For the second year in a row, I was privileged to attend the No Coast Large Cars Truck Show held in Britt, IA on Labor Day weekend. This year the event landed on the dates of September 3-5, 2021. It was once again held at the Hancock County Fairgrounds located southeast of Britt, IA. For those of you who have never been to this part of Iowa, it’s what you see all over the Midwest. It’s beautiful and rural, with plenty of agriculture, and endless fields of corn and beans, occasionally dotted with wheat and clover fields. You will also see livestock farms with cattle and hogs. Because it’s predominantly a farming and agricultural area, there are tons of grain haulers, livestock relocators, and small fleets of trucks at this show.
As with all truck shows, there can be challenges. Once again, weather played a big factor throughout the weekend. I arrived in Garner, IA just east of Britt, where I stayed at the Garner Inn for the weekend. The weather was pleasant when I arrived, but by Friday it started raining, and continued until Saturday. It was a steady rain that soaked the show grounds and surrounding area.
By noon on Saturday, the rain had subsided, but the truck show grounds were saturated and muddy. The drive into the show grounds was nothing but thick, black mud. The situation was aggravated with trucks coming into the truck show field. JR Schleuger and his team from Lifetime Nut Covers jumped into action to improve the situation by firing up an end loader and spreading gravel. After spending a couple of hours spreading the gravel, he was able to get the driveway passable into the event.
By late Saturday afternoon, the clouds cleared out, the sun came out, and a brisk westerly wind kicked up. The problem with all the mud from the show field is that a lot of the mud got transferred to the county road that runs parallel to the fairgrounds. Once the wind picked up and the sun came out, the mud quickly turned into dust and covered the show field. All the food and show vendors were parked right beside this road. The dust became a problem for many of the vendors and, more importantly, the trucks, that were trying to stay clean for judging. It became a major challenge for them throughout the weekend. The proverbial silver lining this year was we didn’t have the high winds experienced at the 2020 show.
As a side note, the brisk wind after the rain was a challenge for me and the 10-4 booth, too. I unfortunately did not have the 10-4 Magazine canopy secured as good as it needed to be. While I was away and taking photos of the trucks, a wind gust lifted the canopy off the ground, and it started rolling across the grounds. Thankfully, there were vendors close by who saved our canopy from destruction. They were kind enough to stand the canopy back up and did a very good job of securing it so it would not blow away again. Thanks to Jay with Big Rig Tees and Travis with Stohr Construction for saving the day. Lesson learned – use the proper canopy weights or water-filled buckets to secure the big red pop-up during windy conditions at a truck show!
Another challenge in both 2020 and 2021 is the Hancock County Fairgrounds shares two events over the Labor Day weekend. In addition to the truck show, located on the north side of the grounds, the Britt Draft Horse Show was also happening on the south end. With both events occurring at the same time, it presented some challenges, with the biggest ones being the parking situation and all the traffic moving in and out of the fairgrounds for both events.
As I’ve stated before in articles I’ve written, food vendors are a vital part of any successful truck show. The No Coast Large Cars Truck Show had many different vendors that provided food trucks and a good selection of food for the show participants and attendees. These food vendors (and the faire they provided) were Cedar Valley Seminary (sandwiches), Mama Dee’s (Mexican food), Gran D’s (popcorn), Smokee Heights (BBQ), and Woody’s (hot dogs). I love Mexican food and good BBQ, so I sampled the food from Mama Dee’s and Smokee Heights. I can attest that their food was excellent, and I ate from both trucks all weekend. Most of the vendors served food either until the end of show Sunday evening or whenever they ran out of food. It’s easy for these vendors to pack up and leave after the awards are passed out, but they stayed until the very end, which was nice.
Along with the great food options, there were also many vendors at the show. Those vendors included 4 State Trucks/Chrome Shop Mafia, AIH Chrome, AMCAN Truck Parts, Big Rig Tees, Big Rig Chrome Shop, BLT Chrome Shop, Commercial Services, Ennis Corp., Howard Precision Metal, IMT Transport, Iowa 80 Group, JJEL Trucking LLC, K3 Farms, Largecar Magazine, Lifetime Nut Covers, Midwest Dirt Works, PKY Truck Beauty Championship/Louisville, Red Power Team, Roadsknz, Rockwood, Tifco Industries, The Legion Bar & Grill, Valley Chrome Plating, and last but not least, 10-4 Magazine.
