“Next time you come over to the States you should come to California for the Truckin for Kids Truck Drags and Show and Shine”.
That was the invite extended to me last year by Daniel Linss and Tim Seiben, two of the great minds behind legendary trucking magazine,10-4.
Understandably, my reaction at the time was a resounding ‘HELL YEA’. This reaction was fuelled by more than a few bevvies and contained no consideration for the expense or logistics of it.
Once I had sobered up the next day, and thought back to Daniel’s enticing solicitation, I decided to investigate the invite a bit more seriously. It wasn’t purely because I love to experience new truck shows and new locations, there was also the idea of drag trucks in California.
It’s California! The most politically correct and environmentally over-the-top state in America.
I was so intrigued as to whether I would see black smoke billowing from sky-high stacks and tyre tread evaporating in a wall of white smoke, or whether I’d be photographing the silence of silky-smooth electric trucks sliding down the dragstrip.
Answering that little conundrum was what convinced me to squash myself back into a back-row seat of another airline and pop over to the States, for the Truckin’ for Kids Truck Drags and Show & Shine.
For those unfamiliar with Californian rules and regulations you may be wondering what I am on about. We all know America is home to the long and low ‘Large Car’ concept. Trucks with stacks that reach for the stars and chassis’ that stretch long enough to require road train signage.
It’s a look led by such signature models like the classy 379 Peterbilts or the staunch-as-hell Kenworth W900s. Those old-school cool trucks, rolling loud with streams of black coal trailing in their wake, that’s what we all envision when we think about going truck spotting in the USA.
Truth be told, in 49 of the 50 states there is a high probability you will have your trucking fantasies realised. The one state that you won’t see any semblance of a Convoy-era rolling coal display is California, because of the ACT Rule.
The Advanced Clean Truck Rule. The long and the short of it is that diesel-fuelled vehicles, from 2010 and older, with a gross weight of six and a half tons or more, are not allowed on the Californian highways.
With the inception of all these new rules, and the still-to-come rules — before I’m in a nursing home they will ban all non-zero emission trucks from California — there are a lot of the old school trucks that just go nowhere near the Golden State.
So, how good would a Show and Shine, and more importantly a truck drag competition be. The only way to tell was to head over to Irwindale Speedway in California to catch up with Daniel, Tim and the rest of the 10-4 crew and see.
Before I get to share the experience with you, I should give a little background into this iconic event.
The Truckin for Kids Truck Drag and Show and Shine event has been running for over four decades now, raising money for Kids’ charities throughout California.
One of the companies that have been a part of the show for almost its entirety has been the crew from 10-4 Magazine. Then, in 2022, 10-4 Magazine stepped up and bought the show off the original promoters who were looking to retire.
“When the previous owners wanted to retire, we didn’t want the show to go away, it has been such an important event,” 10-4 Editor and owner Daniel Linss says.
“So, we acquired it. We bought all the assets and most importantly the copyright to the name and logo. We decided we would raise money for the Shriners Hospitals for Children, because they were local and many people we knew have had kids that have used their services.
“We had our first show in 2022 and raised $40,000. Though it was only a one day show as the track only allowed us one day.”
After that first 10-4-run show, the owners of Irwindale Speedway could see the team were extremely keen to raise the profile of the show and really get it off the ground including the idea of turning it into a two-day event. So it was the Speedway agreed two days for the 2023 event, just six months after 10-4’s first venture.
“The show used to be the last one on the truck show calendar but then so many other shows started popping up, it kind of got lost amongst it all,” Daniel says.
“So, we decided to move it to the start of the season. It was a short turn around but we stepped it up, added a really big kids’ zone, got more drag truck entries and the second show raised around $95,000”. That’s US Dollars by the way.
Now it is 2024, it’s the 43rd running of the Truckin for Kids Truck Drags and Show & Shine, the third running under 10-4 magazine, and my first invitation to come and check it out.
The first thing to note was I did have to wait until day two before I got to see that there was still some smoke to be found in California, but it was easy to fill in the time.
From the moment the gates opened at ungodly o’clock on Saturday I watched in awe as what was once a massive parking lot, shrunk in size at a great rate.
The Americans are very big on getting combinations into their shows, and not just the truck and dogs or the iconic 18-wheelers. They bring everything along and it seemed every heavy haulage setup in California was rolling in. The entire far end of the ginormous parking lot was chock full of the behemoths.
