Last month, we all went “back to the future” as the 44th annual Truckin’ For Kids (TFK) Charity Show & Drags moved back to Famoso Dragstrip in Bakersfield. Some may or may not know, but TFK was held at this location in 2004 and 2005, so 20 years later, we returned – and it was awesome! With 253 of the finest trucks on the lot, a packed Kid’s Zone with games and rides, 25 vendors, and a bunch of big rigs drag racing on Sunday, it was a great weekend. Not to mention, a bunch of money was raised for Shriners Children’s Hospital, which is what this event is all about!
Over the years, TFK has been held at many different locations. For the last 18 years, it was at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California, but after that facility was shut down permanently, and I mean permanently (it was leveled), in January of 2025, we had to find a new home for the event. Thankfully, our friend and partner Tim Huddleston, who ran Irwindale Speedway and recently purchased Kern County Raceway, where our “10-4 Trucker Rodeo & Show” was held last November, took over the lease at Famoso Dragstrip, as well.
Having a great relationship with Tim, we were able to secure this location in late December (2024) and make our official announcement in January 2025. But that didn’t leave a lot of time for us to plan and prepare for the event – which was being held at a new location, with a new owner, in a new region (Central California)… but we got ‘er dun!
It was hard to leave the Southern California area because TFK has always been considered a SoCal show, but with no more available drag strips in the area, we had no choice. Truth be told, this new location, which is so much bigger than Irwindale Speedway, is a much better venue for this kind of event. We now have space for more RVs, more trucks, more vendors, more spectator parking, and grandstands large enough to hold three times more fans than Irwindale held. In short, we have plenty of space for not only the show, but growth, as well. Nevertheless, moving to a new location can be stressful, but everyone at the dragstrip made us all at TFK feel right at home.
Something that was different this year was the ability to park trucks and let vendors get set up on Friday, the day before the show started. That has never been an option at TFK. On Friday, the gate was open from noon to 7:30 PM (it was supposed to close at 6:00 PM but trucks kept coming so we kept parking), and we parked 150 trucks that day. Most of the vendors came in and got their booths set up, too, and the vibe for most of the day was chill and relaxing. What a concept! Saturday was so much better, as well, since over half the trucks and most of the vendors were already there. We parked 100 trucks on Saturday, and the gates opened to the public at noon.
The weather was awesome, with temps in the mid-70s, and a light breeze blowing most of the weekend. The foot traffic on Saturday was really busy, as spectators came to see the trucks, play in the Kid’s Zone, and buy raffle tickets for over 30 amazing items donated by our friends and 10-4 Magazine business partners. Companies like Valley Chrome, Toys 4 Trucks, Hogebuilt, West Coast Foam, RLK Services, SpareTime Fab, Pickett Custom Trucks, Lifetime, 4 State Trucks, Dane Nelson Bugshields and so many more, made sure the items in the raffle were worthy of buying tickets.
This year we did the raffle/auction differently. In past years, we did a silent auction, where people wrote down their bids on an item they wanted, and then the highest bidder “won” the item after the auction closed. To mix things up a bit, we decided to do it as a raffle this year. Each item had its own box, and after people bought raffle tickets, they dropped them in the box or boxes of the items they wanted to win. Once the raffle closed, just before the awards, we drew one ticket out of each box and then announced the winners. It actually worked out pretty well, so I think we will do it like this again next year. We also did a live auction for two items – the custom wood truck and trailer that Jeff Delacy builds and donates to TFK each year (this year’s truck was a Freightliner cabover truck and trailer), and a luxury suite, along with ten entry tickets, for our Trucker Rodeo this coming November. Big thanks to Justin Mascaro who paid $2,200 for that suite, and to Chad Ellison who paid $2,000 for the one-of-a-kind TFK keepsake wood truck!
Like always, the “Bonus Buckets” that we give to the first 200 people who register their trucks online before the show were once again a big hit. These brightly colored (yellow or blue) buckets were filled with all sorts of goodies like Time 2 Shine polish, BullSnot spray tire butter, Zephyr polish, a bottle of VPR (Vinyl, Plastic, Rubber) spray cleaner from Sic Rigz, microfiber towels, air fresheners, stickers, a notepad and pen, a duffle bag, a grocery tote, a voucher for a free event shirt, keychains and more. Thank you to A & L Truck Supply for donating the bucket itself, and everyone who contributed to filling it. We had a few no-shows, so the remaining five or six buckets will be sold at upcoming truck shows this summer.
