Celebrate 100 Years of Route 66 & America’s 250th!

HOT ROD POWER TOUR & HOT ROD DRAG WEEK. THE SUMMER’S ULTIMATE ROAD TRIPS ON THE LEGENDARY HIGHWAY Plan Your Trip Now For Route 66 in 2026!

(LOS ANGELES) March 18, 2026 — This year the mighty HOT ROD Power Tour in June and the highly competitive HOT ROD Drag Week in September are celebrating 100 years of America’s favorite highway.

The two wildly popular traveling events will hit several stops along Route 66 in 2026.

Chevrolet Performance Parts Presents the HOT ROD Power Tour is America’s largest traveling car show, showing off more than 6,000 cars and trucks of all years, makes, and models for tens of thousands of automotive enthusiasts and fans.

Here’s more information:

HOT ROD POWER TOUR 2026 SCHEDULE:

Kickoff / Day 1: June 8 – Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, IL
Day 2: June 9 – Village of Rantoul, Rantoul, IL
Day 3: June 10 – World Wide Technology Raceway, St. Louis, MO
Day 4: June 11 – Missouri State University, Springfield, MO
Day 5: June 12 – Tulsa Raceway Park, Tulsa, OK

Registration for the 2026 HOT ROD Power Tour is open! All event details and registration information is available now, visit hotrodpowertour.us.

The 22nd annual HOT ROD Drag Week is the world’s toughest competition to find the ultimate street-legal drag car puts competitors through a grueling test over five days of action-packed drag racing, requiring racers to drive their vehicles on a specified route from city to city, approximately 1,000 miles, while securing the quickest possible elapsed time across the five days.

HOT ROD DRAG WEEK 2026 SCHEDULE:

Tech Inspection, Registration, Test ‘N’ Tune – September 13 – Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, IL
Day 1: September 14 – Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, IL
Day 2: September 15 – Byron Dragway, Byron, IL
Day 3: September 16 – Cordova Dragway, Cordova, IL
Day 4: September 17 – World Wide Technology Raceway, St. Louis, MO
Finals / Day 5: September 18 – Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, IL

For more information on HOT ROD Drag Week, visit hotrod.com/hot-rod-drag-week;

or connect on Facebook: facebook.com/hotrodmag; X: x.com/hotrodmagazine; and

Instagram: www.instagram.com/hotrodmagazine, and also use #hotroddragweek.

About HOT ROD®

HOT ROD has been the most recognized brand in the world of high-performance cars since the iconic American magazine was founded in 1948. Today, the authoritative HOT ROD media footprint includes the HOT ROD Network, consisting of digital, print, and social media. It also offers live events with market-leading HOT ROD Power Tour, Roadkill Nights, and HOT ROD Drag Week experiences. The world leader, HOT ROD brings readers content that simply cannot be seen anywhere else–the most amazing cars, the first scoop relating to happenings and product offerings in the world of performance.

About Hearst Magazines

Hearst Magazines, the world’s largest lifestyle media publisher, has a portfolio of more than 30 powerful brands in the U.S. that inspire and entertain audiences across all media platforms. Hearst Magazines’ print and digital assets reach 138 million readers and site visitors each month — 54% of all adults in the U.S., 52% of all Millennials and 49% of all Gen Z adults over the age of 18 (Source: 2025 comScore Multi-Platform© MRI-Simmons – 03/25/F24). The company publishes more than 200+ brand editions and 175 websites around the world.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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