10-4 Magazine May 2023

10-4 Magazine / May 2023 23 people all weekend. Thank you to Trent from the entire 10-4 crew for joining us (and your family, too)! After the booth was set up and I finished my part of photographing the registered trucks, we gathered for dinner before the judging of the trucks entered in the light classes began. Wednesday is the best night to photograph the trucks with lights since the show officially kicks off the next day for spectators. I was in charge of designing the 2023-2024 calendar and the awards presentation PowerPoint, which meant I needed pictures of all the trucks entered for lights. A big thank you and shout out goes to Dan, Eric, and Frank for their help, as the four of us went through and photographed them all on Wednesday night. Plus, the photos for this report were taken by a group of us including the above three, me, and Tim Sieben. Thursday came and marked the opening day for MATS 2023. Over in the 10-4 Magazine booth (#11268) in the North Wing, Team 10-4 was super busy handing out free magazines, posters, and centerfolds, along with selling hats and a brand new t-shirt featuring our March 2023 (and March 2003) cover truck owned by Mike Maggini – a yellow 2-axle Peterbilt 379 with green flames. This shirt proved to be very popular! We will have it available at most of the shows we attend this year in case you didn’t get a chance to get one. We all managed to get together as a team for our annual dinner on Friday evening with 15 of our friends at the Black Olive Italian Restaurant (the old Cardinal Cafe which we all miss). After dinner, we all parted ways and I headed back to the hotel to finish the PowerPoint presentation for the awards ceremony the next morning. It remained very windy through the night and rain came through, but it was gone by the morning. However, the heavy wind remained, but other than that, the temperature was nice, and the sun was out. To close out the truck show portion of MATS 2023, the awards ceremony was held Saturday morning. It was fun to see the reactions of those who won and the cheering that went on. This year, a new award was introduced which was the Troy “The Legend” Huddleston Award, and the Huddleston family presented the award to Zach Curry with his blue 2016 Peterbilt 389. The last award was People’s Choice, and it was given to Cody Warner with his beautiful two-tone green 2022 Peterbilt 389 hooked to a 2018 MAC dump trailer. I usually get askedwhat my favorite trucks are at the shows, and it is usually hard to pick just one. This year, one truck caught my eyes, and turned them misty, along with a lump in my throat – a 1995 Freightliner FLC. The nostalgia and emotions weren’t just felt by me, but by everyone who either saw Troy Huddleston’s truck come into the prep lot or parked on the show lot. Spectator and competitor favorites were Rolan Nolt’s brown 1995 W900 hooked to a matching 2014 Great Dane Super Seal (this rig earned the NAST Best of Show Combo, Best of Show Limited Mileage Combo, and Limited Mileage Best Engine awards). This truck was as nice on the inside as it was on the outside! Another big winner was Conrad Shada with his purple 389 (this truck earned the NAST Best of Show Bobtail, PKY Best Use of Chrome, Limited Mileage Bobtail Best Paint/Graphics, and Best of Show Limited Mileage Bobtail W/No Miles awards). Conrad really cleaned house. His attention to detail with every intricate piece of his truck and how clean he got it was not overlooked by the judges. Austin Duffield brought in a sharp black 2023 Peterbilt 389 and Andrew Reed of Lewis Transfer had a good lookin’ setup with his white with red stripes 2007 Peterbilt 379 and matching covered wagon. Another standout truck was AJ Frankie’s viper red and amplify orange 1985 Peterbilt 359 that took first place in Working Trucking Interior