Lined up along a fence and facing the trucks, the vendors had great exposure to the people walking around the show. Famoso is a somewhat isolated location, so we were worried a bit about getting spectators to come, but they did. Not as many as we would have in Irwindale, but still a good amount – maybe even more than we expected. As time goes on and we put some roots down at Famoso, we are sure the crowds will come. Thanks to all the amazing vendors that came out and supported the cause.
There is so much more space at this location, competitors were also able to drop their trailers in a separate area if they wanted to, at no charge, and we were also able to add onsite mobile washing and polishing. Thanks to the brothers at Reyes Polishing & Detailing for coming out on Friday and Saturday and washing as many trucks as they could – those boys were busy! Next year we might need to add a few more detailers to the mix, just to ensure that everyone who wants a wash can get one.
Our Kid’s Zone was expanded this year, too. In addition to all the fun bright green games we bring each year and a larger tent for shade, our friend and past cover trucker Ron Ver Steeg brought out four little kiddie rides, and these things were a huge hit. Like what you used to see outside of the grocery stores years ago, these little rides were a boat, a race car, a truck and a dinosaur, and they didn’t cost a thing – just push a button and away you went. And these old rides were tough enough to accommodate both young children and adults who are still young at heart to get on them. Next year, we will have even more of these fun little kiddie rides, including a 10-4 truck, according to Ron.
Another fun thing we do for the kids at TFK is offer a coloring contest on both days of the show. On Saturday, we give away six bikes (3 boys and 3 girls in different age classes), and then on Sunday, we give away six more! We would like to thank our supporters and friends at Premier Paving in Ontario, CA for once again supplying the twelve assembled bicycles, along with gift cards, so they can buy a helmet. Also, thanks to Polly Kasper (my mother in law) for managing the coloring contest, and two of my kids, Parker and Paige, and their friends Kenan and Jordyn, for picking the winners each day.
This year, the TFK show was also honored to be added to the short list of qualifying events for a new national championship series, which culminates at Atlanta Motor Speedway in November. Our friend Evan Steger of Time 2 Shine and Evan’s Detailing & Polishing came out from Wisconsin to pick trucks to be invited to compete in the championship finale. He ended up inviting seven trucks to go to Atlanta. Being chosen is an honor, and those seven truckers were very happy, to say the least. Thank you to Evan for coming out and being a part of TFK. For more information about the national championships, search Stars, Stripes and White Lines Truck Show.
After a long but fun Saturday, the sky put on a light of show of its own by sharing a beautiful sunset with us. Then, it was time to “Light the Lot” and make some noise (TFK is known for having one of the loudest light shows out there). And light the lot, they did. Wow, what a spectacle! We cruised around on the golf cart, took pictures, talked to friends, and just enjoyed the perfect evening. By 10:00 PM, things had settled down, so we packed up and headed to the hotel. Partway through the light show, a very short rain shower came through, but it wasn’t even enough to make the ground really wet – it was just enough to make everyone have to wipe down their trucks again on Sunday morning.
Speaking of golf carts, something else that was offered this year that wasn’t available in the past was golf cart rentals to the general public. JM Precision of Bakersfield brought out not only the carts for the TFK staff and volunteers, but a bunch to rent, as well. They kept running out, so they kept bringing more! The Famoso lot is a large area to cover on foot, so I am sure many folks were happy to have the option of renting a cart for the day – or the entire weekend. This was a big hit, and something we will do again next year, for sure.
As mentioned before, we had over 250 trucks on the lot, but I have to say, it was one of the finest collections of trucks we had ever seen at TFK. The quality of trucks in attendance was through the roof. All the “cool kids” and fleets were there, including names like Ingrid Brown, Chad Ellison, Bobby Vaz, Stan Alles, Albert Guzman, Bedrock, Central Valley Transport, Richie Foster, DeVries, DanDee Dairy, Rod Pickett, North Coast Wine, Double E, Hettinga, Ten West, Hammett Excavation, PJ Brink, Heet Trucking, Carballo Transport, JDT, Rivera Trucking, Soza Trucking, Bill & Luke Rethwisch, DeBoer, Lagomarsino Transport, Justin Mascaro, Rollin’ R, Vince Jenkins, Silva Trucking, Monarch Heavy Haul, Basse (Trey), Oldenkamp, Kent Swapp and so many others.
