DALLAS SHOW HANGS TOUGH
GATS SHRINKS BUT PEOPLE STILL COME!
Like all of the other trucking shows this year, the producers of the Great American Trucking Show (GATS), held at the Dallas Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, on August 20-22, did all they could to keep their event alive. And despite the fact that the amount of exhibitors dropped and that the size of the show was about half of what it was just a couple years ago, the people (attendees) still came. The amount of show trucks was lower as well, down to 40 from 60 last year, but the competition was still fierce.
About 45,000 people passed through he doors during the three-day event, which is just a tad more than last year. Alan Sims, GATS vice president said, “Although the show floor was smaller than in 2008, we are very pleased with the support and participation of the 400-plus exhibiting companies.” Considering that those 400-plus companies did not include any of the major OEMs (except for Mack and a handful of trailer manufacturers), it is easy to see why the floor space shrank. Simply put, like the event in Las Vegas back in June, the show was small, but it was good.
Walking the floor, we noticed a lot of new companies in the fiberglass fender market, but Jones Performance (Truk-Rodz) had some of the coolest new designs – one even included a fiberglass frame wrap. There were also a lot of new GPS systems out there, but the one that was getting the most buzz came from Rand McNally – their new IntelliRoute TND 500 is the first Truck Navigation Device built from the ground up for truckers. The device features truck-specific routing, proprietary road data, and cross-references to their printed atlas, as well as bonus trucker business tools.
At the 4 State Trucks/Chrome Shop Mafia booth, the “boyz” unveiled a new truck project that was just completed. Thomas Ivy’s 1986 Pete 359 dubbed “Ivy’s Poison” featured an awesome blue paint job and a killer sound system that filled most of the sleeper. And based on the hordes of people surrounding it at all times, it was definitely a crowd favorite. The same can be said about Texas Chrome Shop’s “Project 1” Peterbilt, which took the Best of Show Limited Mileage Bobtail award. This wild ride, painted orange and yellow, featured tons of extreme custom fabrication to both the exterior and interior of the once-normal 1997 Peterbilt and, like Thomas Ivy’s truck, had crowds of onlookers around it during the entire show. After building hundreds of trucks for their customers, the Mendez boys of the Texas Chrome Shop thought that it was time to build something for themselves.
With about 40 trucks competing in the Pride & Polish Truck Beauty Contest, Texas-based companies and truckers did very well. In addition to the entry by Roland Mendez of the Texas Chrome Shop, other notable Texas trucks included four from Lindamood Demolition, Pete Zamora’s black and orange combo, Justin Hall’s light blue and white combo, Henry Hall’s blacked-out combo, Bill Hall Jr. and his mint green combo, and two rigs from Riteway Trucking (there were a lot of cool combos). These Texans scooped up a sizeable amount of the awards given out at the show.
And speaking of the awards, “The Original Ice Road Trucker” Alex Debogorski was on-hand to present the trophies to the winners, but he did something that is always joked about at every awards ceremony – he dropped and broke one of the Waterford Crystal vases that are given to the “Best of Show” winners. And just like host Bud Farquhar always said it would, it broke into a million pieces. It looked like a pile of ice on the floor, which prompted Erik from 10-4 to say, “Boy Alex, you really know how to break the ice!” Roland Mendez posed for pictures holding the wood base of the trophy and the largest chunk of glass he could find. Also at the awards ceremony, the winner of the “Win Big with Custom Rigs” Sweepstakes was announced. John Lacusky of Cortland, Ohio, was named as the winner of the tricked-out 1998 International 9400 that was built by the Chrome Shop Mafia. 10-4’s Erik Sieben also drew three random names to win “10-4 Bucks” ($104 cash). Bill Hall Jr., Jeremey Graves and, for the third straight show in a row, Isaac Aguilar took home the cash!
The most unknown winner of the show was Floyd Moore of Cagle Rock Trucking in Russellville, Arkansas. Floyd entered his red 2000 Peterbilt 379 last year in the show, but did not do well. This year, he vowed to win it all. Floyd’s truck earned three trophies, which collectively earned him the Best of Show Bobtail award. Floyd, who got lots of help from his wife Carol and daughter Kyza, has been trucking for almost 40 years.
