The 4th annual Bobtail Apparel Truck Show (BATS) was once again held at the Dixon May Fairgrounds in Dixon, CA on October 17-19, 2025. This year’s event proudly featured “The Godfather” show truck – the same truck that pulls our show trailer – on all the show ads, swag, merch and badges, so our booth was blessed with “center stage” privileges at BATS 2025. Not that we don’t always get a nice location for our head-turning combo, but this year we got some extra special treatment thanks to “The Godfather” Maggini show truck (which was also featured on our cover way back in April 2002, but it looked completely different back then). But it is pretty cool that the truck that pulls our trailer to the local shows today also has some history with us – it also happens to be one of my favorite trucks… ever!
Arriving at the fairgrounds Friday afternoon, October 17, we quickly got set up for the show’s 3:00 PM opening to the public. On hand to help us were Roger and Annette Ghidelli, who drove the truck and our show trailer to the show, and our resident digital manager John Testa, along with his girlfriend Julia, who we hadn’t seen in a while. Friday was not very busy, besides the show guys parking trucks, so we cut out early to go to our annual dinner at Bud’s Pub in downtown Dixon where their specialty (and my favorite) is an amazing blackened prime rib. Back at the show, Cadillac Rodeo played great live music on both Friday and Saturday night.
With temperatures in the mid to upper 70s each day with clear blue skies, the weather was perfect for a fall truck show in California. With 181 trucks parked on the grass at the fairgrounds, the “celebrity” judges (Rod and Kevin Pickett and Steve “Gringo” Mitchell) had their hands full on Saturday, walking around with clipboards, judging all the trucks in the various classes. And there were plenty of nice rigs to contend for the trophies and specialty awards!
Some of the trucks that stood out to us included some of the usual suspects like Silva Trucking (Best Fleet), North Coast Wine (Best Engine), Central Valley Transport (Best Lights), KT Charboneau Trucking (Best Antique), Hildebrand’s Black Market Express (Best Audio) and, of course, plenty of trucks from Lowrie Trucking. But, three that were parked right in front of our booth were lookin’ real good, as well. Those trucks included Andrew Wixom’s metallic gray and maroon 2019 heavy haul Peterbilt 389 and matching lowboy, which earned Best of Show, along with McAbee Hay Company’s green 2023 Peterbilt 389 and flatbed, and a clean white and red 2020 Peterbilt 389 hooked to a polished fuel tanker brought by Chris Nash. Looking straight at these trucks from our booth, we had a great view all weekend.
Some other standouts at the show would include Doug Smith’s fleet of caution yellow and white dump trucks, transfers, flatbeds, and a custom rat rod 1951 GMC service truck, fitted with a screaming Detroit, and laying in the grass. I also liked Jared Morrison’s red and silver hay-hauling Peterbilt (and matching squeeze) and his greenish-grey with black fenders 2024 Peterbilt 389 hooked to a stepdeck, A.J. Johl’s 2016 light grey Peterbilt 389 with even lighter grey flames (which earned Best Paint), and Dylan Badders and his “Fine Wine” 2005 W900L. One of my very favorites that is always at this show is Anthony Baca’s brown, yellow and orange 2-axle 1985 Peterbilt 359 with the old “swoop” paint scheme – so cool!
On late Saturday afternoon, Miss Shannon and Annette decorated our booth and lounge area for Halloween, complete with flashing lights and candy. Later that afternoon, Annette helped our friend Mitch Railsback celebrate his 65th birthday with a cookie cake and Mitch’s favorite liquid refreshments (mostly the famous margaritas offered at the show).
Once it got dark, the light show ensued, lighting up the fairgrounds in a spectacle of glowing LEDs. Staying late that night to enjoy all the show had to offer and accommodate the increased flow of public traffic walking around, we didn’t shut down the booth and head back to the hotel until after 11:00 PM. It was a long but fun day – but also very relaxing, as we just hung out a lot in “the lounge” we set up next to our booth in front of our show trailer (which is stocked with drinks, snacks and a full bar inside) and visited with friends for much of the day and night.
