10-4 Magazine October 2023

All the exterior and mechanical work was done in-house by Neal, his brother and dad, and a guy in Clarksville, MI repainted the truck to Emperor Pearl Blue. This is the same truck that Neal changed his mind about showing 30 days prior to the Big Rig Challenge, and instead entered it in the C Class of the uphill races – and the same truck you see pictured here today! The truck, as previously mentioned, is a 1999 Kenworth W900L with a CAT 3406E under the hood, 3.90 rears, and a 252-inch wheelbase. The transmission is a one-off custom 18-speed which might be considered more like a 20-speed. Four transmissions were used to make this one. The truck sports 7-inch stacks, a 13-inch Trux stainless visor, a 20-inch Valley Chrome Bumper, and Hogebuilt full fenders. Inside the cab you’ll find a custom button-tuck interior, along with a sharp hardwood floor. So, what kind of horsepower does this thing have? It hasn’t been on the dyno in a few years, but she moves. Since 2018, he has gone to the Big Rig Challenge, along with its sister event on Labor Day weekend, the Over the Top Diesel Showdown, each year. This year, another uphill racing event was added in the states called Unc’s Semi Stampede at the Kuhnle Motorsports Park located in Thompson, OH at the end of June earlier this year. As a follow-up to that show, Kuhnle is hosting their second event, “Unc’s Fall Brawl” in October 2023. This year has been an exciting one, starting out with the Great Lakes Big Rig 10-4 Magazine / October 2023 37 Challenge, where Neal didn’t place, but he still had a blast anyways! At Unc’s Semi Stampede, he earned a second in bobtail and fourth in the “loaded” class. Something exciting this year for Neal that he got to check off his bucket list was hauling the truck to Notre-Dame-du-Nord in August to participate in the famous Rodeo du Camion in Quebec. He placed first in bobtail on Saturday and third in bobtail on Sunday, but didn’t get to participate in the loaded races because his ECM and supply fuel pump went bad. Next was the Over the Top Diesel Showdown on Labor Day weekend where, for the first time at Onaway Speedway, Neal took a first place in a bobtail class and second in a loaded class with a newly installed transmission to break in. When I asked Neal about the excitement of racing, he said, “It is the coolest thing to do in a truck with your pants on!” I mentioned before that he entered the C Class races at the inaugural Great Lakes Big Rig Challenge. Some may wonder about the classes and how the trucks are classified as such. A Class is modified trucks with multiple turbos, lots of black smoke pouring from the stacks, fast times, and pushing in excess of 3,000+ horsepower. The B Class is the mid-range, with less horsepower than A (and less smoke), while the C Class is the slowest class (seeing it, we would not call these trucks slow) – and also the most affordable. You won’t see much smoke in the C Class because these rigs are the closest to stock. The