The results are in! And it turns out that the 4th Annual CrateEngineDepot.com Sport Compact Meet was a resounding success! As we all know, it’s the people that make up a community, and luckily we have tons of great people that make up the GM small car family – and apparently some that have a little bit too much free time and access to tons of blue painter’s tape! Hit the jump and check out the mischief and fun that went down at CED this past weekend.

The party started with some good ole fashion drag racing Friday night at the Great Lakes Dragway. This was the first time at a drag strip for quite a few Cobalt owners who were anxious to lay down the best passes possible to show they had the goods before Saturday’s beauty pageant. One of the most notable passes of the night was by a 70 year old veteran who had not raced in over 50 years. That fact surprised a lot of those in attendance though because he was able to pull off a .089 reaction time and hit 14.1 through the whole 1320. Quite impressive indeed for 50 years of dust to shake off! You can check out all of the great shots of Cobalts taking on some classic drag cars in our image gallery at the bottom.

On Saturday, the festivities made their way over to Rockenbach Chevrolet which was the official gathering point of the meet. One of the best things about a large meet like this is being able to check out all of the unique modifications each person has done to their cars, and boy was there ever an eclectic range of ideas on display at Rockenbach. Everything from a Batman-inspired HHR and a Cobalt with Italian Police livery to lambo doors and grand sport stripes. The customization didn’t stop there either as the blue painters tape was out in force and even completely covered a Cobalt’s hood, which was good because it served as a message board to display some very descriptive and seemingly very important information about a few owners at the show (you can check that image out in the gallery and see if you can spot all of the not-so-subtle notes).

Something really exciting about this year’s show was the vast distances that owners came from. There were Cobalts from as far away as California, Florida and New York that made an appearance which only means one thing… The ION, SKY, Solstice and HHR groups need to step it up for the fall show! For those that did make it out, there were special gifts and deals available from GM Performance Division and GM Performance Parts. Never one to miss an event, Bill Duncan from GMPD was on-site to answer questions and bounce ideas off of which he seemed to never stop doing all day long.

If you couldn’t make it out to Rockenbach Chevrolet for the event, don’t fret. We have almost 60 pictures documenting the weekend that you can thumb through in our gallery below. Do you see your car in the coverage shots? Give us a shout below and let us know who you are!

The 2010 HOT ROD Power Tour has been good to the entire GM Performance Division team. The GMPD guys met some of the most passionate and dedicated car people in the country straight from day one of the tour. Some of who even took the time to stop by the GMPD display to say “thanks” for coming back to the tour for 2010. This gesture meant the world to everyone that manned the GM presence at the tour as these guys are serious about performance and even more serious about taking care of people.

The final stop of the 2010 HOT ROD Power Tour was in Mobile, AL. After eight days of traveling and seeing an eclectic variety of hot rods, one model in particular was the most prevalent among the group. Can you guess which one? If you said 1957 Chevy Bel Air Coupe, sorry, you’d be dead wrong. However, if you guessed the 2010 Chevy Camaro, you’d be right on the money! The 5th-gen Camaros came out in force throughout the tour and those that didn’t have one got the chance to sit in one of the models on display to gauge for themselves if the champion muscle car was a right fit for them – most of them couldn’t stop drooling so we just chalked those up as a yes.

Traversing (gotta love the GM model pun) the over 1400miles of the tour from start to finish, the whole GMPD is all smiles after spending time with America’s finest automotive enthusiasts. Day eight of the tour ended on board the WWII Battle Ship, Alabama, for the final awards ceremony. On board the ship, a 2010 Indy Pace Car-replica Camaro was given away as well as two GM Performance Parts Crate Motors that were sure we’ll see back next year stuffed under the hoods of a couple hot rods.

Straight from the mouth of GM Engineer Bill Duncan, “What a thrilling end to wonderful tour experience.” Aptly put Bill.

On behalf of all of us here at GMTunerSource.com and on behalf of the guys and girls at GM Performance Division, we’d like to thank everyone that participated in the 2010 HOT ROD Power Tour. And for those that didn’t make it out to one of the stops, what’s wrong with you?! And we expect you front and center on day one at next year’s tour.

In the meantime, feel free to peruse through our final gallery of images from day 7 & 8 of the 2010 HOT ROD Power Tour below:

As anyone who has ever been to Alabama in the summertime would have known, Day 6 of the HOT ROD Power Tour was a scorcher! A little heat isn’t enough to scare away car enthusiasts though, so they did what any self-respecting gearheads would do – they held an autocross session. With a first place prize of $1,000, you'd better believe a lot of guys and girls tossed their hats into the ring. In total 157 cars but you’d never guess who finished 11 out of the pack.

