The bad thing about the Guilty By Association Truck Show (GBATS) is it’s no longer an annual event. A few years ago, Bryan Martin at 4 State Trucks made the decision to change it from an annual event to every other year. However, the good news is the change has made it turn into a much bigger, much better, and much more well-attended show.
I attend a lot of truck shows and this one compares to the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in many ways. Obviously, MATS is different, being a trucking convention, but the quality of trucks, the nightly entertainment, the variety of scheduled activities for the entire event, along with the number of participants and attendees, makes it feel a lot like MATS in Louisville, KY. The community support from the city of Joplin and surrounding communities is unmatched. I’ve attended four GBATS shows, and this was the best one I’ve attended so far, for a variety of reasons. Bryan Martin said it best, “There’s no place like GBATS!”
This year’s GBATS took place again at 4 State Trucks the weekend of September 25-27, 2025. At past GBATS, there is a full complement of 10-4 staff providing coverage for the show, but because of other truck shows occurring that weekend that also required 10-4 coverage, I was onsite in Joplin covering the 3-day event. The show unofficially started Wednesday morning, September 24, with the opening of the 4 State store and early truck registration. I arrived in Joplin on Wednesday afternoon and, after checking into my hotel, I stopped by 4 State to pick up my credentials, golf cart, and checkout the show field with early truck arrivals. The first folks I spotted was Jerry Linander, owner of the gorgeous black and red “No Fences” W900L KW, and Kate Morrow Whiting, owner of her “Cherry Pie” W900A. We had a great conversation while watching beautiful trucks roll in and admiring a beautiful Missouri sunset.
I reported for duty early Thursday morning and got the day started by 8:00 AM. My routine for the first day of a truck show is to survey the entire show field, meet truck owners, talk to people, and mentally note the trucks that I’m interested in taking photos to include in the show report. There was no shortage of great trucks to choose from. The Thursday schedule was all-day truck registration and the 4 State store open for both truck show attendees and the public. There was a steady stream of trucks getting registered and parked on the show field. Two main events were scheduled for the evening – a Demolition Derby and Bobby Degonia in concert on the Joplin 44 Petro stage. I attended this concert, and Bobby is an accomplished musician from Joplin, MO, well-known for his Country and Alt Country music, and live performances. It was a great concert, with excellent music, and he had a dynamic stage presence!
Friday began with another beautiful southern Missouri sunrise. As I was exiting I-44, the traffic was backed up on the exit ramp all the way up to the entrance to 4 State and the show field. This was a preview of what would be a jam-packed weekend of beautiful trucks and many spectators. The major events on Friday included an FMCSA Q&A session, the first round of the Big Rig Burnouts, Trucker Olympics, Kids Zone activities, FMX Freestyle and Stunt Show, and a Truck & Tractor Pull on the dirt track, south of the 4 State store. The Friday events ended at 10:30 PM.
Between my activities for taking photos and talking to many people, I made it a point to check-out the Big Rig Burnouts and Trucker Olympics. Both were exciting, entertaining, and very well attended. There’s nothing like big rigs burning up drive tires in front of a cheering crowd! After the burnouts, I resumed taking photos of trucks. The only lots that were not completely full of trucks was one north of 4 State Trucks and the Joplin 44 Petro lots. By the end of registration on Friday at noon, almost 700 trucks were parked and ready for the massive crowds to admire.
Friday activities were topped off by the Motocross stunt show and Truck & Tractor Pull starting at 6:00 PM. I enjoy the truck pulls and have attended all of them at every one of the GBATS truck shows I’ve attended. It was difficult finding a spot to park my golf cart because both events were sold out, with over 1,000 spectators in attendance. All that remained was standing room only. Bryan and his crew in the KW cabover booth did a great job of playing music throughout both events and engaging the huge crowd with sing-alongs to popular songs like Sweet Caroline.
