10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
CHARITY CONVOY RAISES MORE THAN JUST MONEY

For the fifth year in a row, the World's Largest Truck Convoy has raised more than just money for Special Olympics - it's given truck drivers an incredible opportunity to get involved, make a difference and better the image of the industry and themselves. This year, like last year, many of the events had to be moved, postponed or cancelled due to hurricanes. But even after the setbacks, the 2005 convoys have already beat all the previous records - and there are still five more scheduled to be held!

Last year, there were 21 events in 17 states and just over $200,000 was raised. In 2005, when all of the scheduled events are completed, there will have been 43 convoys in 32 states and two Canadian Provinces. Typically, a date is chosen and then all of the convoys occur simultaneously across the country on that date. But due to the hurricanes, many of the events were held on later dates. The early numbers already show over $250,000 raised, and that doesn't count seven convoys that were postponed, including the largest of them all in Florida. The total could easily surpass $350,000 this year!

Most of the 2005 convoys were held on Saturday, September 24th, including the one in Northern California, which we at 10-4 were promoting. Unfortunately, due to magazine deadline constraints, we had to cancel at the last minute and were unable to attend the event. Thankfully, Courtney Shapiro from Special Olympics was nice enough to gather information and take pictures for us.

With only 57 trucks this year (down a bit from last year's 64), the Northern California convoy started at the Flying J Truck Stop in Ripon and headed north on Highway 99 to Stockton, ending at the San Joaquin Fairgrounds. Special Olympics' athletes were lined up, holding signs and cheering, as the truckers pulled their rigs into the fairgrounds' parking lot. Although not the largest convoy in regards to number of trucks, the Northern California event still raised over $23,000 and will probably end up in the top five in regards to money-makers.

Last year, Ed Rocha's 1954 KW cattle truck (our September 2005 cover truck) was the lead truck for the Northern California convoy, but this year, Ed was outbid by Scott James of Royal Express. Team Royal Express had six trucks which led the procession, followed by six of Ed's old trucks and then all of the rest. After the convoy, participants, sponsors, athletes and attendees gathered for a post-convoy party at the fairgrounds, which included lunch, an awards ceremony, vendor booths, raffle prizes and live music provided by country-western band Fire on the Mountain.

Other notable convoys included: Wisconsin, which had 104 trucks and raised $38,000; Boise, Idaho, which had 90 trucks and raised $9,000; Iowa, which had 72 trucks and raised $12,000; South Dakota, which had 68 trucks and raised $12,000; and Joplin, Missouri, which had 63 trucks and raised $10,000. Canada's Ontario convoy had 65 trucks and raised almost $24,000 (US)! The Delaware convoy was held on October 8th and drew in 97 trucks (money totals were not yet available). But the largest of them all, as always, is the Florida convoy.

This event was started five years ago as a single convoy in Florida by Norm Schneiderhan, and has grown every year since. Three years ago they started having multiple convoys and hope to one day have at least one in every state. This year, the Florida convoy was postponed until October 15th, but they still had 279 trucks - beating the previous record of 248 set back in 2003. The money totals were not yet available for the Florida event at the time of this writing.

There are still five more events scheduled including three in Texas (the Dallas convoy is being held on December 10th and already has over 100 trucks registered), one in Louisiana (being held on November 5th), and one in Minneapolis, Minnesota (held on October 29th). The only convoy that had to be totally cancelled was in Mississippi.

If you would like to learn more about this event or register for one of the remaining convoys, visit www.worldslargesttruckconvoy.com. We'd like to thank everyone who participated in this year's convoy and invite them to make it an annual event that they attend. The 2006 convoy is scheduled for September 16th, so mark your calendars now and stay tuned for more details as that date approaches.