22 10-4 Magazine / August 2025 of Clary Trucking. Powered by a 220 Cummins with a 4x3 Spicer setup, Scott recently purchased this yellow and black truck for their collection, saying, “My great grandfather founded the company in 1947, so to have a 1947 Kenworth in our fleet is pretty special now.” While the trucks get most of the glory in Chillicothe every June, there are many hard working individuals behind the scenes who make the Kenworth Truck Show and Parade a success every year. Chillicothe’s plant manager Doug VanZuiden relies on his experienced team, led by Assistant Plant Manager Jack Schmitt, to make the weekend fun for all the Kenworth employees and their families, along with residents of the Chillicothe area, who come out to enjoy the parade. “David Robinson and Tom Arnold are two essential individuals who work closely with Jack and myself to find and invite the best Kenworth trucks and owners from around the country every year,” said Carie Wolfe, who has worked at the Chillicothe plant for 22 years and handles important duties for the show and parade, including coordinating with the Majestic Theatre, the parade route, organizing communication and truck and owner information. “Stacie Robertson does so much behind the scenes as well with our vendors, when it comes time to recognize the trucks, and when the drivers receive their plaques and goody bags during the Friday night dinner,” said Carie, continuing with, “We also rely heavily on Alek Morgan, who is our communications and marketing director here at the Chillicothe plant. Alek takes care of many of the media items that we use for the parade.” In addition, there are so many who contribute in other ways and volunteer their time to the show. Lana Arnold is one of these individuals who plays an important role helping with so much organizational work and registering the trucks and owners once they have been invited and arrive at the show, along with Dan Clary of Clary Trucking, whose company provides trucking services to the plant. Dan generously brings in a catering company and provides dinner for everyone on Thursday night, which even includes an ice cream truck for dessert. Dan will tell you that this is one weekend he looks forward to all year long – he really enjoys spending time with so many great people who share a love for the trucking industry and a love for Kenworth trucks. One of the most interesting parts of the weekend provided to the invited truck owners and their families is a tour of Kenworth’s awesome state-of-the-art assembly facility. “We all look forward to this weekend and we enjoy giving the tours,” said Debra Welch, who is a Fleet Coordinator, and has been employed at Kenworth for 27 years. “From start to finish, when the frame rails roll in to the plant all the way to the end when the truck is driven off the line and out of the plant, it currently takes about 7.5 hours to build a truck,” Debra explained to me on the plant tour. “We’re currently producing around 137 trucks a day right now, but we have the capacity to build almost 200 trucks a day when the market demands it,” Debra added. As impressive as it is to witness Kenworth’s Chillicothe facility in action, Kenworth keeps investing heavily in the plant and it is constantly being upgraded and expanded with new technology to improve quality and efficiency. A recent addition to the plant is a new frame paint booth that is scheduled to go online by the fourth quarter of this year. Also, a new test facility was recently built on the far northeast corner of the property where the trucks are aligned, dyno’d, receive ABS checks, camera and other electronic calibrations, chassis and paint inspection, as well as additional quality inspections before being released to be sold and leaving the plant property. Many of the trucks start arriving throughout the day on Thursday, but the fun begins on Friday. Kenworth goes into full celebration mode beginning with the plant tour and a dinner that night celebrating the trucks and the truckers who brought their rigs and traveled from all ends of our country to be a part of the “World’s Best” truck show and parade. But, when Saturday rolls around, that is when the trucks really shine. Lined up from end to end in a large portion of the plant’s parking lot, Kenworth employees get to see some of the great trucks they build and meet the proud owners who drive them. After the family day has ended, the trucks line up and are individually photographed under the large Kenworth sign on the plant. Then, after arriving back at the Ross County Fairgrounds, a quick meal
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