10-4 Magazine November 2024

10-4 Magazine / November 2024 55 Schaeffer’s Lubricants, Truck Parking Club, Truck-n-Awesome, Valley Chrome Plating, and 10-4 Magazine. It would not be a Top Gun LargeCar Shootout in Rantoul, typically held at the end of July, without either very hot and humid weather or severe thunderstorms, but this year we managed to avoid both. At previous shows, at some point during the weekend, a major storm would pass through, and we would have to take down our booth, seek shelter, and sit out the storm. This year was the exception. It was very pleasant and comfortable, with lots of sunshine and very moderate temperatures, on Friday and Saturday. As the awards ceremony was wrapping up late Sunday morning, the summer showers finally moved in, and I had to cut short my photography work. At that point, all the trucks and attendees were beating a fast path out of the Rantoul Aviation Center and heading home. The weekend of activity concluded with the always fun and exciting awards ceremony under the registration tent located in the center of the show field. The awards ceremony started promptly at 9:30 AM and was finished in just over two hours. That’s incredible considering the number of people attending and the number of awards handed out. At the beginning of the ceremony, memorial comments were made for people very important to the development and growth of the Top Gun LargeCar Shootout which included Tom Reitz, Mike Horan, Troy Huddleston, Paul Marcotte, andKameron Wilken. Unfortunately, we will miss all these incredible gentlemen and, sadly, this list seems to increase each year. There were 126 awards presented at the ceremony. First, second, and third place awards were presented for each class, that totaled 12 different classes. The most sought-after awards are the Best of Show trophies, and some of those award winners for 2024 included Zach Curry and his 2016 Peterbilt 389 (Best Working Bobtail), Josh Eaton and his 2016 Peterbilt 389 and 2022 Westmor