The Great American Trucking Show is a trucking convention with more than 500,000 feet of exhibit space, aisles full of vendors, and thousands of professional truck drivers. It happens in Dallas every year. And on Thursday, Aug. 25, through Saturday, Aug. 27, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center will be turned into a trucking hub.
Some of the events include the Pride and Polish Truck Beauty Competition, educational seminars, Landstar’s Health and Wellness Pavilion and the Fit for the Road 5K Charity Run/Walk, sponsored by Right Weigh Load Scales and Trucking Solutions Group.
Country music legend John Michael Montgomery will be performing on Friday, Aug. 26, at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. The 5:30 p.m. show is free, and exclusively for attendees of the Great American Trucking Show. Montgomery has 15 No. 1 singles to his name and more than 16 million albums sold worldwide.
Opening for Montgomery will be Tony Justice, a popular singer-songwriter and truck driver from Dandridge, Tenn. Tony is an OOIDA member, and his fellow drivers agree he puts on a great show. His latest album “Brothers of the Highway” features OOIDA Life Member Aaron Tippin. Tickets to the concert are free but limited.
Check-in for the 5K will begin at the TA/Petro Truck Parking Community at the Cotton Bowl’s Fair Park at 6:30 a.m., with a 7 a.m. start planned. A trucking community that is setting up across the Fair Park’s 36 acres of free truck parking features food vendors, showers courtesy of TA and Petro, portable restroom, and a worship service on Sunday. Regular shuttles go to and from the convention center. Smokin’ Wheelz will be providing food options for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Golf carts can be rented.
The 2016 National Championship Finals forPride and Polish takes place at GATS every August. With shows around the country from Florida to California, the competition all comes down to the contest in Dallas. It’s also the first Pride and Polish show of the next season. The judging begins Thursday at 9 a.m. and the awards are handed out Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Staff from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association will be on hand at Booth No. 16080. Stop by, talk truckin’, join OOIDA or renew your membership.
