On June 21-23, 2024, Kuhnle Bros. held their third Quebec styled uphill semi-truck drag racing event at Kuhnle Motorsports Park in Thompson, OH. Many improvements have helped this event to grow from the two events they held last year. For the year 2024, they have three events planned. Originally, they only had two planned, but after a big race in Canada was shut down by the government, the team at Kuhnle decided to plan a third race weekend.
In conjunction with the uphill truck drag racing, there was also a truck show. The truck show was put on by NAST, but there weren’t many trucks in attendance for this part of the event. With the Ohio Vintage Truck Reunion happening the same weekend, I am sure that affected this event, but regardless of that, there were still some cool trucks. I got there Saturday afternoon, June 22, wanting to focus on the truck show portion of the event that day, and I’m glad I did, because after the awards, everything was taken down and many who entered the truck show packed up and left. It could be in part because the temperature was in the mid-90s that day, and everyone was just baking on that asphalt.
I invited Chad Keegan to come out to the show and he showed up, along with his wife, with his 1983 KW K100. Ross Wright and his son Wyatt came out with their two new 2024 Peterbilt 389’s (Ross’ is gray and Wyatt’s is turquoise), both pulling their nicely polished pneumatic trailers. The Hartman family brought out their 2024 custom black Peterbilt 389 built by Dickerson Custom Trucks, called American Dream, and this amazing combo took home a lot of hardware.
Tony Huttenstine came out with his white 2005 Peterbilt 379, riding on a 280” wheelbase, with a large Double Eagle sleeper – one of the last ones ever built. This truck is called Casablanca, and it has some very unique features, especially in the sleeper, including a shower and sink, a convection oven, and a bed mounted lengthwise instead of the normal widthwise method (a smart use of space in an 80-inch bunk).
Sunday, the 23rd of June, was the last day of racing. This day featured the best of the best and y’all know some crazy stuff happens when these trucks run down the truck, many pulling a fully-loaded trailer – uphill! There was a lot of great racing action that day. Temperatures that day were in the upper 70s, and it was raining when I arrived. Thankfully, about a half hour later, the rain disappeared. However, as some of you know, the racing doesn’t stop for rain, which makes things even crazier, especially at the starting line.
Neal Dams (who was featured in our October 2023 edition) had a good weekend versus last fall at the Fall Brawl where he broke a yoke off the drive axle. At this event, Neal won the “Class C Loaded” class, and it just so happened to be his birthday, so what better way to celebrate. Happy Birthday Neal! Chops Hernandez came all the way from Texas and brought out a new truck and did well with it, coming in 2nd place in the “Class A Loaded” class. It was great meeting you, Chops, and I wish you plenty of success with your new truck. And, thankfully, Melvin Classen didn’t break any driveshafts during this event!
The very last race on Sunday was one of the most entertaining of the weekend. Lavern Zimmerman and Peter Wagg were racing, and then both trucks broke down halfway up the track. Lavern got out of his truck, looked at the damage, and then started running on foot toward the finish line. When Peter saw what Lavern was doing, he began running towards the finish line on foot, as well. Peter almost caught Lavern at the finish line, and it was a funny way to finish a long weekend of racing.
Kuhnle’s next uphill drag racing event and show will be the weekend fall begins on September 20-22, 2024 (the second uphill drag racing event was held August 2-4, so it has already passed). So, mark your calendar for the event in September! With fast, non-stop action, throughout the entire three day event, you won’t be disappointed.
Kuhnle has done their homework and made great updates to this event by adding shuttles to get you around the venue (tractors pulling wagons with school bus seats), plenty of great food vendors, and a beer garden. These events continue to get better each time, so don’t miss out on all the exciting fun! The racing winners for this event were:
CLASS A BOBTAIL: 1st Stephen Carano; 2nd Peter Wagg; 3rd Lavern Zimmerman.
CLASS B BOBTAIL: 1st Joe Baehr; 2nd Barclay Stewart; 3rd Kenton Meadows.
CLASS C BOBTAIL: 1st William Estrada; 2nd Donald Richter; 3rd Neal Dams.
CLASS C MECHANICAL BOBTAIL: 1st Josh Yoos; 2nd Ted Ellis; 3rd Melvin Classen.
FFA BOBTAIL: 1st Lavern Zimmerman; 2nd Wade Lalone; 3rd Marcus Ballentine.
CLASS A LOADED: 1st Peter Wagg; 2nd Chops Hernandez; 3rd Stephen Carano.
CLASS B LOADED: 1st Barclay Stewart; 2nd Joe Baehr; 3rd Justin Nevius.
CLASS C LOADED: 1st Neal Dams; 2nd Reg Lalone; 3rd Tammy Zimmerman.
CLASS C MECHANICAL LOADED: 1st Ted Ellis; 2nd Steven Householder; 3rd Greg Dean.
FFA LOADED: 1st Lavern Zimmerman; 2nd Stephen Carano; 3rd Chops Hernandez.
