The Gear Jammer Magazine Truck Show's 8th annual edition has come and gone from the New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire, but the winners will hold on to a piece of the glory forever.
The event, this year with its usual categorized competition among some 628 trucks registered to show, food, and music, also featured a drag racing event and some "Puzzle Piece" awards that pay homage to the show's autism awareness focus. Likewise, those awards find fun details to celebrate on the trucks.
Puzzle Piece Award Winners
- Best chrome: Steve Constantin
- Best paint: Valerie Walker
- Best engine: Ben Yoder / Lois Yoder Trucking
- Longest distance: Kenny Ziglar (Wyoming to New Hampshire)
- Best tow truck/straight truck: TDI Towing (pictured above holding the flag)
- Best antique: Kyle Pelletier
- Limited mileage winner: Jersey Hauling
- Best work truck: Dave Kishbaugh / Sanitary Construction
- Best fleet: Wyson Trucking
- Best lights: Steve Constantin
- Best interior: Maxime Menard / Transpro
Berube's Truck Accessories Choice: Mike Roy / Transport Henri Roy
Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation Choice: B. Blair Corporation
Gear Jammer Magazine Choices
- Bobtail: Ray Walters
- Combo: Lucas Zach
Best of Show Winners
- Bobtail: Phillipe Pepin / LF Combustion
- Combo: Cody Darby
- Overall: Luke Rethwisch
Luke Rethwisch's "Best overall" Pete 359 is called "Ol' School Cruisin'" but Rethwisch himself is just 18. Still, he said he'd gone through the whole truck, down to the frame rails.
[Related: Built to win: Wheels-off 1987 Peterbilt 359 triumphant in Big Rig Build-Off]
King of The Hill Drag Racing Champion: Jim Peddicord
Runner-up: Fred Angle
Congrats to all the winners, and everyone who lined up and shined up. There's glory taking home the trophy, but Gear Jammer Magazine owner Bob Conrad told Overdrive the awards are "secondary" to raising money for the Douge Flutie Jr. Foundation and its autism research mission.
Conrad himself isn't a trucker, but he's always admired the hardworking machines and has long taken his kids to truck shows around the country.
"My sons and I used to go to truck shows all the time, so when I started the magazine, after the first year, we decided do a show of our own and to do it locally, so we wouldn't didn’t have to travel to Pennsylvania, Kentucky, or Florida," he said.
Conrad settled on the autism theme almost nine years ago, as he thought it was under-represented in trucking. Today, he's blown away by the support and community he's found for the cause. "We get compliments all the time," he said. "So many kinds are affected by autism. We really had no idea when we chose that."
Gear Jammer follows Conrad's lifelong passion for trucks, which he "started taking pictures of at 10 years old," as he tells it. That hobby became a side business, the side business became a "full-time job, and now it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger."
If you haven't noticed, trucks are kind of hard to photograph. "It was just trial and error" for Conrad learning to get a perfect shot, he said. "I started out with a little junky camera, and I have a Canon Rebel now. I've gotten better as the years go by."
The trick is to find some private time with the truck, according to Conrad. "Truck shows are tough. They're hard to shoot at. We try to shoot the trucks when they're coming in or leaving. Once they're parked tight it's almost impossible."
Tell me about it!
New England might not be everyone's first thought when they think of "trucking country," but Conrad puts on a good show for the region and the entire Northeast. The show featured a strong showing of "Canadian guys, both from Ontario and Montreal," he said.
As for New England itself, Conrad said he feels "New England trucks have their own style -- lots of pinstriping, a lot of traditional stuff. Not so much big drop visors, that's more of a southern thing."
Also, it's more fleet-focused in New England, according to Conrad. The shows out West have "a lot more independent guys that way," but Gear Jammer's truck show sees a ton of "fleets that take good pride in the trucks."
Perhaps the biggest twist on the tried-and-true show formula comes in the form of drag racing. Conrad said he used to take his family down to the drag strip in Englishtown, New Jersey, for the U.S. diesel nationals.
"We went to that show from the early 80s all the way up until whenever it finally stopped, mid-2000s," he said. "We were at a bunch of fairgrounds with our shows and we did truck pulls, and I said, 'Let’s see if we can incorporate drag racing to bring back that Englishtown feel.'"
[Related: Way-back machine: Never-before-seen footage at Overdrive's late-1970s New Jersey diesel drag races]
Certainly, the drag racing leaves an impression. On Friday, anyone in any roadworthy vehicle could "tech in," or show the car to on-site technicians and get the green light to tear down the strip. I saw pickups, semis, straight trucks, and even a motorcycle mash the pedal at the first sight of a green light.
"Friday is like a test and tune, open to all vehicles," Conrad said. "If you brought your car, a stock street car right off the road, they'll take a look at it to make sure everything is working, like brakes and such, make sure you have a helmet and a valid driver's license" and then sign a waiver and it's off to the races.
The drag racers competed in different categories: Work trucks, manual, automatic, and "outlaw," for the custom-built, high-horsepower rigs. Most of the truck owners we spoke to were scared to test the limits, given the necessity of truck for work, but some took the risk.
"A lot of the guys didn’t race because of that," said Conrad. "Some were racing and I was surprised. That truck is going to work Monday!"
Conrad said he saw one of those "outlaws" hit 113 mph at the end of the quarter mile.
With more than $120,000 raised for charity, he hopes to keep the show coming back to the dragway every year on the third weekend in July. Even better: The success of this truck show has launched another one.
On August 30 at the East Freehold Showgrounds, 1500 Kozloski Rd. in Freehold, New Jersey, there will be another "big rig show and shine with trophies, food trucks, vendors, light show, and more in the works," he announced.
In the video below, see and hear some of the sights and sounds of the Gear Jammer Magazine Truck Show.
