Car shows: There’s row after row of automotive art carefully posed and polished to perfection. It’s just like walking through a taxidermists shop; the animals are cool to look at, but it just seems somewhat unnatural. The right place to view our beloved Camaros is in motion, rolling over good ol’ asphalt. This driving trend is sweeping the hobby, and the popularity of events like the Hot Rod Power Tour and the Year One Experience keep ratcheting up.
Four years ago Bill Howell, owner of the website www.Musclerides.com, his friend Steve Chryssos of Twist Machine, and Larry Callahan of www.Pro-Touring.com decided to start their own driving-themed event. What evolved was the Run Through The Hills (RTTH) held in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It takes place over a three-day-period and offers something for everyone.
Friday’s kick-off is a scenic cruise though the local Smokey Mountains, followed by a dinner get-together. Saturday is reserved for the most popular and pulse-raising event, the autocross, a twisting and turning course constructed of orange cones where drivers vie for the fastest lap times. On Sunday the action moves over to the local eighth-mile drag strip for some straight-line action. If none of this gets your heart rate up, then you can always go back to tire gel and lawn chairs.
In addition to awards for the fastest times at the autocross and drag strip, the organizers added an overall award dubbed “The King of the Hill.” Points are tallied from the two driving events, with additional credit awarded for the Friday night cruise. After all, these are supposed to be streetcars. This new overall prize added to the competitive yet friendly vibe of the event; still, the main point of this exciting three-day event was to scuff tires, burn gas, and have a blast.
 The Internet is nifty and...  The Internet is nifty and all, but it lacks real-life interaction. What makes this event so cool is the opportunity for those that have only typed words on a screen to each other to actually meet in person and check out one another’s rides.
|  Friday night’s opening salvo...  Friday night’s opening salvo was a 40-mile cruise through the rolling hills around Pigeon Forge, TN; home of the Smokey Mountains. The sky threatened rain, but aside from a few sprinkles it was clear sailing for the 68 cars that made the cruise. At the halfway point everyone stopped for dinner and some bench racing around the cars gathered in the parking lot.
|  The father and son team of...  The father and son team of Tommy and Payden Parker showed up to the event to run their F-bodies. Tommy’s ’73 recently was featured in our sister publication Chevy High Performance. Payden’s ’81 was a special order that had been stored since ’89 by his father. Tommy relayed, “I told him after graduation that if he could get it running and would take care of it, he could have it.” Adopt us?
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 The best part about going...  The best part about going on a cruise with a bunch of gearheads is that there’s plenty of help around if something goes wrong. Payton King rushed to get his ’69 Camaro ready for the event, but his belt decided to jump ship during the cruise. It wasn’t long before everyone, led by Frank Sefarine of Prodigy Customs, did some roadside “MacGyvering” and got the Camaro up and running.
|  Saturday is all about the...  Saturday is all about the autocross. The festivities started promptly at 7 a.m. with over 50 cars signed up to dodge cones. As is typical of any event, a good percentage of the cars in attendance were Camaros.
|  Ryan Jarrad ditched his street...  Ryan Jarrad ditched his street rollers for a set of super sticky Kumho track tires. He couldn’t be in the running for the awards due to the lower-than-acceptable treadwear rating, but he was there to have fun. His ’01 Camaro knocked down a best run of 35.391 seconds.
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