[1]Larry Callahan of Pro-Touring.com wheels his Camaro called "MotiV8r" at RTTC 2010.
We love seeing gearheads find new ways to race old cars, and the Pro-Touring movement is becoming a staple in finding a way to keep old iron out where it belongs; on the track! For those that are seriously addicted to Pro Touring there is almost a self governed group that is in charge of creating events across the country, and a lot of them hang out at ProTouring.com [2].
These events are held all across the country and revolve around cruises, autocrossing, road course racing, and start/stop challenges. Bill Howell is one of the organizers of the first big event of 2011 called “Run To The Coast.” He stated that it will be held February 25-27, 2011 at El Toro Field in Irvine, California and that the event is limited to 60 entries per day. Only one week after opening registration for it, all slots were completely filled! Any year of car is allowed to attend, but only 1981 and older cars get to compete for prizes and bragging rights about being “King of the Coast.”
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This is also the first event of the year that Team T/A contingency money is paid out. Team T/A is comprised of a number of sponsors relevant to the Pro Touring world and awards competitors in the various components of the events.
Over the past several years the trend towards “pro touring” has evolved a bit, but in essence a Pro-Touring car is one where the goal is to build the abilities of a modern Corvette into something much older.
We’ve all seen the cars at shows with big wheels that were more “show than go”, but in the world of Pro-Touring it’s about doing both well. It’s kind of a combination of the original Trans-Am series combined with modern day car building.
This trend has led to the success of great companies like Ride Tech [4], Hotchkis [5], Detroit Speed [6], etc., all of which specialize in designing modern day suspension for your old car. It’s become so popular that it is now common place to see an autocross course at nearly every Good Guys car show, and EVERYONE is invited to run!
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