10-4 Magazine November 2024

Truck Show Report: By Eric Hill Being a contributor for 10-4 and somewhat of a veteran of the magazine, I’m often asked two questions: what makes for a good truck show and what is it about each event that makes it worthwhile to write about? These are very good questions, and I will try to answer those questions in this report. I’ll begin with the premise that the Top Gun LargeCar Shootout is held at a location centrally located in the Midwest, at a very large and spacious venue, with an abundance of friendly Midwest people, and most importantly, a large selection of top notch large cars. Rantoul is in east central Illinois and just a 60-minute drive from my home in Normal, IL. With it being a short drive from where I live, it’s almost in my backyard. So, it’s convenient to attend and one I anticipate going to each year. For the first time in a long time, this year’s show was not affected by bad weather. But more on that topic later. The 17th annual event took place at the Aviation Center the weekend of July 26-28, 2024. It’s a working-class show that continues to grow in significance and popularity each and every year. There has been a steady increase of participants to this event from year to year for the past three years. The total number of trucks that participated in this year’s show was 270, which was an increase from the 2023 truck show by roughly 17 trucks. The show opened at 9:00 AM on Friday and Saturday, and shut down at midnight both days. There were 126 trucks that drove in the Friday Night Lights Parade from Rantoul, south on 42 to Thomasboro, and then returned to the show field. The parade started at dusk, and from the beginning to the end, when the last truck was parked, took roughly three hours to complete. Saturday’s activities included the fun Kiddies Pedal & Pull Competition near the registration tent from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. This event was followed by the crowd favorite Jake Brake and Stereo Competitions from 4:00 to 5:00 PM in the huge parking lot east of the show field. Saturday’s soulful musical entertainment was provided by the Parrish Trio, a family band, locally from Rantoul. The band played center stage under the big white tent, framed with a backdrop of the central Illinois skyline and lights, reflecting from the trucks and trailers, parked around the show field. Food vendors provided a variety of fare at the event Friday and Saturday that included Camelo’s Tacos, Grandpa’s Ice Cream, Island Snow & Go, Podium BBQ, and TK’s Wings. I sampled the tacos from Camelo’s and BBQ from Podium and the food from both vendors was good quality and tasty. The number of food vendors continues to grow each year, which benefits all who attend. When I go to truck shows at all these various locations, I always look for local restaurants to check out and sample their food offerings. One of my favorites is Agave Mexican Restaurant on the east 54 10-4 Magazine / November 2024 side of Rantoul. On Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to have dinner with Guthrie Waechter and Kelly Fore from HD Equipment at Agave where we all enjoyed great Mexican cuisine and some stimulating conversation. On Saturday evening, a group of us from the truck show traveled to the small central Illinois town of Fisher, home of the Fightin’ Bunnies, where we had great bar food at the Wild Hare. It was a large group with some real characters. I won’t mention any names, but they all did a good job of providing the evening’s fun entertainment. It’s always important to mention the various vendors and sponsors who play a significant role at Top Gun. Not only do they offer their products and services at the show, but they also provide critical financial and promotional support. This year’s sponsors and vendors were A&M Entertainment, Bennett Transportation, CIT Trucks, Dickerson Custom Trucks, Diesel Ride, Dominguez IronWorks, HD Equipment, JX Enterprises, Large Car Magazine, OOIDA, RoadWorks Mfg., TOP NOTCH AT TOP GUN