10-4 Magazine August 2022

Truck Show Report: By Eric Hill For over 50 years the mission of the American Truck Historical Society (ATHS) has been to preserve the history of trucks, the trucking industry, and its pioneers. That mission continued and was on full display at the ATHS National Convention and Antique Truck Show, held on June 9-11, 2022, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, IL. Best known as the Land of Lincoln and capital of Illinois, like most state fairgrounds across the United States, the Illinois State Fairgrounds is a very large facility. It encompasses a total of 360 acres on the north side of Springfield and was large enough to accommodate this year’s annual ATHS national show. The fairgrounds were available to early arrivals and registration beginning Tuesday, June 7, and Wednesday, June 8. The show officially began Thursday, June 9. The trucks were parked in seven designated areas spread out on the north, east, and south sides of the fairgrounds. Other important designated areas were for transport parking, truck washing, photos, and spectator parking. Because of the size of the show field, using a golf cart was probably the only possible way to visit all the areas and check out all the trucks in attendance at this show. Unlike other truck shows, ATHS is very organized and structured for its hours of operation and planned activities. The show opened at 7:30 am and closed at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Saturday hours were from 7:30 am and officially closed at 4:00 pm. There were no planned truck show events after 5:00 pm. It’s intentionally planned this way so that attendees and members have an opportunity to socialize and spend their evenings together. We experienced a mixed bag of weather over the weekend for the show. I arrived early Thursday morning with the plan of touring the entire field in the cart that I had rented for the weekend to get familiar with the truck parking and the layout of the show. Even the best laid plans can be thwarted by Mother Nature – and here, that was the case on Thursday. The day began with clouds which eventually lead to rain on and off throughout the day. Not all was lost. I was able to get a feel for where all the trucks were parked throughout the show and develop a strategy for taking photos on both Friday and Saturday. Weather on Friday and Saturday was more accommodating for the truck show. The sun came out on Friday and, typical of the weather in central Illinois, 54 10-4 Magazine / August 2022 LAND OF LINCOLN