This was the 9th year that I have attended the mechanical madness known as the Truck Pulling and Acceleration Competition held every Labor Day in the beautiful town of St. Joseph DeBeauce, Quebec, Canada. You might wonder if this event might get a little ho-hum after so many years, but NO WAY!!! If the unbelievable display of brute diesel power doesn’t set the hook in you, the friendly racers and fans will, as they put this event over the top, year after year.
The competition breaks down to attacking the 700-foot long 9% uphill section of St. Christine Street in either bobtail form or hooked to a 53-foot box trailer, loaded with 30,000 pounds of ballast, and doing the uphill dance with the big dogs. The staging is similar to traditional drag racing with a Christmas Tree, but a chock-block is put in back of the rear axle to hold the vehicle in place. Then, it’s time to build boost and wait for the green light, which signals that the hill is yours. With thousands of screaming fans, lining both sides of the entire route, the racing is up-close and intense. Once at the top, you drop the trailer and then wait to do it all over again.
With some trucks approaching 3,000 horsepower and 6,000 pound-foot of torque, you can be sure that many teams brought a bunch of extra driveline components to replace the weakest links in the power-train, which were popping all weekend. Congratulations to all the winners, both Canadian and a handful of racers from the United States, who all combined for an outstanding weekend of diesel-powered entertainment.
I would be remiss not to offer a huge “thank you” to event organizer Benoit Gagne, Darcy Wildman and all of the team who make this event happen. Also, a huge thumbs-up to the Canadian residents of St. Joseph DeBeauce for always making me feel right at home. I’m already looking forward to my next visit to this upcoming event, held on August 30-31 and September 1, 2019. For a load of information, photos and amazing videos, point your web browser to www.bigrigdragracing.com and check out the best show on 18 wheels!