10-4 Magazine October 2023

36 10-4 Magazine / October 2023 When I think about Michigan, I think of the automobile industry, a state not normally driven through, and multi-axle log trucks. However, in 2018, it became the first place to introduce uphill races to the United States and the first time Neal Dams (48) of Hamilton, MI would experience this kind of racing behind the wheel of his 1999 Kenworth W900L. And let me tell you, this cool race truck will get your adrenaline pumping as its big horsepower sends it screaming down the track. Neal grew up on the north side of Holland, MI and the only person in his family who drove truck was his father for a few years in the 80s. Some people tend to be self-starters and learn as they go – Neal is one of those people. As far back as he can remember, trucking was all he wanted to do. He started in the industry washing trucks for a friend of the family at age 13 and taught himself how to drive in the process. In June of 1994, the day after he graduated from high school, he was in the driver’s seat working for a milk hauling outfit out of Holland driving a straight truck. His experience ranged over the years making him a diversified driver, including pulling both van and stepdeck trailers. Neal thought he finally found his career home in 1999 at a construction company hauling asphalt with a dump truck and pup trailer. Unfortunately, the company closed their doors in 2000. He finally found something he loved moving equipment in the mid-2000s, doing that until 2008, when he was diagnosed with cancer. After a spot was located on his abdomen, he received his diagnosis and started chemotherapy. He said he doesn’t wish chemotherapy on anyone. In reality, this was a wake-up call for him, because he wasn’t living right, nor taking care of his body. He believes this was God’s way of telling him to get his head out of his butt and take better care of himself. During that battle, he spent quite some time watching the big uphill races that happen every year in Notre-Dame-du-Nord, Quebec, which quickly got added to his bucket list. He started driving a Kenworth for someone in 2010 with the intention of eventually owning it, and ten months later he had it paid off, allowing him to accomplish his dream of owning his own truck. From there, he started Neal’s Trucking LLC in 2011. We think we know what our direction in life looks like until life turns out a little differently, because the truck was totaled in Battle Creek, MI during a snowstorm on January 9, 2015. He bought it back, but it just sat until Neal could figure out what he wanted to do with it. Small town locations usually have everyone knowing everyone else, but that wasn’t the case with Neal and his wife Melissa. He was friends with her dad and brother without ever knowing she existed, until her sister-in-law’s The Diesel Addict: By Stephanie Haas birthday. Some get it right the first time, but for some, the 3rd time’s the charm, and he and Melissa married on July 29, 2017, combining the families of her three daughters and his daughter and son. The sameyear theymarried, a frenzy started, as uphill semi drag races were coming to the states. Updates, posts, shares and hype were all over social media that an event called theGreat Lakes Big Rig Challenge, as well as a truck show, was going to be held at the Onaway Speedway in Onaway, MI. Personally, I was pretty pumped about this, as well, as I had also been watching YouTube videos of the big races in Quebec and had always wanted to go. Needless to say, Neal had it on the schedule and he decided it was time to put his wrecked truck back together as a show truck. Melissa was in charge of the interior with the help of Interior Specialists out of Holland, MI while V-Max Transportation out of Zeeland, MI handled the polishing and detailing. PURE ADRENALINE!