When we introduced the Spectre cars yesterday, we joked that they were the stars of the show, but like any production, the real stars are behind the scenes.
Without the people of Power Tour, the cars would just be sitting around, leaking and rusting with no one to fix, drive or admire them.
Here are some of the main players in this year’s Power Tour. Bear in mind that this is just a list of a few of the people who have helped us make this possible, and who have joined us to drive this week. Our appreciation goes out to everyone.
Campbell Auto Restoration (CAR) should be a familiar name to any regular visitors to the Spectre blog. Mark Schwartz, Mark Frasier and Tom Dillard have done amazing work building Spectre cars like the Carbon Camaro and working out the bugs in some of our older builds.
Mark Schwartz has kept us all in stitches with his hilarious story-telling skills and dramatic reenactments. Don’t let his comic side fool you though, Mark has forgotten more about cars than many of us will ever know.
Mark Frasier is on the trip with his wife Bobbi. Mark and Bobbi are huge race fans, and have several very cool project cars of their own. Bobbi has been taking the wheel of the Green Camaro when we’ve been short on drivers, and Mark has had the crucial job of bringing up the rear in our caravan, usually in the Mach 1.
Tom Dillard brings some much needed calm to the fiery temperaments of the two Marks. Tom is never too busy to sit down and explain the tech specs on any of the Spectre cars and he’s also a very skilled chase-vehicle driver. It’s mostly thanks to Tom that we have such amazing photos from the road.
Our second married team on the road are Lance and Sherry Peltier. Lance is the genius behind the 2JZ Maverick, and he’s piloted it on every Power Tour since its inception. Lance has been invaluable on this trip both for his marvelous attitude and his brilliant navigational skills. Believe us, leading a train of eight muscle cars through the back woods of the south is no easy feat. Perhaps his day-job as a civil engineer has made him better equipped for figuring out highways?
Sherry just joined us in Indianapolis, but she’s already making herself a part of the team. Sherry can drive the f250 like it’s a race car, and she does it all while cheerfully cussing out any lane-invading drivers in a charming Texan accent.
Sherry also literally offered the belt off her jeans to our photographer, whose pants have been dangerously low-slung through most of our journey. Thank you Sherry, you have done the world a great service.
Another ray of sunshine on this trip has been Brittany Buchanan from International Aero Car Care. After meeting Brandy at a Good Guys event, Brittany offered to ride along on Power Tour to help keep the cars clean. We’re not sure if she knew what she was getting in to! Besides detailing cars in 100 degree weather, Brit has also been roped in to driving the F250 for the first half of the trip, where she has impressed everyone with her quick learning and natural talent as a driver.
Our final guest long haulers are Rick and Mary Dobbertin. The Dobbertin name may be new to the Spectre blog, but any of you hot-rodders out there ought to recognize it. Rick’s extreme automotive creations have been featured numerous times in magazines like Hot Rod and Car Craft, and he’s currently working on an amphibious car project. We shouldn’t have to explain to you why he and Amir are friends.
Amir and Rick share more than just the refusal to accept the phrase “can’t be built”. The two men have spent much of this trip swapping jokes and arguing over who tells them better, and who told them originally to the other. None of the jokes can be repeated here.
Obviously the Spectre crew is a big part of Power Tour. Amir and Dusanka are riding with the caravan, but the real heroes of this trip of the folks on the rig.
Mike, Brandy and Lisa Morrow, along with truck drivers, Guy, Steve and Lee not only have to drive the hundreds of miles between venues, but they have to do it every evening as soon as the show ends. While the caravaners are relaxing at dinner, the rig crew is already packed up and on their way to the next state, where they set up all over again. It’s an exhausting schedule, and every booth crew on Power Tour deserves a shout-out for the work they do.
Along with our Long Haul gang, we’ve also been joined by several guest drivers and customer cars. Keep an eye out in our photos for the Kooks (Jaime and Sonja), Karl C. and the guys from Pep Boys. It’s a pleasure having their company.
