The largest cash prizes ever offered in a truck beauty show will be at stake in a new nationwide series of truck beauty shows produced by Newport Communications and the National Assn. of Show Trucks.

Over $300,000 in cash will be paid out in the Stars & Stripes Show Truck Series will culminate with the National Championship Show Truck Finals at the Mid-America Trucking Show next March in Louisville.
Stars & Stripes qualifying shows will be held at several participating truckstops around the country, kicking off at Newport's TruckerFest at The Alamo in Reno, NV, in August. Contestants must be members of NAST. The top finishers (three in the Bobtail category and three in the Tractor-Trailer Combination category) at the regional shows will qualify for the National Championship Show in Louisville.
The National Bobtail and Combination champions will each win $30,000 cash, second places will pay $15,000 and third places win $10,000. Cash prizes will be paid through the top 18 finishers in each category of the championship finals. Each qualifying show offers a total of $20,000 in cash, trophies and plaques to be distributed among winners.
Newport has also contracted with Mid-America show management to produce a second event at Louisville: the Paul Young Memorial Truck Beauty Show. Named for the late founder of the Mid-America show, it is open to all truck owners, who will compete for more than $20,000 in cash. A minimum of another $10,000 will go to charity.
"The Mid-America Trucking Show is the largest gathering of truckers in the nation, and the Stars & Stripes championship finals will be one of its highlights," said Bud Farquhar, Newport project director. "We expect this unprecedented increase in prize money, and multimedia promotion of the series, to boost NAST membership and draw show truck entrants in record numbers."
Dates and locations of other qualifying Stars & Stripes shows will be announced shortly.
The National Assn. of Show Trucks (www.nastshowtrucks.org ) is an independent organization of leading truckers who own and operate show-caliber big rigs and bobtails and compete for beauty honors. NAST will handle all entries for both the Stars & Stripes series and the Paul K. Young Memorial Truck Beauty Show.
"Truckers can now qualify for the national championship -- and compete for big prize money as well as the Truck-Lite Trophy--by finishing third or better in just one qualifying show," said NAST President Bob Guy. "That makes a NAST membership a pretty sound investment." Memberships cost $50 per year. More information is available from NAST at (941) 626-1530.