The sixth annual Truck Function in Junction (TFIJ), held on July 14, was once again a great way to spend the day and cruise through the night. Like always, Dan and Cindy Alley, founders of this event, along with Jeff Haffner and everyone else who helps, once again did a great job – especially this year, as the event got a new venue that sent the trucks out to pasture.
We’re all happy that our original venue, Junction City High School, made some major additions to their campus this year, but this upgrade consumed over half of the event’s truck parking, forcing the crew to search for a new venue. Thanks to Greg Pratt and the entire Pratt family, owners of Eagle Veneer, a family-owned wood products company, for letting this year’s show take place on their property in Junction City, Oregon.
The grassy pasture for the event this year was a little rough at first, but that didn’t stop a few regulars from showing up Friday to get that good spot and camp for the night. The producers of this event are looking to eventually make this a Friday and Saturday show and campout, so these early-arrivers worked out great for a test run.
Saturday morning got very busy, very quickly, when over 80 trucks and several vendors packed the field before the coffee had even gone cold. Schott Truck Parts & Accessories, PAPE Kenworth, DSU Peterbilt, McCoy Freightliner and Tec Equipment were all there and set-up before my son Lincoln and I even showed up.
Ron Stone and the crew from Oldland Distributing were also set up with their fine layout of trucks, as well as George and Ryan Van Dyke, along with much of their family, bringing with them an official “Frampton Ice House” trailer pulled by George’s teal and white Peterbilt 352 cabover. Bill Frampton himself was there to check out the Van Dyke family’s awesome tribute to his years of cool trucks, but if you asked Bill, he’d say, “I was just glad to catch up with my old friends.”
This year, the TFIJ had plenty of great food and good music, including Andy Manuel of our local oldies station, along with a few great food vendors, making this the perfect hangout for the day. One new addition to the event this year was the fact that it now awards one trophy – the “Frampton’s Choice” award. This year was the first year where the legendary Bill Frampton himself picked his favorite truck and then awarded the lucky owner with a handmade trophy. This year’s trophy was made out of a 3408 Caterpillar piston, built by our good friend Jim Marcy, owner of J&R Truck Repair in Junction City, Oregon. The first winner ever of this award went to Jeff Patterson and his beautiful white and green Kenworth W900A flatbed truck and trailer, driven by its original driver, our good friend Ron Van Altvorst.
Everybody truly enjoyed the fact that it didn’t get scorching hot throughout the day, making this awesome event even better. The show and shine, which featured almost 100 trucks, wound down around 5:00 pm, giving all the folks a few hours to re-group before the scheduled evening cruise began.
Around 7:00 pm, everyone began firing up their rides, getting ready for the evening cruise, right down a closed-off Main Street (Highway 99) through the middle of Junction City. And once Dan Alley led everyone out to the strip with his outstanding white and tan W900L, the whole event picked right up again. More and more people line Main Street in Junction City each year to watch these sweet trucks drag the line – and it just gets bigger and better every time!
Speaking of “getting bigger and better” each time, Dan and the crew plan on making their new venue even better next year thanks to Jesse Bounds of Bounds Hay Company. Jesse plans to completely smooth-out and then seed the field this year, so next year the field will be grassy and nice, making this an even more enjoyable event next year.
Dan, Cindy, Jeff and I would all like to personally thank each and every person that continues to make this show better each year. And an extra huge “thank you” goes out to Gregg Pratt and the entire Pratt family for helping to make the 2018 Truck Function in Junction the best one yet! We hope to see you all in Oregon next year. Stay tuned to 10-4 Magazine for dates and details.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We would like to thank our friend Tony Merck of Rocky Road Photography for helping us out and providing all the great pictures for this report.