Along with financial support, several of these vendors and sponsors provided door prizes and products that were either for sale or given away at the truck show. The biggest contributor and the business that plans and organizes the No Coast Large Cars Truck Show is JR Schleuger with Lifetime Nut Covers and his hard-working staff. I spoke to JR at the beginning of the show who said he and his staff worked until 5:00 am every morning the week leading up to the truck show to get it all ready.
All this background information is important and nice to know, but the true focus of this report is the trucks and people who brought them to this event. There were well over 100 bobtails and combos at this truck show. The fleet with the largest presence was IMT Transport out of Garner, IA. With a total of 14 trucks registered and entered in the show, IMT has many nice KWs and Peterbilts in their fleet, including some sharp W900 A model Kenworths. Another fleet very well represented at the show was TraLo Inc. of Owatonna, MN, which had several highly customized trucks in attendance. One other nice small fleet of trucks (five of them) was Giza Contracting of Creston, IA. Keaton Giza’s black heavy haul Peterbilt was featured in 10-4 Magazine in 2020, and they just completed a very sharp blue one, this year. Other small fleets with several trucks participating in the show were Figanbaum Trucking, Jaeschke Trucking, and Lambrecht Trucking.
One of the highlights of the No Coast Large Cars Truck Show is the Saturday night light show, which is a judged event. I had the opportunity to walk the entire show field to video this event. It never ceases to amaze me how creatively the owners of these trucks install lights on their equipment to make them shine so brightly. The lights on these rigs lit up the northern Iowa sky! I often wonder what it would be like to see this light display from an airplane above the show. I have seen video taken from a drone, and it’s always very cool to see the light show from an overhead view.
The awards for this event are always First Class. There were class award winners in 3 categories – bobtail, combo, and other. IMT Transport generously provided $1,500 in cash for the Best of Show Bobtail and Best of Show Combo awards. The Best of Show Bobtail winner was Brent Hall out of North Mankato, MN with his 2014 Peterbilt 386. The Best of Show Combo winner was Tanner Lambrecht of Long Prairie, MN with his 2004 W900 Kenworth. Another award given out this year for the first time was the 10-4 Magazine “Best of the Best” pick. This year’s winner was Tanner Lambrecht with his 2004 orange and blue W900 Kenworth hooked to a Wilson Cattle Pot. Congratulations to Tanner for winning the 10-4 Magazine trophy, which also comes with a feature story in a future edition of 10-4, along with the Best of Show Combo award!
One of the personal benefits I get from attending these shows is the friends I’ve made along the way and the new people I meet. At this show, I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Travis Stohr of Stohr Construction. He had a booth next to the 10-4 booth and made some cool engraved wooden plaques. I also met Flannel Phil who is an artist, polisher, YouTube sensation, a Dixxon shirt fan, and a solid Christian (he was also featured in our January 2021 issue). I had the pleasure of meeting his family, as well. Finally, I met Jeremy Gouge, the President of IMT Transport. He and I had a great conversation and I discovered we had a lot in common, as we are both former football players that played the same position. He also shared some of the history of IMT Transport and his family. It was an interesting and informative conversation!
JR, Nicky, and the entire Lifetime Nut Covers staff once again planned, organized, and put on another great No Coast Large Cars Truck Show in Britt, IA. It was a well-attended event, and every year the quality of equipment that participates seems to get better.
Northern Iowa is universally known for farms, farmers, corn, soybeans, and livestock, but in the truck show world, it’s best-known for Lifetime Nut Covers and the No Coast Large Cars Truck Show. Let’s all hope and pray that Labor Day weekend 2022 brings perfect early fall weather for this event – and no rain or mud. After the past two years of struggles, everyone involved with this truck show certainly deserves it! And this year’s winners were…
BOBTAIL (1994 & OLDER): 1st Colin Rodgers of TraLo in Owatonna, MN – 1980 Kenworth A-Model; 2nd Matt Schleuger of Matt Schleuger Trucking in Wesley, IA – 1993 Kenworth K100E; 3rd Ty Gardner of IMT Transport in Britt, IA – 1976 Kenworth W900A.
BOBTAIL (1995-2005): 1st Jake Robak of Robak Auto Transport in Long Prairie, MN – 2004 Peterbilt 379X; 2nd Carrie Sorenson of E&E Beshey in Britt, IA – 2005 Peterbilt 379; 3rd Alex Schleuger of Schleuger’s, LLC. In Britt, IA – 2005 Kenworth W900L.
