It’s so nice when a truck show goes off without a hitch – at least not any we could see! On September 27-29, 2024, the 4th annual truck show hosted by CG and Ashleigh Soza and held, once again, at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock, CA for the second time. And it now looks like this will be the permanent home of the Soza Memorial Truck Show and Tractor Pulls. The weather this year was amazing, with cool and comfortable temperatures, a few large clouds off and on, and not a drop of rain in sight.
In case you are not familiar with CG and his story that created this show, back in 2016, CG’s wife and son AJ were killed in an auto accident while on their way to a tutoring class to treat his son’s dyslexia in the next county. CG himself had dyslexia and has worked hard to overcome it after being diagnosed in his teen years. Establishing the AJ Soza Dyslexia Foundation, this non-profit organization assists parents who can’t afford the travel and costs of dyslexia programs in Merced County in Central California, and this truck show raises money to support that cause.
Friday the trucks started pulling in and getting parked after entering under the 15-foot-long American flag being held up by two Cal Coast Crane rigs. You had to be there early to get the prime spots, but almost every one of the 115 total trucks got to park on the grass. Our full 10-4 setup, featuring the bright yellow 1962 Peterbilt show truck owned by Maggini & Son Trucking and piloted by our friends and supporters Roger and Annette Ghidelli, hooked to our TFK show trailer, found a nice home in the corner of the main grass lot. The “10-4 Lounge” area became a popular hangout for many at the show, and our blow-up “Betsy” cows, which we brought to help promote our upcoming Trucker Rodeo event, really stole the show!
Just outside the main parking area, in a paved area, Central Valley Transport kept all their rigs lined up together, which included three bright red tankers and six heavy haul transporters. Besides CVT, the lot was filled with many of the popular west coast fleets such as North Coast Wine, Silva Trucking, Robert Vaz Trucking, Commodity Transport, and Double E Trucking. Not to be outdone, Hildebrand Trucking brought about 10 beautiful Peterbilts to the show. A few of the smaller outfits that also stood out included Prime Towing, Supreme Auto Carriers, Coxe Trucking, American Crane, and Carballo Transport, who, if you remember, took Best of Show at the first Soza show held in Merced, CA.
Many returning vendors and a few new ones included Mid-Valley BBQ, EL Comalon, Crush It Lemonade, Shaved Ice, The Beer Garden (which served Pro Mix 559), Aiko Ramen and Sophia’s Kitchen. Other vendors that didn’t stretch your waistline included Keyes Truck Center (who sponsored the Kid’s Zone), Scentsy, Prickly B, Stay Loaded, Borrachos Apparel, 10 Lug Mafia and The Custom Rag, West Coast Foam, True Shot Training Academy, Freitas Signs, EZ Pilot, Purpose Built, Valley Truck Solutions, West-Mark, Cab-Air Solutions, and PDI. Retuning this year, DJ Dan Utica and Top-Pick spun some good tunes during the day, and then California Creedence played great live music on Saturday night.
This year, the Soza Memorial Truck Show named Rita E. as their very first Dyslexia Scholarship recipient. She is a local 7th grader in Merced and has been doing well in her classes since starting her Individual Education Program. Her mother says she has seen a significant improvement in her grades and in her positive attitude. We wish you luck Rita. Keep up the good work! Scholarships were just another way that The Soza Memorial Truck Show wanted to make a difference in the lives of local kids who may not have the ability to travel to the next city or county to receive the special treatment they need for their dyslexia.
Our past cover trucker (July 2023) Cody Davis lead the judges and started doing the difficult task of choosing the winners of the Show and Shine all day Saturday, and then returned to judge the fantastic light show later that evening, as well. However, they had to take a break to watch the tractor pulls, along with the rest of us, on Saturday late afternoon. Bryan Massetti of MLM Motorsports put on another great event, and the truck and tractor pulls this year were again a huge crowd pleaser. With 45 pickup trucks and tractors pulling a sled, with more horsepower than you could imagine, this was an awesome event to witness. To see all the results of the pulls, visit MLM online at www.mlm-motorsports.com, then click on the Soza Memorial Truck Show logo under the “Results” tab.
Sunday started out as yet another beautiful morning, and not long after that, the awards ceremony began. But first, they had to give away a large 28” x 60” gun safe valued at $2,000 to one of the 100 ticket holders, as that was all the tickets they sold for that giveaway. Then, it was time to raffle off the rest of the donated items which included a Lincoln Chrome bumper donated by Botelho Custom Trucks, a light bar, air horns from HornBlasters, stainless rear fenders from Hogebuilt, and many other favorites. There were also several types of gift baskets for men and women, 49er football tickets, a signed baseball by an Oakland A’s player, a bourbon tasting kit, and other smaller fun items.
