We chatted with NRCA’s president, Gary Hedman, a little bit about the history of the cruise. He told us how they were once at a car show that was some distance of a drive away from home. The only thing they remembered about that car show was sitting behind their hot rod in some fairgrounds in the hot, humid weather and generally sweating the whole weekend. But, they did remember how much fun they had driving to and from that show. From that weekend, the idea of Tour Nebraska sprung to life and their first tour brought in 76 cars and they have grown over the last 23 years. 2014’s car count was just over 300. This year broke all their records with over 425 vehicles hitting the back roads of Nebraska for a weekend of doing what you are supposed to do with your hot rod, drive them!

Tour Nebraska’s premise is pretty simply. The NRCA picks a town to start and end both days. That way you only have one hotel room to worry about. Each day’s cruise is a big loop ending back where you started. The pick a different town to start in each year. They stay off the busy highways and out of the big towns on the route, sticking to the two lanes and small towns that dot the great plains of Nebraska. There are really only two rules of the Tour. First, you have to be a member of the NRCA. That was simple, we just signed up. Second, the car you bring must be at least 30 years old to join the tour. No modern stuff allowed.

Our first gallery of pictures from the 2015 Tour is at the Friday night kick-off party. We will have other galleries from each day of the tour from our midwest contributor Scott Liggett snapped a bunch for us.