Truck Parade Crosses Bridge Silently To Honor Terror Victims

Sept. 14-16, the weekend following the attack on the World Trade Center, truckers made their annual trek to northern Michigan for the sixth annual Richard Crane Memorial Truck Show in St. Ignace

and helped raise almost $3,000 for the Red Cross by purchasing red, white and blue ribbon pins.
Attendance was slightly down, but even in the face of the week’s tragic events and high fuel costs, more than 100 trucks journeyed across the Mackinaw Bridge to line up along the lakefront and at Little Bear East Arena and compete for cash, trophies and prizes.
“We had over 150 phone calls from people wanting to know if the show was canceled,” said Diane Barden, one of the show’s producers. “Everyone said they were glad it wasn’t, that they needed to get away and be with friends.”
The magnificent “Parade of Lights” across the bridge at twilight honored trucking journalist Ruth Jones, who died earlier this year. Her husband, Dee Jones, led the parade driving All Freight’s “Bob’s Pride,” a 2000 black-and-teal Freightliner Classic.
While crossing the bridge, the truckers silenced their horns in memory of those killed Sept. 11.
In Mackinaw City, on the south end of the bridge, fire trucks on two street corners extended their ladders and strung giant flags between them to form a patriotic arch that the trucks rolled under.
Best of Show winners each pocketed $1,000. Top Combo honors went to “March Madness,” the by-now-famous 2000 Peterbilt 379 and muraled bulk tanker driven by Ron Baird and owned by Hoffman Transportation. Mike Duffy’s purple flamed 1989 International 9300 collected the Best of Show Bobtail award.
All winners earned points towards the National Assn. of Show Trucks’ Truck-Lite Trophy National Championship.
Among the surprises in the judges’ decisions: First in Lights-Combo went to Rhett Butler Trucking’s “Frankly, My Dear” 2001 Kenworth T2000 and 1999 Utility trailer with its neon-clad nose and LEDs, beating Buddy Smith’s 1,300-light bark-hauling combo.
And a purple-lace outfitted interior and graphics helped swing Koleaseco Inc.’s bobtail entry into the top Company Truck-Bobtail slot, beating out Ever Fresh Farm’s “The Gambler.”
Other classy combinations acing their class included Rob Harris’s “Not Too Blue” 1994 Kenworth W900L with 1987 Dorsey reefer trailer, Larry and Kim Dyck’s 1987 Peterbilt combo, Dallas and Barb Hughston’s 1999 Peterbilt combo, and the Rhett Butler Trucking combo.
Bobtails climbing to the top of their class competitions included Garry Patterson’s 1982 International Eagle, Jerry and Jannette Grills' 1999 Kenworth W900, and J&J Carriers' 2002 Peterbilt.
The truck show also raised $1,600 in donations for the St. Ignace “Friends of the Animals” shelter, which this year found homes for 265 dogs, 49 cats, one ferret and two pigs.
Information about this and other events staged by Nostalgia Productions is available on the internet at www.nostalgia-prod.com or by emailing edreavie@nostalgia-prod.com.