Above, run through some of the scenes last week Sunday, September 25, out at the Joplin, Mo., Petro, where one special convoy was staged for what is a special song from trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice. The convoy was long in the making, for sure — I recall Justice talking about the idea as early as March of this year — and came off well from all reports in spite of a growing rain threat that would have put a bit of a cloud over Big Rig Videos’ Chris Fiffie‘s intentions to get plenty of rolling footage for an eventual music video.
If you’ve been following along the past week with my colleague Wendy Parker’s blog, you’ll know that the 100-mile, 14-truck convoy came off without a hitch. It brought together military veterans and patriotically decorated rigs, sometimes in the same unit, to produce a music video for a song that ties together U.S. patriotism, the sacrifices made by our military veterans, and the American truck driver. Tony Justice’s “Stars, Stripes and White Lines” is set for release as a single likely in the new year, sure likewise to be included on the trucker’s next record.
Enjoy the staging video above, with background audio from Justice’s Great American Trucking Show performance of the song to end his set there. (You can hear the performance in full via this link.) And you can read more about the truckers and military veterans participating in the convoy via the pictures and reporting below:
In the convoy lead headed out of the Petro September 25 behind videographer Chris Fiffie’s car was driver and veteran Jon Osburn, behind the wheel of the OOIDA Western Star and display trailer.Owner-operator Jerry Reed of Cassville, Mo., served in the Army and Reserves between the years of 1981 and 1994. Today, leased to power-only Powersource Transportation out of Griffith Indiana, he totes trailers to and from dealers, manufacturers and customers.
That’s Reed’s Peterbilt pulling Wisconsin-based Jerry Kissinger‘s patriotically decorated reefer trailer. Reed’s known Kissinger for years, he says, part of the reason he, by a path too circuitous to do justice, so to speak, here, got involved with the convoy after showing at the preceding Guilty By Association Truck Show down the road at 4 State Trucks.
Michael Suson (pictured, center) of Lawton, Okla., drove his “Truckers for Truckers” 2016 Cummins-powered KW W900 in the convoy. Suson started the Truckers for Truckers Facebook group as a means for drivers who deal with depression and related issues to network and support each other.
The previous night, Suson’s KW had likewise served as pulling power for the step-deck stage at Justice’s live show in downtown Joplin.
Owner-operator Charlie Flowers didn’t serve in the military himself, but his 2000 Peterbilt 379 carries a patriotic theme and, among other members of the family, his daughter was in the Army.Owner-operator Cheryl Pollard, aka “Baby Doll” on the weekly Truckin’ Roundup show available on Spreaker, brought along Army veteran and longtime driver Jeff Scales in her Rudolph Freight rig for the “Stars, Stripes and White Lines” run.
Owner-operators Jim and Tani Langton run leased to Trailer Transit in the Canada-built 2000 Western Star pictured above, carrying a patriotic motif.
The Langtons’ Western Star from the rear, showing off the patriotic headache rack.
The couple, based in Kansas, met after Jim bought the Western Star from Tani’s parents in 2012.
Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient after his military convoy was ambushed in Iraq early this century, owner-operator Sean McEndree today runs in this “Band of Brothers” patriotically decorated custom rig. Stay tuned for more on the 2006 Peterbilt 379, which he piloted in the “Stars, Stripes and White Lines” convoy, and custom work by DB Kustom Trucks, among other suppliers
Navy veteran George Parker (left) talking to Air Force vet Jerry Novak from behind the wheel of Parker’s well-known Freightliner Coronado.
Ohio-based Novak’s 2005 379 (right) brought up the rear of the convoy as it rolled out of Joplin.Truckers not already mentioned or pictured above included:
Nick Como
Robert Evans
Earl Doc Blackmon
Sam Redmon
and Grant Maxey, whom you can read about in this post from earlier this week on Wendy Parker’s blog:
Catch better audio of Justice’s performance of “Stars, Stripes and White Lines” in the final song in this audio from his performance at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, Texas, in August:
