33,468. Thirty-three thousand, four hundred and sixty-eight. Or in roman numerals XXXMMMCDLXVIII. No matter which way you look at it, that’s a pretty big number. How is this number relevant to my summation of the 2024 North Coast petroleum Casino Truck Show.
Well 33,468 is the number of steps I racked up in my attempts to cover every possible angle of this year’s show. 33,468 steps and I still didn’t manage to see all the trucks. The small NSW town was hiding trucks in every conceivable crevice.
It was truck nirvana, and I was more than happy to wear out my Nikes as I soaked up the streets of shine throughout Casino’s CBD. Circumstances saw the numbers registered and participating in the convoy down, but the attendees, the quality and the truck show itself just keeps going up.
For those that joined along on the 2023 Casino Truck Show crusade you may recall the numbers at the show just exploded, over 600 trucks, with pretty much all of them eager to participate in the through town convoy. It was impressive, but it was also a hell of a lot for the small committee to handle.
From the difficulties of trying to stage and register 600+ trucks, in an industrial area consisting of three streets and an alleyway, to the complex permutations needed to park the aforementioned trucks in the town’s main street, whilst still allowing for people to enjoy the entertainment, peruse the trucks and generally be able to breathe out. It was a tight fit.
In 2024 the committee decided to take a different approach. An approach that would reign in the chaos a little but still allow for a pretty damn cool show. Step number one, the registrations were capped at 600 trucks. This was a pretty late call, but the committee found with several weeks to go they were running the risk of dwarfing the 2023 numbers.
Whilst that sounds good, I am pretty sure their judges would have quit, their caterers would have capitulated and the parking wardens would have just thrown their hands in the air, refilled their Mai Tais and walked away. So yes, the decision was made to cap the registrations at 600. It wasn’t an easy decision.
Many truckies can only make the call to attend a show at the last minute and that wasn’t lost on the committee. Hence several Casino enthusiasts missed out this year. It was however the right choice. It allowed a lot more control and, in the end, allowed for a much smoother day for those organising this epic event.
The second big decision around the 2024 Show was the call to limit the number of trucks participating in the always popular Convoy. The decision was due mainly to the fact the team were unable to find an area to stage the overflow out at the convoys start point.
As I mentioned earlier, the Casino industrial estate isn’t the biggest and without the extra staging area there would be trucks lined up all the way back to Lismore. However limiting the numbers actually had some unforeseen benefits.
Firstly, speaking to the amazing volunteers out at Tomki Drive registration site, they all commented on how much more relaxed the vibe was out at the convoy start point.
Obviously, there were fewer trucks trying to find parks and fewer drivers lining up to get registered which took a lot of the pressure off the volunteers and the drivers. Most importantly it also resulted in the wait times on the sausage sizzle reducing dramatically.
The other benefit of splitting the numbers was that it allowed the committee to start parking trucks up in the main street as early as the Friday night.
In fact, the North end of Barker Street had its own pre-truck show Truck Show on the Friday night with the likes of Land Transport, S&S Heavy Haulage, HHA and several others delighting the locals with a light show over dinner.
Saturday morning saw trucks rolling in and parking up as early as 6am. I know this for a fact as I myself had brought a truck down to sit on display and when I rolled in at 6am I was well down the waitlist.
Another advantage of having so many trucks skipping the convoy and staging up down in the CBD was it gave the general public a reason to come down and get involved in the show a lot earlier than in previous years.
As a Casino Truck Show fan from back in the days of around 100 trucks, I have never seen so many people in attendance. Word is the 2023 show had 14,000 people attend and it honestly seemed to me that there was that many just sitting out on the street awaiting the convoy, with half as many again wandering around the trucks already parked up.
This year we did lose the attraction of those lunatics on the stunt bikes, although their area was besieged by more brilliant big, beautiful trucks, so that kind of nullified that. As is tradition, a stage was set up outside the Commercial Hotel to entertain the masses.
If I had any rhythm or a modicum of dance skills, I would have happily cracked out the moves with the Tony Q band bellowing out some beauties. Instead, I spared those watching years of PTSD and took my two left feet down to the other end of the packed Walker Street where this year a second stage was set up for Mossy Rocks to show their musical magic.
There was no shortage of foot tapping entertainment on hand this year. PS… I didn’t traumatise the crowd down that end of town with my inept dance skills either. I am considerate.
As is always the case at Casino there is a multitude of merchants on hand to help you with all the things you need and plenty of things you didn’t know you needed.
Once again, I came away with more caps than I can possibly wear in my lifetime, as well as a couple of extremely cool hoodies. Considering Queensland temperatures only drops low enough for hoodies for about two weeks a year, I’m covered until at least 2044.
I also managed to acquire a poodle shaped balloon, and an enormous novelty hat. I just can’t remember where I garnered them from. Alongside all the merchandise vendors there were plenty of trade stalls, displaying everything from lubrication systems, to state-of-the-art bulbar design. The fantastic team from Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds were also on hand, raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing within our industry.
The Casino Truck Show is a family event and wouldn’t be complete without the usual kids’ corner. Or kids’ street is more accurate, it is a great area with plenty of activities. Although as usual they get a little tied up with their age restrictions. I reckon I would have been fine on the inflatable slide, just saying.
This year also saw Moore Trailers design and build a custom bar which was auctioned off to raise money for the Movember charity. Engel donated an upright fridge that completed the custom setup and the quick-fire auction saw Jon Kelly donate $24,000 in order to walk away with the amazing setup.
In the end though, with all the festivities and activities accounted for, the North Coast Petroleum Truck Show is a Truck Show, a show where you could not pay me enough to judge it. I did try to put myself in the judges’ shoes.
My 33,468 steps I bragged about were accumulated by wandering the streets to check out all the entrants. Just like the poor judges had to do. It was an unenviable job. It wasn’t just the fact there was 600 trucks entered, it was that there were 600 trucks deserved of prizes.
The quality of the gear on display was exceptional and it seems the reputation of the Casino Show is seeing people really step up their game when it comes to truck show preparation.
There were a heap of trophies awarded, with some great sponsors allowing the judges to acknowledge and award as many of the standouts as they could. The coveted truck of the show award went to the immaculate Salters K200. Based out of South Australia, the regular paddock runner was a popular winner and particular crowd favourite.
My final word will be a thank you to the team behind the show, the community behind the team and all of those that put in the hard yards to get their trucks looking immaculate.
I’ll grizzle about my 33,468 steps, but it pales in comparison to the effort required to make the Casino truck show such an outstanding event. Well done everybody, I’m off to buy some new shoes.
For a full list of winners and more from the organisers themselves, be sure to log on to www.casinotruckshow.com.au
Subscribe to the weekly Owner//Driver newsletter here.