TodayCustom truck fans converge on fairgrounds this weekend
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Article RatingDie-hard truck fans need not look far to rumble with the likes of Dragon Master, Warrior One and the Chrome Shop Mafia.
All three are featured attractions at the 17th annual All-Truck Nationals, presented this Friday through Sunday by Carlisle Events.
Almost 2,000 trucks are expected at the Carlisle Fairgrounds, including minis, big rigs, 4x4s and classic pick-ups both customized and stock.
The event has something for every truck lover, including a frame dragging session, monster truck shows and rides and a burnout contest sponsored by Bully Dog America.
New this year will be “how-to” seminars at the Pavilion, including “Used Veggie Oil to Diesel Fuel,” “How to Get Your Own Freight Broker's License” and “Axle Tech.”
Internationally renowned airbrush artist Mickey Harris will host how-to seminars and meet-and-greet sessions throughout the weekend to talk about several of his masterworks featured in the show.
Carlisle Events will showcase the Dragon Master, a big rig with more than 2,000 man hours of artwork and the Hero's Truck, a Chevrolet Silverado painted in tribute to American heroes that has more than $600,000 worth of detail, craftsmanship and custom work.
Other features include an example of work done by the Chrome Shop Mafia, big rig truck mechanics who “steal” the rigs of lucky truck drivers and customize them on the Country Music Television show, “Trick My Truck.”
Fans can meet the guys and see the latest creations from the Elizabeth Truck Center, which has built such trucks as The Beast, A-Plus and G-Unit that have dominated the big rig show circuit.
Those into music and sound systems can revel in the dB Audio Contest, which poses two vehicles head to head to see who has the loudest stereo, and the Bass Race - perfect for first-time competitors and street beaters.
Truckers can challenge friends and fellow spectators to see whose rig has more muscle at the Axcelerated Motorsports Dyno test sponsored by Bully Dog. Each contestants receives two pulls on the dyno to determine maximum horsepower and torque.
Rich Dallas is director of events management for Carlisle Events. He says the All-Trucks show has grown and evolved with the market.
“We have 150 more trucks over what we had this time last year,” he noted.
“This is an event where families can bring kids,” Dallas says. “There are a lot of activities a child can enjoy. All boys like trucks.”
Families can strap themselves into a monster truck for a “little cruise over the cars” or watch pros and amateurs snake their way through huge mounds of rock during the annual Rock Crawl event.
There is also a beauty contest, a high-low competition, a burnout contest and a frame dragging session.
Warrior One, a Hummer H1 that served CNN journalists embedded with U.S. Marines in Iraq, will be there as part of the Re/Max Tour for the Troops, which raises funds for severely injured service members.
This vehicle was used to report on coalition forces making the opening push by U.S. Marines from Kuwait to Baghdad in the spring of 2003.
Warrior One was purchased by Dave and Gail Liniger, cofounders of RE/MAX International, with a bid of $1 million at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in Scottsdale, Ariz., earlier this year.
The Hummer was then rebuilt on the Learning Channel's “Overhaulin'” program, with a new engine, new interior and a DVD player with six video screens.
The money, with an additional $250,000 from an individual bidding against the Linigers, went to the Fisher House, which builds “comfort homes” at major military and VA medical centers across the country.
Carlisle Events hosts 10 collector car, truck and motorcycle shows each year that drawing more than a half-million people each year to its 82-acre fairgrounds in Carlisle.
