10-4 Magazine September 2023

10-4 Magazine / September 2023 33 the day. Trucks also began rolling in for the truck show. Some trucks came from the local area, while others came all the way from Somerset, PA. Todd Gribble brought out his newly updated 2012 Peterbilt 389, Chad Walker brought out his 1985 Peterbilt 359 that was recently stretched, and Chad’s cousin brought out his teal colored 1973 Peterbilt 359. NAST showed up with some trucks, along with the local ATHS chapter, and parked them in the staging lanes of the drag strip by the spectator entrance. The truck show area also had vendors and a variety of food options. Temperatures on Saturday were in the mid-80s, but later in the day the rain came. Racing slowed down a bit, but still continued. One thing that was great was the fact that there was a shuttle that took spectators from one end of the facility to the other. Murphy Tractor & Equipment supplied the tractors, and the Geauga County Fair provided the people hauling wagons. The guys that were driving the shuttles never stopped in the rain. They were still going, even though they were exposed to the rain on the old farm tractors they were using to pull the shuttles. But, regardless of the rain, they continued to shuttle people all day. On the last day of the event (July 2), the Final Eliminations were to be completed rain or shine. This was a rain or shine event. There was no rain policy, meaning the rain wasn’t going to stop the event. It slowed it down a bit, but the event carried on. I talked to a family, and they were sitting in the bleachers when it was raining, and it didn’t bother them one bit. These folks were truly some diehard semi-truck drag racing fans, no doubt! The event was completed on schedule, and the rain finally cleared out in the middle of the day. This is mostly a male dominated sport, but there were two women entered in this event. Tammy Zimmerman of Clinton Township, MI (a veteran driver for Kuhnle Bros.) was the first woman to compete in the Big Rig Challenge in Onaway, MI, and she was competing at this event, as well. Chanelle “Cha-Cha” Beaudin-Cobb of Montreal, Canada, and her 2003 Peterbilt 379 was the other woman entered and competing at this event. It was cool to see the ladies give the guys a run for their money! With this first event now under their belts, Kuhnle immediately began planning their second event – which is being called “Unc’s Fall Brawl” and will be held on October 6-8, 2023, again at Kuhnle Motorsports Park in Thompson, OH. They are claiming this event to be “The Ultimate Uphill Showdown,” and said, “When the smoke turns black, there is no turning back!” For more details or to register for the next event, please visit www.kuhnlemotorsports.com . And the racing winners for Unc’s Semi Stampede 2023 were (see next page):