BOBTAIL (2006-2014): 1st Brent Hall of Hall’n Transport, LLC. In North Mankato, MN – 2014 Peterbilt 386; 2nd Clinton Schutjer of Schutjer Trucking in Woden, IA – 2006 Peterbilt 379; 3rd Pat Hoffman of Pat Hoffman Trucking in North Mankato, MN – 2014 Peterbilt 389.
BOBTAIL (2015 & NEWER): 1st Shannon Lique of 7 Aces Trucking in Medford, MN – 2022 Peterbilt 389; 2nd Keaton Giza of Giza Contracting in Creston, IA – 2019 Peterbilt 389; 3rd Damon Kuper of Commercial Services in Burt, IA – 2015 Peterbilt 389.
COMBO (1994 & OLDER): 1st Don Warneke of Greenbelt in Hampton, IA – 1988 Peterbilt 379; 2nd Jesse Lambrecht of Lambrecht Trucking in Long Prairie, MN – 1985 Kenworth K100; 3rd Bill Stout (Smurf) of IMT Transport in Klemme, IA – 1983 Peterbilt 379.
COMBO (1995-2005): 1st Tanner Lambrecht of Lambrecht Trucking in Long Prairie, MN – 2004 Kenworth W900L; 2nd Travis Wetzel of H.I.R. Trucking, LLC. in Owatonna, MN – 2000 International 9900i; 3rd Spencer Mann of Mann Trucking in Chester, SD – 1999 Peterbilt 379.
COMBO (2006-2014): 1st Jacob Bonham of Tri State in Joaquin, TX – 2007 Peterbilt 379 Legacy; 2nd Cody Jaeschke of Jaeschke Trucking in Fort Dodge, IA – 2012 Kenworth W900; 3rd Riley Leber of Leber Ag Service in Vale, SD – 2006 Peterbilt 379.
COMBO (2015 & NEWER): 1st Matt Strottman of Figanbaum Trucking in Sumner, IA – 2020 Kenworth W900; 2nd Alex Strottman of Figanbaum Trucking in Readlyn, IA – 2020 Kenworth W900; 3rd Mike Davidson of Shimon Trucking in Rolfe, IA – 2019 Peterbilt 389.
LOCAL BOYS: 1st Clinton Schutjer of Schutjer Trucking in Woden, IA – 2006 Peterbilt 379; 2nd Scott Turnbull of Turnbull Trucking in Nora Springs, IA – 2013 Peterbilt 389; 3rd Jason Verbrugge of DLV Trucking in Britt, IA – 2019 Peterbilt 389.
LIGHTS AT NIGHT (BOBTAIL): 1st Jake Robak of Robak Auto Transport in Long Prairie, MN – 2004 Peterbilt 379X; 2nd Clayton Daiskill of C&C Logistics in Montgomery, TX – 2018 Kenworth W900L; 3rd Damon Kuper of Commercial Services in Burt, IA – 2015 Peterbilt 389.
LIGHTS AT NIGHT (COMBO): 1st Mike Davidson of Shimon Trucking in Rolfe, IA – 2019 Peterbilt 389; 2nd Tanner Lambrecht of Lambrecht Trucking in Long Prairie, MN – 2004 Kenworth W900L; 3rd Nate Klett of E&E Beshey in Garner, IA – 2016 Peterbilt 389.
FARTHEST TRAVELED: Doug Shewmaker of Mercer Transport in Fuquay Varina, NC – 2020 Kenworth W900L (1,191 miles).
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: Jake Robak of Robak Auto Transport in Long Prairie, MN – 2004 Peterbilt 379X.
BUTCH SCHLEUGER MEMORIAL TROPHY: Rory Dillon of TraLo in Owatonna, MN – 2004 Kenworth W900.
MR. CLEAN AWARD: Jacob Bonham of Tri State in Joaquin, TX – 2007 Peterbilt 379 Legacy.
10-4 MAGAZINE’S “BEST OF THE BEST” PICK: Tanner Lambrecht of Lambrecht Trucking in Long Prairie, MN – 2004 Kenworth W900L.
LIFETIME’S CHOICE: Alex Strottman of Figanbaum Trucking in Readlyn, IA – 2020 Kenworth W900.
BEST OF SHOW (LIMITED MILEAGE): Rory Dillon of TraLo in Owatonna, MN – 2004 Kenworth W900.
BEST OF SHOW (BOBTAIL): Brent Hall of Hall’n Transport, LLC. In North Mankato, MN – 2014 Peterbilt 386.
BEST OF SHOW (COMBO): Tanner Lambrecht of Lambrecht Trucking in Long Prairie, MN – 2004 Kenworth W900L.