Saturday morning was all about the staging. Vendors were whipping up tents and setting up displays whilst the trucks kept rolling in. From your every day, local, trucks, to some exceptional tip trucks and some amazingly cool linehaul units. Tow trucks, fire trucks, tankers and tippers — everyone was represented.
Daniel had stressed earlier in our chat that it’s a show for everyone. “This has always been a working man’s show, and we love that fact that anyone can enter with their working truck.”
By lunchtime on Saturday the registration gates closed, and the public access gates were thrown open. Fans flocked in to see every imaginable setup on display. The kids were flat out in the kids’ zone finishing their colouring-in competition, getting faces painted or taking the chance to get involved in one of the many interactive games on offer.
Night time saw the action ramp up even more as the sun went down and the lights came on. Sound systems were blaring every possible genre of music. By the time you wandered half way through the car park you had experienced country concerts, rap battles and some pretty loud latino tunes.
Add in the ludicrious amount of lights some of these trucks were sporting and it was a sensory overload. I got a couple of hours of awe in then headed back to the motel to get ready for the big Sunday ahead.
Day 2 of the Truckin for Kids and it’s the day where the crowd numbers swell and, as it turns out, the clean air act of California becomes merely an afterthought.
Sunday is the day the track action lights up — beginning with the truck drags. There are three different categories available for the truck drags — Stock, Super Street and Super Drag.
Or in layman’s terms: ‘Dropped my trailers and gunna have a go’, ‘Sure this truck is a working truck but she’s had a little touch up’ and ‘this looks like a truck, but it only works a quarter mile at a time’. The progression through the categories was visually obvious as the times went down and the smoke went up.
Along with the trucks on the drag strip there was a pickup truck category, some wheel standers and some good old classic drag cars. There was also a very intimidating 11,000hp Funny car on display and a fully-fledged jet car.
Have you ever stood near a jet car when it warms up and runs a drag strip? Well, I can honestly say it was the one time I regretted the extra access a media badge can get you. I felt my eyebrows melting away even after stepping way, way, back.
With almost four hours’ worth of track time on day two I got my answer as to whether I’d be seeing any rolling coal or tyre smoke in California, and it was a resounding yes.
The Super Drag trucks are regulars on the Irwindale Speedway Dragstrip and they put on a hell of a show. I can’t quote you the times though, as the timing board was often shrouded in a sea of smoke wafting down the drag after the Super Drag trucks crossed the line.
Whilst the Stock trucks weren’t setting any records you could see how hard the drivers were going, there was obviously more than just bragging rights on the table as mate vs mate got very competitive.
My favourites were by far the Super Street trucks. A couple of these trucks that I had admiringly watched rolling through the registration gates, trailers in tow on the Saturday, were transformed on Sunday, hammering down the track with black smoke trailing along behind them — it was pretty damn cool.
By Sunday afternoon I was smelling of diesel and burnt rubber and I was full of tacos and fabulous funnel cake. The weekend culminated in a live auction before the prize giving, with Storage Wars star Dan Dodson running the live auction.
I have to admit, his skills with the microphone saw me walk away with another model truck I probably didn’t need. But hey, it’s for the kids.
Whilst a good journalist would have a great rundown on the final formalities and show results, that’s not me. I got a little too distracted watching the almost cirque de soil precision with which the speedway parking lot emptied out.
Once again, watching the massive oversize units embark on the ‘Dance of the Departing Truckie’ was amazing. It also gave me another chance to appreciate some of the quality gear that had been packed into the raceway.
Conclusion. It’s a pretty good show, run by great people, for a fantastic cause. 10-4 magazine are doing a great job of trying to breathe life back into this show. The Truck Drags are a great feature and a lot of fun to watch.
The event doesn’t have the standard of show trucks that you would see at some of the other shows, like MATS or Iowa80, however it is aimed more at the working truck market.
Since 10-4 took over the number of entrants has been growing and it’s a fair bet they’ll crack the 300-mark next year.
It is a great family-friendly weekend with lots to amuse the little ones as well as us big kids. A good selling point is it is right there in LA, so for us Aussie travellers it is an easy show to get to, fly into LA and an hour later you are at the hotel.
Yes, there is a lot of the aerodynamic lookalike trucks, but there is also a hell of a lot of coolness and ‘Large Car’ atmosphere at the show. Most importantly though, once the track opens up, you definitely get to see the black coal rolling.
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