The awards began at about 10:00 AM on Sunday morning and started with the handing out of a few raffle prizes. Then, it was time to announce all the winners and hand out the trophies. The specialty trophies were once again way over-the-top, especially the Best of Show trophy, which featured a hand-painted and polished stainless plate flanked by two eight-inch diameter (maybe even ten-inch) stacks. The entire award was like four feet wide and five feet tall – and weighed a lot! As mentioned before, that went to Andrew Wixom for his cool heavy-haul Peterbilt 389.
Once the awards were handed out and the pictures were taken, it was time to pack up and head home. Thanks to Madison Lowrie and everyone at Bobtail Apparel and Lowrie Trucking for always treating 10-4 Magazine like family and giving us “center stage” privileges. If you find yourself in the area of Dixon, CA (half an hour west of Sacramento) in the fall of 2026, carve out some time to attend this show, as it is always a fun weekend. And thanks to Bobtail Apparel for deciding to feature “The Godfather” truck on just about everything at BATS 2025 – it was a welcome surprise, and Annette spent enough money on merch to probably pay for the show! And this year’s winners were:
BOBTAIL (2022 & NEWER)
Winner: Cole Conley, 2024 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: C.G. Soza, 2022 Kenworth W900L.
BOBTAIL (2011-2021)
Winner: Troy Lathrop, 2018 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: Jacob Rodriguez, 2015 W900L.
BOBTAIL (1981-2010)
Winner: Troy Charboneau, 1987 Pete 359;
Runner-Up: A&S Metals, 2007 Peterbilt 379.
BOBTAIL (1900-1980)
Winner: Jake Wheeler, 1967 Peterbilt 288;
Runner-Up: Charlie Cunningham, 1965 Pete 352.
BOBTAIL PRO SHOW TRUCK
Winner: Joyce Hofstee, 1979 Peterbilt 359;
Runner-Up: Silva Trucking, 2024 Pete 389X.
BOBTAIL PRO WORK TRUCK
Winner: Cole Barbieri, 2023 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: Mike Viviano, 2020 Peterbilt 389.
SPECIALTY DIVISION
Winner: Mike Nelson, 1985 Peterbilt 359;
Runner-Up: Randy Burgess, 2024 Peterbilt 389.
TANKER DIVISION
Winner: Markie Pounds, 2013 Peterbilt 386;
Runner-Up: Chris Nash, 2020 Peterbilt 389.
VAN DIVISION
Winner: Luis Cardona, 2016 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: Alfredo Santos, 2021 KW W900.
TRANSFER DIVISION
Winner: Scooter Adair, 2024 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: Junior Hobbs, 2021 Peterbilt 367.
HEAVY HAULER DIVISION
Winner: Andrew Wixom, 2019 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: Stan Silva Jr., 2019 Peterbilt 389.
FLATBED DIVISION
Winner: Jared Morrison, 2020 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: Ryan Pounds, 2021 Peterbilt 389.
COMBO PRO SHOW TRUCK
Winner: Kelvin Hildebrand, 2026 Pete 589;
Runner-Up: Cody Lowrie, 2024 Pete 389.
COMBO PRO WORK TRUCK
Winner: Tommy Stine, 2021 Peterbilt 389;
Runner-Up: Cody Lowrie, 2021 Peterbilt 389.
PICKUP CLASSIC (1900-1999)
Doug Smith, 1951 GMC 3800.
PICKUP MODERN (2000-2025)
Chris Gibson, 2001 Ford F450.
BEST ENGINE
Cole Barbieri of North Coast Wine.
BEST FLEET
Silva Trucking.
BEST PAINT
AJ Johl.
BEST ANTIQUE
Troy Charboneau of KT Charboneau Trucking.
BEST LIGHTS
Mark Pounds of Central Valley Transport.
BEST AUDIO
Kelvin Hildebrand.
FREDDIE’S CHOICE (HAY HAULER)
Jared Morrison.
HEATHER’S CHOICE (SQUEEZE)
Mitchell Seifert.
BEST OF SHOW
Andrew Wixom of Wixco in Santa Rosa, CA.