You may remember Tommy Kiedis, who we met a few days back. He owns a barebones-factory-not even the owner’s manual removed-stock 2006 Cobalt SS Supercharged and has never placed himself or his car on an autocross grid before. As many Cobalt SS owners know, the Cobalt is a true performer and where it lacks in other areas it makes up for in just raw performance ability. With some amateur hotshoe action from Tommy behind the wheel, his Cobalt was able to make its way into the top 10 out of 100. By the time all 157 cars had left their tread on the track, Tommy was able to come away with an 11th place finish! After such a strong finish, GM Engineer Bill Duncan had a heart-to-heart with Tommy and let him know that if he would step up to the LSJ Stage 2 kit and Option B intercooler setup, he could have easily come away with a much higher position. Tempting words for Tommy and advice that we hope he takes right to his dealer so he can see what the rest of the Cobalt community has been clamoring about for the past few years.

Motor Medic report – 25 cars on Day 6 alone! Great job guys!

The final stop is in Mobile, AL. The 2010 HOT ROD Power Tour is coming to a close so let’s see what awaits at the close of this seven day madhouse of hot rodder heaven!

Pictures of the Day 6 are below so check them out.

The HOT ROD Power Tour keeps on moving along and for day 5 of the tour, Chattanooga, TN is the destination. The first couple days of the Power Tour was mired with rain and clouds but Chattanooga brought out the sun for the convoy of hooked up rides that follow the tour from city to city. There are some amazing cars at this stop, like every stop, but in TN a restored, flat back drop-top with suicide doors and an LS1 stuffed under the hood made us drool. Check out the gallery for full details on that sick piece of metal.

One of the unique opportunities of catching up with the Power Tour is that the GM Performance Division always has the coolest items on display for gearheads to check out. One of those features is the very detailed cut-away and stock engines they have in the GMPD booth. For the Power Tour, GMPD has been showcasing a few of the top dog engines that hot rodders of any age will appreciate.

On display is an old style Z383 small block with a Holley carburetor for the old school and budget minded while a 572 cu in. is showcased for the Big Block fans. But what engine display would be complete without a LS9? That’s right, you can check out the mighty LS9 at the GMPD booth in all its supercharged glory. The LS9 is not for the power- or price-squeamish though as it commands $22,000 for all 600hp of its supercharged ponies – and that doesn’t even include the accessory drive, wiring harness or ECU. If that’s too rich for your blood, or your tires, you’re in luck as GMPP has an engine for every budget on display.

GMPD is also featuring the new E-Rod street package, which is a 100% California emission-compliant package and it comes bundled to a few of GMPP’s most popular motors including the LS3. As any novice knows, the LS3 has over 430hp and at only $9,400 for the entire package you might as well be stealing it – word around town is that if you ask your GMPP dealer nicely you’ll get a hefty discount off that price too.

We’d like to give a special callout to Keith & Donna Kenney who have been participating in the HRPT since year 3 and have made quilt from past year’s HRPT shirts. Now that’s dedication! Take a look at their masterpiece in the gallery below.

Be warned Birmingham, AL. The Power Tour is coming to you next!

Day 4 of the HOT ROD Power Tour brought the party to Bowling Green, KY. The show was held on the airport grounds so there was plenty of space for everyone to spread out and show off their rides. As a special treat, those participating in the tour got to take a tour of Corvette plant and the Corvette museum. There was also a decent share of oddballs at this stop that you’ll just have to check out the gallery to see.

One of the aforementioned oddballs was a car built by someone that who, let’s just say, has a very eclectic taste. This hot rod has street signs and license plates inside instead of floor boards and the entire vehicle has some deceased woodland critters affixed to various body panels and fixtures. The saving grace here is that this machine is powered by a 454 big block engine. That engine does use dryer ducts for fresh air inlets but what else would you expect from this creation?

The other featured ride is one called the “Lost Sol”. We don’t think this one is lost at all, but if it ever was, it wouldn’t take long to find the right way as its rear wheels are motivated by the mighty LS7. If we were to ever swap out the stout LE5 for an engine in a Solstice, we would have to agree that an LS7 would be a nice trade.

Motor Medics patients continued to flood in with repairs today. Jobs included fixing a LT1 engine in a Caprice wagon that was only running on 4 cylinders, setting an axle pinion gear clearance set, and even a few front spindle replacements.

Since the event was at an airport, and the show all about hot rods, it was only fitting that a 1929 Ford Tri-Power airplane touched down to take some attendees on a trip above the tour stop. Seeing the entire show from up high is a great way to really get some perspective on just how large this caravan of car enthusiasts is.