On Sunday, the day started out a bit gloomy, but by early afternoon, it was nice and clear. The drag racing began at noon, and those grandstands were pretty packed! The first to make a pass on the quarter-mile track and open the show was one of Tony Franco’s jet dragsters (he brought two) from Muy Caliente Racing. After that blisteringly fast run, a not so fast, but very fun, race happened. Me and my TFK partner Tim climbed into a couple of those little, tiny Shriners cars and did a drag race of our own. These cars go about 30 mph and hardly have any brakes, so it was exciting, to say the least. After that the real racing began, which went on for about four hours, then it was time for the awards.
This is a non-judged event, but we do give out about 20 trophies, most of which are chosen by fellow competitors, the people at the show, or just earned (like the drag racing awards and the Largest Fleet and Longest Tow trophies). We’d like to thank Dickerson Custom Trucks and Rockwood Products for building and donating all our trophies. This year, they were painted blue, which was different, and six of the bigger ones featured lights. Special thanks to Doug Kline at DCT for making sure the trophies were perfect, and to Molly and Dustin for getting them delivered to the track just in the nick of time on Friday afternoon.
We would like to thank everyone who came out and participated in the event. We would also like to thank each and every one of our volunteers – over 30 of them – for coming and helping us run the show. Many of these folks live in Southern California, but even after the venue change, they still opted to go “over the hill” and help out. Some people even came from as far away as Arizona, Washington, and Montana to volunteer! Thanks to Jacob Gunderson for coming out from Wisconsin to help us with the pictures, along with Tim Sieben and his daughter Gracie, and John Testa, who came from Oregon to do live remotes. Special thanks to our friends Roger & Annette Ghidelli for pulling our TFK trailer to the show and, this year, for cooking us all breakfast, too.
All of us on the TFK team, which includes me, my wife Shannon, Tim Sieben and his wife April, our matriarch Jean Osugi, and special help from Kris and Angelina Gaare, can’t thank you all enough for coming out and supporting the cause. Raising money for kids in need is what this show has always been about, and we are happy to announce we will be making a $60,000 donation to Shriners this year, bringing our four-year total to $270,000! This show has been “a good time for a great cause” for over 40 years, and going “back to the future” might be what keeps it going for a few more decades. Next year’s dates have been set for May 2-3, 2026, so put it on your calendar now and keep an eye on www.truckinforkids.org for more details as they become available.
And this year’s winners were…
SHRINERS CHARITY’S CHOICE: Jose Juarez – Pink 2022 Peterbilt 389 with Matching Reefer Trailer.
LONGEST TOW: Richie Foster – Traveled 2,463 Miles from Darlington, Pennsylvania.
LARGEST FLEET: Central Valley Transport (9 Trucks).
PEOPLE’S CHOICE ANTIQUE: “Big Ed” Davis – Teal 1979 Kenworth W900A.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE BOBTAIL: Elias Garcia, EG Trucking – Pearl White 2019 Peterbilt 389.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE COMBO: Brandon Mendenhall, Hammett Excavation – 2023 Black Cherry Peterbilt 389 and Matching 85-Ton Rackley.
COMPETITOR’S CHOICE ANTIQUE: “Big Ed” Davis – Teal 1979 Kenworth W900A.
COMPETITOR’S CHOICE BOBTAIL: Josh Carballo, Carballo Transport – 2013 Black and White 2013 Peterbilt 389.
COMPETITOR’S CHOICE COMBO: Billy Ezernack, Double E Trucking – 2023 Grey and Purple Peterbilt 389 and West-Mark Tanker.
BEST ENGINE: “Big Ed” Davis – Teal 1979 Kenworth W900A.
LIGHT THE LOT BOBTAIL: “Big Ed” Davis – Teal 1979 Kenworth W900A.
LIGHT THE LOT COMBO: Tommy Stine, North Coast Wine – Silver and Maroon 2022 Peterbilt 389 and Matching Western Step Deck.
NON-DIESEL PICKUP DRAGS: Winner – Rene Reyes; Runner Up – Mayra Montanes.
DIESEL PICKUP DRAGS: Winner – Nate McCluskey; Runner Up – Mike Partida.
BEST BURNOUT: Arnold Hernandez in the “Cocaine” Super Drag Truck.
SUPER STREET BIG RIG DRAGS: Winner – Chillidogg Martinez; Runner Up – Mike Martin.
SUPER DRAG TRUCK CLASS: Winner – Oscar Velasquez; Runner Up – Mario Monette.