When we weren’t at the show “working hard” in our booth, we enjoyed some Texas fun. After the show closed on Thursday, we headed over to an exhibitor party and enjoyed great food, drinks and entertainment, including celebrity impersonators of Johnny Cash, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Cher. Then, on Friday night, we went to Mesquite, Texas with Mike Blanton and Suzanne Stempinski to enjoy an exciting Championship Rodeo event, held inside an air-conditioned arena, which was awesome. It was quite a change for us “city boys” from California, but we had a great time.
Next year’s show is scheduled for August 26-28, 2010. Hopefully, the economy will be better by then, and the big OEMs will once again join the show and make it the Texas-sized event that we have all become accustomed to attending. Hang in there folks, things are starting to get better!
WORKING BOBTAIL: 1st Mike Briseno, Lindamood Demolition; 2nd Floyd Moore, Cagle Rock Trucking; 3rd JR Schleuger, Lifetime Nut Covers.
NEW BOBTAIL (UNDER 75,000 MI): 1st Kenny and Stacy Yeary; 2nd Victor Maiden, Stevens Transport.
FIRST SHOW BOBTAIL: 1st Elvis Williamson, Southern Miss Trucking; 2nd Mark Elkins for William Parker; 3rd Michael Holland.
LIMITED MILEAGE BOBTAIL: 1st Roland Mendez, Texas Chrome Shop; 2nd Isaac Aguilar, Sandvik Trucking; 3rd Thomas Ivy.
WORKING COMBO (2002 & OLDER): 1st Kelly Ast; 2nd James McPherson, Lindamood Demolition; 3rd Tommy Roach.
WORKING COMBO (2003 & NEWER): 1st Jonathan Dyck, Jade Transport; 2nd David Kosar Jr, Rite Way; 3rd Greg Wood.
SPECIALIZED COMBO: 1st Jake Lindamood, Lindamood Demolition; 2nd Pete Zamora, Z-Bar Trucking; 3rd Henry Hall, Hall’s Trucking of Texas.
FIRST SHOW COMBO: 1st Justin Hall; 2nd Bill Hall Jr; 3rd (tie) Larry Payne AND Cody Lindamood, Lindamood Demolition.
LIMITED MILEAGE COMBO: 1st Jeremey Graves, Farmers Oil; 2nd Jerry Kissinger; 3rd RJ Martin, Taylor Transportation.
NON-WORKING ANTIQUE: 1st Jimmy Wiley, Kenny Yeary Trucking; 2nd Larry Swingle, Kenny Yeary Trucking; 3rd Justin Smith, US Truck Parts.
INTERIOR (CAB ONLY): 1st Jake Lindamood, Lindamood Demolition; 2nd Kelly Ast; 3rd Jonathan Dyck, Jade Transport.
INTERIOR (OEM SLEEPER): 1st Henry Hall, Hall’s Trucking of Texas; 2nd Kenny Yeary; 3rd Floyd Moore, Cagle Rock Trucking.
INTERIOR (LIMITED MILEAGE): 1st Roland Mendez, Texas Chrome Shop.
ENGINE (WORKING): 1st Jake Lindamood, Lindamood Demolition; 2nd Pete Zamora, Z-Bar Trucking; 3rd Henry Hall, Hall’s Trucking of Texas.
ENGINE (LIMITED MILEAGE): 1st Isaac Aguilar, Sandvik Trucking.
PAINT & GRAPHICS (BOBTAIL): 1st Kenny Yeary; 2nd Floyd Moore, Cagle Rock Trucking.
PAINT & GRAPHICS (COMBO): 1st Jake Lindamood, Lindamood Demolition; 2nd Pete Zamora, Z-Bar Trucking; 3rd Jonathan Dyck, Jade Transport.
PAINT & GRAPHICS (LIMITED MILEAGE BOBTAIL): 1st Thomas Ivy.
PAINT & GRAPHICS (LIMITED MILEAGE COMBO): 1st Jeremey Graves, Farmers Oil.
ROADWORKS’ BEST USE OF CHROME AWARD: Larry Swingle, Kenny Yeary Trucking.
TRUK-RODZ BEST THEME AWARD: Jerry Kissinger.
FIRESTONE’S MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED CAB: Roland Mendez, Texas Chrome Shop.
VALLEY CHROME’S BUMPER-TO-BUMPER AWARD: Pete Zamora, Z-Bar Trucking.
BEST OF SHOW WORKING BOBTAIL: Floyd Moore, Cagle Rock Trucking.
BEST OF SHOW WORKING COMBO: Jake Lindamood, Lindamood Demolition (King Ranch).
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: Jeremey Graves, Farmers Oil (Bucket List).