10-4 Magazine September 2023

experience. There are so many moving parts and details to organize, but thanks to a fantastic group of volunteers – like 40 of them – we have had two successful events and already donated $135,000 to a handful of children’s charities, with the bulk of those donations going to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Our goal is to donate $100,000 each year from here on out, and with your help, we can do it (maybe even more). Dates for next year’s event in Irwindale, CA have been set for April 27-28, 2024, and we hope to see you there. For more details, visit www.truckinforkids.org. For the first 25 years or so, 10-4 Magazine was a small publication with no employees and just a core of four people running almost everything – Erik “Big E” Sieben, his wife Jean, myself, and my wife Shannon. Erik and I did the photo shoots, Erik did sales, I produced the magazine and wrote most of the cover features, Jean ran the office, and Shannon was our distribution manager and helped with show support. We were a well-oiled machine that all worked together perfectly. After Erik and Jean got a divorce in 2014 things got a little more complicated, but we forged on and continued to grow and improve. Then, in 2018, Erik was diagnosed with stage 4 bladder cancer, which he was never able to recover from. Passing away on August 9, 2019, that left the three of us in charge of everything. It took time, but we learned and grew, and also brought in more people to help. In 2016 we brought in former cover trucker (December 2003) John Testa to help build our social media and digital presence. A few years later, we started our weekly live show on Facebook and YouTube, with John as the host, which continues today. Later that same year, we brought in Stephanie Haas as a new contributor to cover truck shows and do features. Known as The Diesel Addict, Stephanie has become not only a regular contributor, but she also manages our social media pages and helps produce the magazine, along with my son, Parker, who is now in charge of the games, and more. In 2019 we brought in Eric Hill to help us at the shows and do ad sales. Over the years, Eric has proven to be a very valuable asset – especially in the Midwest – and a good friend. Over the years (and decades), we have been blessed with an amazing group of people who help us distribute and deliver our magazines throughout the west. People like Jonathan Townsel, Hugo Ruano, Teresa Franco, Ron Kelsey, Derek Bennett, Anita Groen, and Terry Coombs head out each and every month to personally fill our racks in the seven western states (the rest we mail out). Our largest areas of distribution are the Pacific Northwest and Central California. Pioneers who helped us pave the way in the PNW include our friends James Davis, Bryan Welsh, and Ron Pettijohn. Without their tireless efforts early on in 2007 and 2008, the Pacific Northwest would not have become as influential of an area for us as it is today. Another invaluable asset to 10-4 Magazine is our fantastic contributors. Without them, we would not have a fun publication, packed with informative and interesting stories, features, and monthly articles. Thank you to Wayne Schooling, John and Kim Jaikes, Bruce Mallinson, ClintMoore, SharLeigh,DennisMitchell, Trevor Hardwick, Frank Strohmyer, Art 10-4 Magazine / September 2023 11 Czajkowski, Bryan Welsh, Colin Kund, Norma and Terry Hannigan, Chad Violet, Troy Miller, Eric Hill, Miss Flatbed Red, Vic Vasselin, Norman Chapman, and others for contributing amazing things over the past three decades. A few other contributors that left their mark on 10-4 include RJ Taylor, Stan Holtzman, Ken Skaggs, and Suzanne Stempinski. We are currently welcoming a new wave of contributors including Duncan Putman, Mark Harter, and Layton Henderson. Here are some fun 10-4 facts. The only three people to have the same truck on the cover more than once are Ron Kelsey, Mike Maggini, and Nick Bruno. Ron Kelsey and his “Sunrise Express” Peterbilt 359 was featured on both our January 1998 and June 2009 covers, while Mike Maggini and his yellow and green flamed 2-axle Peterbilt 379 was on our March 2003 and March 2023 covers. Nick Bruno and his 1951 GMC Series 900 was featured on our 5th issue (way back in November 1993) and then again 25 years later on our November 2018 cover. The person with the most covers, which include a mix of his own trucks (2) and trucks he has built (3), is Jeff Botelho with five cover features. Over the past three decades we have printed 369 editions, and doing a little estimated math, we believe we have printed close to 10 million copies of 10-4 Magazine! Our longest contributor would be Wayne Schooling, who has provided a “Wayne’s World” article every month since 1994, and our longest surviving advertiser is Vic Caliva of Caliva’s Truck Wash and Polishing. Vic’s advertisement has appeared on the back cover of every issue of 10-4 since the second edition came out on September 15, 1993!!