the time.
Beach, snow, mountains, desert, all less than 2 hrs away.

[mike69cam]

I would say So. Cal...the Santa Monica Mtn roads (Mulholland Hwy)is a great place to drive...canyon roads..next to Pacific Coast Hwy (PCH)..Malibu, Santa Monica, Southbay Beach cities...Santa Barbara wine country has awesome roads to cruise. Central Cal has the best quality roads. And therea are a lot of car events...it's a year round affair.

[Nine Ball]

Here in Texas, Houston has by far the biggest car scene of any of the other cities in this state. Austin has the prettiest landscape in Texas, but their car scene severely pales in comparison.

[critter]

Nothing against Little Rock, but I sure don't agree with this one. I lived there a couple years. (Really, North Little Rock). Have relatives that live up near LRAFB. But, crime is HIGH in Little Rock, rated at the 3rd worst city in the US for crime. There are other issue, but between the heat/humidity and the crime I'm not a fan. I still have friends there, but was real glad to leave.

Give me a break. You're looking at 10 year old statistics. It's still not great due to the gangs in the hood but I think it's like 24 or 25 now. Try Memphis if you want to quote those kind of statistics.

Long story short, most of us don't live in the hood and have enough sense to stay out of harms way. I'm not painting Little Rock as a garden spot but if you live in the 'burbs and like cars, it's a decent place to live. The weather is pretty decent and the people treat you like family. The Ozark roads are fun to drive and there's a strong car community here. Like I said, the real draw back is no motorsports park.

Speaking of the hood, I'm happy to say that they're finally moving the State Fair Grounds out of that area. Word is a new venue will be up and running within a few years. That's good news on the car front because we need a place big enough to hold a HRPT type event and not drive through those neighborhoods.

[130fe]

Critter. sounds like things are getting better in LR. I lived in Jacksonville from 94-03 and the car scene was not the best. I grew up in Orlando so that what I based things like that on. What 1/8 tracks do you have now? I remember Centerville (1000 ft) and Memphis were the closests ones (@ 2hour drive). I went back for the PT in 07 and at least some of the roads were better. As for Crime, it is everywhere, no matter where you live. Logistically, the organizers of the PT could have done better, but its better than not having it at all. After having done the PT in 06 and 07, Little Rock wasn't the only city that could have done it "better".

I just retired out the AF in the Panhandle near Ft Walton Beach and the car scene was starting to do pretty well. You had the beaches and good weather throughout most of the year.

I am currently living in Eastern NM (CLovis) and I tell you that this is NOT the place for car stuff. At least Amarillo and Lubbock are within a 100 miles so we can at least have some of the "big city" niceties. We have a Wal-Mart........... Anyways, hope to make it back to FL or some other car place someday.

[wmhjr]

Give me a break. You're looking at 10 year old statistics. It's still not great due to the gangs in the hood but I think it's like 24 or 25 now. Try Memphis if you want to quote those kind of statistics.

Long story short, most of us don't live in the hood and have enough sense to stay out of harms way. I'm not painting Little Rock as a garden spot but if you live in the 'burbs and like cars, it's a decent place to live. The weather is pretty decent and the people treat you like family. The Ozark roads are fun to drive and there's a strong car community here. Like I said, the real draw back is no motorsports park.

Speaking of the hood, I'm happy to say that they're finally moving the State Fair Grounds out of that area. Word is a new venue will be up and running within a few years. That's good news on the car front because we need a place big enough to hold a HRPT type event and not drive through those neighborhoods.

Nope. I'm looking at current stats. It all depends on what "survey" you're looking for. I'll be honest - I don't care if a city is the 3rd worst or the 15th worst. It's still bad. And like I said, friends live there now. It's nothing new and I personally lived there as well. Frankly, my in-laws live 2 hrs outside of Little Rock and always have.

The problem with Little Rock is economics. If things don't significantly change, Little Rock is still in for some real hard times. LIke some other similarly sized cities with similar poor decision making some time ago that really hurt them as time has passed. Depressed economics has really fed a very strong criminal component in LR. Even more so than in many other similarly sized cities that are ALSO having economic woes.

Please don't take this personal. It's not a reflection of many of the fine people that live there. But it's just reality. The Ozarks are a heck of a long drive from LR. (BTW, I also agree Memphis has got some problems as well).

[wmhjr]

Here in Texas, Houston has by far the biggest car scene of any of the other cities in this state. Austin has the prettiest landscape in Texas, but their car scene severely pales in comparison.

Probably because no matter how pretty Austin is, you have a higher concentration of greenie, eco-centric folks. Austin is a strange place. I love visiting there once in a while and there are some cool events there. But sometimes it just seems like a small enclave of California transplanted in the middle of Texas.

[critter]

Like I said, it's not a garden spot but it's really improved. You left about the time we started ramping up on car events. The Little Rock Convention and Visitor's Bureau and the local clubs started working together at that point and it sure helps. There's still some "politics" withing the various clubs but most are on board and work together to put on some good events.

Centerville is one. Prescott is the other. Both dropped from 1000 foot to 1/8 mile at the request of the racers. It was too hard on them to set the car up for 1000 foot to race points locally and then turn it all on it's ear if they wanted to go out of state.

There has been a rumor of a road course being built by a private entity but I'll believe it when I see it.

BTW, did you know Dover Motorsports closed down Memphis? I loved that track but they're off the NHRA schedule for now.

[fordsbyjay]

This is an awesome thread. I live in south LA (Louisiana) and coming from a big city with a big scene it sucks here. Ever been to a car shoe with 1 or 2 cars? I have. The weather is nice in the winter but it rains all the freaking time and that is getting old. I have 3 years till my youngest graduates so I am looking for a change to make at that time.

Arkansas has to be one of the prettiest states I have ever seen. The lakes are so crystal clear it is amazing.I have never lived there but it would be close enough for me to continue working in north Louisiana.

Houston is so freakin massive it has to have a big car scene. It would just be a matter of statistics, where there are 7 million people there has to be a few hundred thousand cars there. However, after a weekend there I can't wait to get the hell out. Way too many illegals there.

Austin, I have never been there but have friends from there and always hear praise about how great it is.

Arizona sounds pretty interesting but I don't know what a guy would do for a job. I have relatives that go there in the winter and it would be much closer to Canada. I do know one thing, that dry 110° heat is a heck of better than 100/100 humidty.

The biggest thing I miss from Canada is decent lakes, boating and camping, and huge car shows. One thing about the northern cities is their car season is short so they go hard while they can.

[Bill Howell]

Pigeon Forge, Tn.

IMO, car mecca of the south with events here regularly. Weather can be hot in summer, but that is the south and that is why we have trees to look at.

Daytona, Florida.

My second choice, hotter, but good weather in the winter than PF.

I loved my recent visit to LA and look forward to returning there the end of the month. No one can say anything about the perfect weather. However, the government regulation kills it for me. Big Brother is too involved in the hot rodders business IMO.


In the OP post, weather was mentioned. Actually, if it is a true protouring car, the wipers should work and the car should not be afraid of a little rain, so I don't think rain is a negative.

[fordsbyjay]

Pigeon Forge is very nice in the summer as well. Never been there in the winter.

In the OP post, weather was mentioned. Actually, if it is a true protouring car, the wipers should work and the car should not be afraid of a little rain, so I don't think rain is a negative.

Heck I'll drive my T-bucket in a little rain. Two weeks of down pour is a different subject however. lol