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Looking Back on the 2023 Hot Rod Power Tour: The Dually’s Debut

Josh McPherson . September 26, 2024 . Events

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Finishing the Dually and Taking it on the 2023 Hot Rod Power Tour

I’m in the home stretch of this dually build and the 2023 Hot Rod Power Tour is quickly approaching. To recap the last 2 articles on this build I completely gutted the interior, the truck was repainted by Mirror Image Auto Body, I reassembled the interior with a ton of parts from LMC Truck, installed Dakota Digital gauges, painted the frame, installed Belltech’s 5/8 drop kit and finished up some motor work.

01. With all the messy work completed on the truck, it’s time to throw on the wheels for this build. I picked up a set of Alcoas from Lowboy Motorsports. These are 10-lug wheels, so I had to order 8-to-10 lug adapter.

02. Once you install the adapters, the wheels bolt right up. They then use a flat-face outer dually wheel and mill the inner dually wheel so you can tuck these rims within the dually fender with no major modification.

03. These wheels will rub, so you’ll need to roll the front fender lip and shave some of the dually fender lip to make them work. For the front fenders, I used a heat gun to warm up the paint and a rubber mallet to work the inner lip up. Once the wheels were installed, they completely changed the look of the truck!

04. Next it was time for Orien at The Window Tint Shoppe in Daytona Beach, Florida, to put the finishing touch on the exterior—the iconic Pace Truck decals.

05. Since I could not get my hands on a crew cab dually stripe kit for the Indy 500 Pace Truck, Orien designed and printed the stripe kit in house. He took his time to make sure the design and fitment of the stripes were as close to the original truck as possible, including using reflective vinyl.

06. The original trucks used reflective vinyl, but this type of vinyl has minimal stretch, so Orien had to meticulously work the stripes around the dually fender. It wasn’t an easy task, but he knocked it out of the park. Orien does plan on offering these stripe kits for crew cab dually trucks in the future. If you’d like to inquire about one visit TheWindowTintShoppe.com for contact info.

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07. While Orien was finishing up the decals and window tint, I worked on finishing up the interior by installing this beautiful hand-crafted AZA Auto Wheel steering wheel.

08. This is installed just like a factory GM steering wheel. Remove the retaining nut, pull the old steering wheel off with a puller, and install the new wheel, making sure to clock the steering wheel in the correct position.

09. Built from a factory steering wheel, it’s modified to have a flat bottom, ergonomic grips molded into the sides, and carbon fiber and leather wrapping. This steering wheel feels like it should be in a luxury sports car and is the perfect finishing touch for this dually.

10. Taking a step back, I could finally see my vision and months of hard work coming to an end. The Dually Pace Truck was complete. I didn’t have much time to enjoy the truck since we finished late Saturday and Lauren and I were leaving for the Power Tour the next morning. I washed the truck for the last time, packed it, and got some sleep. We were in for a very long week ahead.

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Day 1

The 2023 Hot Rod Power Tour started in Atlanta, and we planned on doing the whole thing. You can buy a “Long Hauler” pass if you’re doing the whole tour, but they were sold out by the time I went to purchase my ticket. I had to settle for a “Multi Day” pass, which gets you in all the venues, but you don’t get an awesome commemorative metal sign at the end of the week. But that wasn’t going to stop us from having a great time.

The drive up to Atlanta went great. We met up with Derek Bloom and Chad Anderson in Derek’s ’86 C10 on the way who will be our tour buddies for the week. We made it up without issue and checked into our hotel.

Atlanta Motor Speedway was awesome. The weather was great, there was autocross, drag racing, and later in the day there were parade laps around the track. We saw some truck friends and had a great time visiting. What a great venue to start the week.

I started to have voltage issues with the dually and discovered the voltage regulator in the alternator was going bad. There weren’t any local part stores that carried an alternator for this truck. Thankfully, Summit Racing was 15 minuets south. Derek and Chad ran to Summit while I set up at the hotel and pulled the old alternator off. At first, they got the wrong one, but after another run, they got the right one. We ended the day finishing the alternator replacement and hanging out in the hotel parking lot.

