About eight inches of snow fell on Louisville as show trucks lined the lot at the Mid-America Trucking Show.Participants in this year’s PKY Truck Beauty Championship, taking place this week at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, faced a new task in prepping their rigs for judging and showing Wednesday: Uncovering their rigs from a layer of snowfall that descended on the show grounds Tuesday afternoon and into Wednesday.
MATS doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, but here’s a sample of some of the rigs on display at the show, including a few shots of those buried by the 8-inch snowfall.
Owner-operator Jim Henderson runs this 2006 Kenworth W900, which he leases to Hurricane Specialized. The rig just rolled out of the shop with a fresh custom build-up days before the show. Henderson hauls oversized loads with the rig. The custom job “started out as a stretch the frame and touch up the paint to — a lot more,” says Henderson. “Everything on the truck is new,” he says, including swapping out the engine for a pre-2000 engine to avoid having to adopt an ELD.
JC and Debbie Alt are showing off their 1985 Peterbilt 362 cabover, “Tiltin’ Hilton,” at MATS. The rig sports a 400-hp Cat and a 13-speed.
Brian Pete out of Mineral Point, Wis., owns this 2015 Peterbilt 389. The truck is used to haul fertilizer and feed products in the Midwest. There are 204 lights on the truck and 174 lights on the 2016 Mac tanker.
Custom truck show vet Bob Brinker had his 2007 Freightliner Classic on display. The truck is a perennial competitor in truck shows nationwide.
This 1975 Dodge Big Horn is one of only 261 units manufactured from 1973 to 1975. The truck is owned by John Kessler out of Richwood, W.V. It features a 350-hp Cummins Small Cam with a 13-speed and 4:44 rears.
This Kenworth “Jawbreaker,” shown by F.B. Deyo Inc. of Crown Point, N.Y., has an extensive speaker system.
“The Duke,” a 2016 Kenworth W900 Icon owned by Fleenor Brothers, pays tribute to another icon – the late actor John Wayne, whose image is visible on the floorboard.
The snow-covered lot where PKY trucks are staged in Louisville.
The snow-covered lot where PKY trucks are staged in Louisville.