We have some great pictures from the event, courtesy of Bill Duncan, who is leading the GMPD charge at the HOT ROD Power Tour in his Synergy Green Camaro. Check out all of his shots below.

Day 3 – DuQuoin, Illinois. 325 miles from the start of the Power Tour. As anyone that has participated in a journey of this nature can tell you, you sometimes run into trouble on the road. However unlike cruises and rallies of yore, this voyage has saviors that tend to the flock of hot rodders and renders assistance to those in need. This knowledgeable and ever-giving team is made up of GM Performance Division’s best and is known as the “Motor Medics”.

If you were to call them out individually, this band of unsung heroes also go by Larry, Tim, Wayne and Bill. These guys live to serve and they serve free of charge to stranded motorists on the tour. As part of the Motor Medics team, they man the two Motor Medic trucks – which are cool enough in themselves to be in a car show. Gussied up with WWII-style medic truck livery these trucks mean business. In the 325 miles of the tour, the Motor Medics have performed countless rescue missions on hot rods of all kinds. A few of these missions include repairing a bolt that broke off in the head of Ford Cyclone, correcting an overheating issue in a classic Mopar station wagon, and welding an oil pan back together when someone made the mistake of leaving a jack stand underneath of their car while releasing the jack that was supporting it. To make sure they help every last person in need, this diehard team puts in over 14 hour days each day during the tour and our personal thanks and the gratitude goes out to them for their dedication.

In the ECOtec participant portion of the tour, Brian Lepree from Florida met up with the GMPD team in DuQuoin to show off his beautiful 2008 Sky Redline. Right now it’s a 100% stock SRL, but after some discussion with our buddy Bill Duncan, his next purchase will be part number 19212670 – the LNF Turbo Upgrade Kit. We’ve tried warning people about talking to Bill about the kit because once he starts talking in-depth about it, most people drive straight to the dealer to get it installed. So be wary that you may have to invest in new tires shortly thereafter.

Next stop… Bowling Green, KY! Hometown of the revered, respected and feared supercar – the Chevy Corvette.

Another day, another city for the HOT ROD Power Tour. Day 2 of the tour brought the celebration to Springfield, Illinois where the GM Performance Division met up with some new fans that have done some unique customization to their rides. Each different city brings out some new faces who come to check out what the tour is all about. Some even like what they see so much that they decide to finish the rest of the seven-day expedition with their new found friends.

First up on the new friends list are Bud McCuan and his son Brenton. They have a customized HHR Panel that they decided to pay homage to the Harley Davidson brand with. They did so by laying down custom paint scheme on the outside, real wood flooring on the inside with beautiful hand-laid pin-striping that adorns the entire tribute. Going on the HRPT is actually a high school graduation present for Brenton that he’s been looking forward to for some, and we can’t blame him as who wouldn’t want to embark on a seven-day, seven-city trek across the country with some of hottest cars in America. Notable mentions also go to a rare, purple AMC Pacer and supped up Chevy Vega that we think has seen its fair share of trips to the drag strip. Pictures of all of those vehicles can be seen been in the gallery.

The HOT ROD Power Tour is a journey and as such, not all the classic, tuned and tricked out vehicles make it the whole trip without experiencing some technical difficulty. However, GM Performance Division is not a group to ever leave a fellow enthusiast behind, so they created a special team dubbed the “Motor Medics”. This group’s task is to make sure that whoever starts the tour makes it all the way ‘til the end. We’ll have some more details on this hardcore team’s exploits tomorrow, including who they are and what they do to help their fellow car loving motorists while out on the road.

Check out all the pictures from Day 2 below and let us know if you’ll be stopping by any of the destinations of the HRPT in our comments section.

Last week we got word that famed race car driver and former Assistant Chief Director for Corvette and Director of the GM Performance Division John Heinricy would be driving around in a Cobalt SS Turbo that was fitted with the upcoming LNF Stage 1 kit. Upon hearing that, we reached out to you to send us questions that you would like to see John answer about his thoughts on the LNF Stage 1 kit. We compiled those questions and shot them over to John, who after spending some time getting to know the Stage 1 Cobalt SS better, answered them for the GMTS fans. We're excited to have John on here for you guys so without further ado, here is his take on the Cobalt SS LNF Stage 1 kit and answers to just about all of your questions.

We have been working with GM on some updates here for you on the Cobalt SS Turbo Stage 1. We know that all most of you want to know is WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE AVAILABLE?! I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your patience and continued support for GM during this waiting period - you have all been great.