Truck Mania!
California’s Largest Truck Event
California is a big state. From top to bottom it’s nearly 1,000 miles long, and it boasts the World’s 5th largest economy. So, when the folks at Sacramento Raceway in Northern California touted their extravaganza as the “…States’ largest truck event,” we were a little skeptical. But guess what, they were right! On a sunny Saturday, more than 5,000 racers and spectators came through the gates, to witness what would be one heck of a show, especially for a one-day event.
The morning of Truckmania was kicked off by a vendors’ row, food trucks, and drag racing, where everything from 17-second stockers to 9-second drag trucks made the call. The only rule was that you needed a truck, so there were plenty of fun gas versus diesel matchups throughout the day, as a number of LS-powered street stormers made the trip. We were there for the diesels of course, and we were surprised at the number of 10 and 11-second street trucks that made the call. Even some sled pulling rigs put on slicks and got into the action! There was also rows and rows of chrome in the show n’ shine area, where you could find everything from clean square-body stockers, to one-off show builds.
During any downtime (which was few and far between) spectators could walk over to the donut pit, a series of concrete barriers lined up to create a big box–where it was anything goes. Want to do a standing burnout? No problem. Sling your truck around in wild donuts? You could do that too. There was no scoring, just big gasps from the crowd any time a truck nearly swung into the wall. The tire spinning continued on in the afternoon, as after the drag races there was a giant burnout contest.
Towards the evening, there was a switch from the cement to the dirt arena, as it was time for Tough Trucks, a competition that pitted rigs against an off-road obstacle course. Some competitors were in it for time, while others joined the fun with $500 trucks that they absolutely destroyed. We didn’t see many diesels, but we’ll be on the lookout for a cheap ride for next year! The final event of the night was the sled pulls, where classes from Stock, to Street, to Modified were all represented. The competition was fierce, with Duramax-powered GMs and Cummins-powered Dodges battling it out for the top spots.
With competitors and spectators coming from all over the Northwest including Nevada, Arizona, and even Idaho, it was clear Truckmania lived up to the hype. Now, it we can just find a $500 diesel for Tough Truck next year…
