Las Vegas became a little more like Disneyland Tuesday afternoon as more than 60 of the best-looking trucks in the nation paraded down the Strip the day before the 40th annual International Trucking Show

, scheduled to run today through Friday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Vacationers, gamblers and other conventioneers stopped in their tracks while walking down the hot sidewalks to gaze at the fancy rigs that added to the spectacle of Las Vegas. The trucks blared their horns, parents lifted their children on their shoulders so they could get a better view, and old ladies waved to the truckers like they were welcoming an old friend back from a long journey.
Joe and Sheri Switzenberg, one of the many people in the parade, made the journey all the way from Kalamazoo, Mich., to enter the ITS Show & Shine. A solo trucker for 16 years, Joe said the parade “really helps the image of truckers in the eyes of the public.”
The contest isn’t a first for him; the Las Vegas show marks the fifth truck beauty show he’s attended this year, including the Paul K. Young Memorial Truck Show in March in Louisville, Ky., where he tied for first place in the 1995-1998 combination category.
Like Switzenberg, most of the truckers in the parade will also enter their trucks in the Show & Shine/Newport Stars & Stripes Truck Beauty Contest, sponsored by Chevron. $400 will be awarded to the top finishers in the bobtail, combination, participant’s choice and charity’s choice awards, with trophies being handed out to the second and third place winners. Also $100 will be given away to the first place winners in each of the class categories, and plaques will be awarded to second and third place class winners.
This Stars & Stripes Truck Beauty Contest is the first of two shows being put on this year. The second one is slated for Aug. 16-19 during RoadStar’sTruckerFest at the Alamo Travel Plaza in Reno-Sparks, Nev.
This year will mark the third time ITS has been at the Las Vegas Convention Center after moving from Anaheim, Calif., several years ago. When first arriving in Vegas, the show was held at the Sands Expo Center, but that left little truck parking. Now, organizers say, there is ample parking across the street from the Convention Center, as well as shuttles running every 15-20 minutes from nearby truckstops, including the TA, Flying J, Pilot and Wild, Wild West. Show hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.