Cover Feature: By Daniel J. Linss which is what the magazine was called between the years of 1994 and 2000. After another restart occurred in October 1998, things took a turn for the good when dad acquired a 1962 Kenworth wrecker that was purchased from Eddie Tate at Ace High Truck Parts in Wilmington, CA. As a side note, Ace High Truck Parts was a longtime advertiser and supporter of 10-4 Magazine. Their ad appeared in our very first issue back in September 1993 and ran for decades. They were also part of our distribution network, right from the start, and I personally would go to their location to fill their rack each month. While there, Eddie and his son Kevin talked a lot about BBQ, and my initial love and fascination of smoking meat started with them! Sadly, Eddie died several years ago, and the business has since been closed. The old Kenworth wrecker was originally powered by a 290 Cummins. Later, after the 290 blew up, they swapped it with a 335 Cummins, and then at some point later, it was upgraded to a Big Cam II. Towing from L.A. to Fontana was their usual run, and it was common for the V-Bros to be spotted in the truck with their dad – Alfred and Oscar J. would be stuffed into the KW’s small 30” sleeper while older brother Henry would be in the co-pilot seat. By 2000, Henry had his CDL, and he started helping drive the wrecker, which had a twin-stick setup for the 15-speed main and 3-speed Brownie. By the year 2002, the Velasquez family had opened a truck salvage yard in Gardena, CA, and the towing side of the business helped them find trucks to part out. All the boys grew up around this wrecker, which they still have and use, and whenever work needed to be done on the old Kenworth, Oscar J. was usually the one to help dad. Their love for trucks and drag racing took the V-Bros to shows in Tijuana, Mexicali, Arizona, and wherever TFK was happening (Palmdale, Fontana, Famoso and Irwindale) – wherever there were truck drags, The Velasquez brothers grew up around trucks, and from an early age, all four of them were helping their dad rebuild them. But it wasn’t until their uncle Marcos Segovia took them to Truckin’ For Kids at Los Angeles County Raceway (LACR) in Palmdale, CA in October 2002 where they were first exposed to big rig drag racing – and they fell in love with it! From that point on, it was their dream to build and race a hot rod semi together as a family, but that dream wouldn’t become a reality for almost 20 years. Today, V-Bros Racing and their 1800-hp Big Cam Cummins powered 1957 Kenworth are two-time NHRDA World Champions that hold records for both mph (128.53) and elapsed time (11.06 seconds) in the quarter mile. This story began when Oscar Velasquez, the boy’s father, immigrated to the United States from El Salvador in 1977 with a dream of starting his own trucking company. By 1980 he had become an owner operator, hauling containers, with his first rig – a 1974 White Road Commander powered by a 318 Detroit and a 10-speed, with a short wheelbase on Hendrickson suspension. Because of the hard ride, they nicknamed that truck “La Burra” in Spanish, which translates to “The Donkey” in English. But that cabover was a vast upgrade from what he drove back in El Salvador – a 1966 Toyota Stout he used to transport barrels of water to rural areas. By 1981 he had upgraded to a 1975 Kenworth K123 powered with a Cummins 335, and at that time, he realized that Kenworth would be the brand of choice for him. Peterbilt’s are cool, but because of his short stature, he was just better seated in a Kenworth (his own words). By 1984 he had ventured into the produce side of transportation in a long hood Cummins powered W900A pulling a stainless reefer (a truck the Velasquez brothers wish they still owned). Unfortunately, the hard recession of the 1980s would hit the Velasquez household, and dad would have to restart all over again after losing the trucks he owned. By the early 90s, restarting again, he then ventured into hauling mail, and by the mid-90s he had become a US mail contractor. Having a mechanic and body shop background, he never had the need to have work done by any other shop on any of his trucks – he also started getting a lot of help from his four young boys. Being from the troubled streets of South Central Los Angeles, Oscar Velasquez (now 67) made sure to keep his four boys out of trouble by keeping them in the shop all the time. The boys, Henry L. Velasquez, Oscar J. Velasquez, Alfred Velasquez, and Jefrie Velasquez, now collectively known as the V-Bros, were all just kids at the time and they knew that vacation from school and weekends meant time at the shop. Their idea of playtime meant driving the shop forklift or helping by handing dad tools. Back in those early days, they loved looking at all the cool trucks featured in 10-4 Express Magazine, 10 10-4 Magazine / April 2026 RACING FOR THEIR DREAMS
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