The A.J. Soza Memorial Truck Show's second edition got under way today, Friday, June 24, at the fairgrounds in Merced, California. The Central Valley location stood in high relief at the early point in the day shown above, when these hay-hauling doubles rolled in with a livestock hauler between them.
Principal show founder C.G. Soza, owner of the small car-haul fleet that bears his name and shown directing the operator to a spot in the rows of rigs lining up to show through Sunday this weekend, recalled his childhood growing up in the region. "That certain smell about the Central Valley in the morning here in California, it always brings me back to my childhood days," he said, growing up surrounded by agriculture. "It's sort of a hay smell," much like the one we were basking in by Soza's own 2016 Kenworth W9 on the lot as the rigs crept by this morning.
Soza's custom KW, hooked here to the 2020 Cottrell car-haul trailer he's paired with it, painted to match.
Day 1 for the show is primarily for the participants to get parked up -- a driver's dinner at 5 pm is followed by, when darkness falls, lights for whoever wants to participate. Saturday the judging starts and activities really heat up.
It's hard to take a picture of a smell, no doubt, but there's plenty more I can give you today based on just several hours at the show so far. I'm here through Saturday. (There will be a lot more to come in the following weeks, no doubt, so stay tuned.)
Owner-operator Erik Vaillette, based north of of the area in Redding and leased to small fleet owner Steve Wilbur's Commodity Transport small fleet pulling a flatbed, was among the first I caught a glimpse of on the way in, staged outside the main lot for detail work.
Vaillette's recently built 2022 custom W900 was getting a full detail job from Amaros Wash and Detail, based in the area and on hand and available to owner-operators coming into the event.