Day 2

Day 2, we met up with Joey VanDuser and Kenny Henderson riding in Joey’s ’78 C10, better known as PBR Truck. We drove on some beautiful Georgia and South Carolina backroads.

Then I bumped into Trevor Evans and his 1985 LS swapped C10 rolling on to the dyno. This squarebody is well known for the rolling burnouts while towing a matching vintage camper. He made a few solid runs and threw down a 772 horsepower and 630 lb-ft of torque on a street tune! Did I mention he has a big ‘ol turbo?

Day 3

Day 3 ended up being a bad day for Derek’s C10. A couple hours into the drive, his fuel pump gave out. The parts store didn’t have the fuel pump we needed, so Chad improvised a repair by cobbling together a fuel system using a cheap universal pump. It worked, and we were back on the road.

We got to Rockingham a little late. They were wrapping up the autocross, so we made a quick trip around the vendor section, got our cards punched, and rolled out. As a show participant, you get a card that you must get punched at every venue. If you’re a Long Hauler, you can turn that card in at the last venue and get your commemorative metal sign at the last stop.

We decided to make a proper repair to Derek’s truck in the hotel parking lot. Normally I get to have all the fun doing repairs, but Chad was having a blast, so I didn’t interfere. Chad wrapped up the fuel pump repair on the C10 and we called it a night.

Day 4

We started Day 4 by posting up at an abandoned gas station to watch the cars and trucks roll by. It was awesome getting to see the tour from a spectator’s view. Once we had our fill, we hit the road and met up with Joey, Kenny, Matt, Andy, and Chuck at a gas station and cruised to zMAX Dragway.

zMAX was a great venue. We got to watch some drag racing, see a bunch of vehicles, and I found a real Indy 500 Pace Truck on the tour. I was able to park the dually next to the truck and snap a few pics. I found the owner as well, John Dyke, and he told me he found the truck neglected and has been slowing rebuilding it. It was awesome seeing those two trucks next to each other.

Once we left the venue and checked into the hotel, we saw people posted up in their lawn chairs, cars were doing burnouts, and a band showed up and started jamming. Then there were cars doing burnouts next to the band! It was the best night of the tour.

Day 5

The route on Day 5 was going to be beautiful drive through winding mountain roads heading to Bristol, Tennessee. We met up with Derek, Chad, Joey, and Kenny for our convoy. I was excited to put my Belltech suspension to work. After a lot of traffic through some small towns, we made it to the twisties.

We arrived at Bristol Motor Speedway and had to walk down the steep embankment of the track to get to the main stage for our final punch of the week so the crew could get their Long Hauler plaques.

Remember how I didn’t get to register for a Long Hauler pass because they sold out? Once Joey heard this was my first time long hauling the Power Tour and I was going to walk away empty handed, he decided to give me his Long Hauler pass. I can’t thank him enough for that kind gesture. It’s something he really did not have to do and I will be forever grateful. Now I get to hang my new Long Hauler plaque in the shop and be reminded of this amazing trip.

This was hands-down the best event I have ever participated in. Everywhere you went it on the route was a car show, and the group we cruised with was awesome. Hotels, restaurants, gas stations full of hot rods, and what a great debut for the dually. Shout out to my Power Tour crew Derek Bloom, Chad Anderson, Joey VanDuser, Kenny Henderson, Matt Cooper, Chuck Bench, Andy Rankin, and (of course) my wife Lauren for coming along for the adventure.

Thank you to the sponsors and partners who came together to make this build happen.

Air Lift Company
AutoAura Paint
AZA Auto Wheel
Belltech Suspension
Clear Coat Solutions
Dakota Digital Gauges
The Dually Shop
Florida Paint Supply
Indasa Abrasives
LMC Truck
Lowboy Motorsports
Mirror Image Auto Body
The Window Tint Shoppe

Power Tour Specs

1,900 Miles Driven
$640 Fuel Cost
183 Gallons of Fuel
10.4 Miles per Gallon

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