I had the privilege of taking photos track-side as the trucks and tractors made their runs down the pulling course. I had an up-close and personal experience with one of the very powerful and loud tractors during a run. Right off the line, one of the tractors began pulling to the left, toward the barriers, as it proceeded down the track. The front-end was off the ground, so the driver couldn’t stop it from swerving left. He finally shut down the tractor two-thirds the way down the track, right in front of me, and several other people. By the time he stopped, we were mere inches from the tractor! It was both frightening and exhilarating at the same time!! Friday night ended on a great note with a concert by a ZZ Top tribute band on the Petro Stage and then an amazing firework display lit-up the Joplin night sky.
Saturday, the final day of GBATS, began with another beautiful late summer morning. For a second day in a row, it was a challenge exiting I-44 on to Highway 43 and getting into the vendor parking lot at 4 State. Saturday proved to be the busiest day of the truck show weekend. Morning activities included a second round of Big Rig Burnouts, Kid Zone activities, a Kiddie Pedal Tractor Pull, a charity raffle drawing, a charity auction for convoy spots, a driver’s meeting for everyone participating in the Special Olympics Convoy later that day, and finally the truck show awards and driver recognition ceremony, which was held on the Petro stage.
Even though GBATS is not known as a big awards truck show, a few awards were handed out to a few well-deserving trucks. The Best Antique went to Bob Harley, People’s Choice went to Shawn Gibson, the Best of Show Bobtail went to Cody McCandles, and the Best of Show Combo was given to Jerry Mies. MHC Kenworth picked their own winner, and that award went to Casey Conrey. The Sweepstakes winner was Jerry Harris, the Hogebuilt Scavenger Hunt winners were Bob and Becky Harley, and one of the raffle winners was David Junschlot, who took home a Sears seat and a set of Grand General flap holders with lights. A second raffle winner, who owned truck #535 (I did not get their name) took home an exhaust kit from Grand Rock and a set of floor mats.
One of the best highlights of the event was the Special Olympics Convoy. Over $70,000 was raised for Special Olympics for the top 12 positions in the convoy. A total of 250 rigs participated in the 12-mile convoy through the streets of Joplin, into downtown Joplin, and ultimately back to 4 State. Many trucks parked downtown for the street party and Saturday night concert. I was offered the opportunity to do a ride-along in “Jaybird’s” 2023 Western Star for the convoy. This was a first for me at GBATS, and I took Jay up on this memorable ride. It was amazing to see so many people lined up along the streets of Joplin, admiring all the trucks and supporting the convoy.
The evening and truck show ended with a Street Party and Trucker Light Show on 26th Street near downtown Joplin. It would not be a street party without great music provided by two well-known and popular acts – The Chad Cooke Band was the opening act, which was then followed by a GBATS concert alumni, Colin Raye. Both groups did an outstanding job, playing music for over two hours, keeping everyone entertained and literally dancing in the streets. Street parties like this take me back to my youth when bands played outdoors like this on a regular basis. It was a great way to end an exciting and action-packed weekend, filled with many great memories.
A very special thanks to Bryan Martin and his staff at 4 State Trucks, the city of Joplin and its surrounding communities for their incredible support and southern hospitality, the Joplin City Police and Fire Department for providing safety and security for all the participants and attendees, and the many volunteers who donated their time to make this the most successful GBATS yet!
The next Guilty By Association Truck Show is tentatively planned for September 2027. The expectation is it will be a bigger, better, more exciting show with more participants, trucks, and attendees from all over the country. If there is a perfect truck show, the 2025 GBATS show was the closest to it. Every aspect of the truck show was nearly perfect and, as far as I know, there were no problems. The weather was ideal, the food was great, everyone was courteous, smiling, laughing, and having a great time. It reinforced what Bryan Martin said, “There’s no place like GBATS!” And I think I agree with him!
EDITOR’S NOTE: We would like to extend special thanks to Jacob Gunderson for providing a few of the photographs for this show report.