The winners of the truck show were announced and received one-of-a-kind trophies that were made from old parts that came out of CG’s red and blue KW, Optimus Prime, that was featured on the cover of the December 2021 edition of 10-4 Magazine, and lights that were lit up and assembled into works of art by Kre8tive House Graphic Design. The big winners included Hammett Excavation, Silva Trucking, Double E, North Coast Wine, and Central Valley Transport.
The dates for next year have been set for September 26-28, 2025, at the same location, and the Sozas are very optimistically planning two days for the tractor pulls. Keep an eye on the 10-4 Magazine truck show calendar for more details, and don’t be surprised when you hear from the Soza family about their 5th annual show, that will undoubtedly go off once again without a hitch!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to Daniel J. Linss for providing many of the pictures for this show report.
And all the 2024 winners were:
WORKING ANTIQUE (1990 & OLDER): 1st Stan Alles; 2nd Big Sexy Truck & Tractor, Rob Donato; 3rd Carballo Trucking, Josh Carballo.
NON-WORKING ANTIQUE (1990 & OLDER): 1st Maggini & Son Trucking, Roger Ghidelli; 2nd Ron Stagno.
FREIGHTLINER BOBTAIL (2001 & NEWER): 1st R.O. Transport, Rounel Ochoa; 2nd MRC Transport, Marcos Chanz.
KENWORTH BOBTAIL (2001 & NEWER): 1st Figueroa Truck Wash, Danny Figueroa; 2nd Ron Lawrence and Son Transport, Moises Hernandez; 3rd Commodity Transport, Bobby Von Gunten.
PETERBILT BOBTAIL (1991-2000): 1st JAT, Justin Allison; 2nd Perez Trucking, Salvador Perez.
PETERBILT BOBTAIL (2001 & NEWER): 1st Coxe Transportation, Kenny Coxe; 2nd Andrew Temper; 3rd EG Trucking, Elias Garcia.
COMBO (REEFER/DRY VAN): 1st Pro Freight, Mario Moreno.
COMBO (FLATBED): 1st Robert Vaz Trucking, Bobby Vaz; 2nd American Crane, Everett Powell; 3rd Azevedo Trucking, Austin Azevedo.
COMBO (TANKER): 1st Double E, Richard Ceja; 2nd Central Valley Transportation, Keith Pounds; 3rd Double E, Jacob Reyes.
CONSTRUCTION: 1st FJ Willard, Todd Lemke; 2nd Hilldebrand Trucking, Randy Burgess; 3rd American Crane, Everett Powell.
SPECIALTY: 1st Herrera Auto Carriers, Ed Herrera; 2nd Supreme Auto Carriers, Paul Ortiz; 3rd Supreme Auto Carriers, Truck 50.
TOW TRUCK: 1st Prime Towing, Ricardo Salcedo; 2nd Prime Towing, Eddie Acosta; 3rd Prime Towing, Xavier Medrano.
CATTLE TRUCK: 1st Truce Dairy, Jason Truce.
PRIDE IN YOUR RIDE: 1st Northern Refrigeration, Nick Gomez; 2nd Coxe Transportation, Dallas Rushton; 3rd Cal West Commodities, Mark Silveira.
LIGHTS: 1st Silva Trucking, Stan Silva; 2nd Panella Trucking, Alex Panella; 3rd Herrera Auto Carriers, Ed Herrera.
LIMITED MILEAGE (BOBTAIL): 1st North Coast Wine, Papa Smurf; 2nd Carballo Trucking, Eddie Carballo; 3rd Silva Trucking, Stan Silva.
LIMITED MILEAGE (COMBO): 1st Silva Trucking, Stan Silva; 2nd North Coast Wine, Cole Barbieri; 3rd C. Rocha Enterprises, Chris Rocha.
BEST INTERIOR: Perez Trucking, Salvador Perez.
BEST ENGINE: C. Rocha Enterprises, Chris Rocha.
BEST PAINT: FJ Willard, Todd Lemke.
BEST POLISH: Panella Trucking, Alex Panella.
BEST STEREO: Andrew from Double E.
BEST FLEET: Central Valley Transport.
VENDOR’S CHOICE: Double E, Jacob Reyes.
KID’S CHOICE: Coxe Trucking, Kenny Coxe.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: Silva Trucking, Stan Silva.
COMPETITOR’S CHOICE: Silva Trucking, Stan Silva.
AJ SOZA MEMORIAL AWARD: North Coast Wine, Papa Smurf.
BEST OF SHOW LIMITED MILES: Hammett Excavation, Brandon Mendenhall.
BEST OF SHOW: Hammett Excavation, Kaleb Hammett.
