The Trucker Newspaper - April 15, 2018

8 • April 15-30, 2018 Nation
Thetrucker.com
Standouts
in the crowd
Photos by Klint Lowry
Every March, the swallows have Capistrano and
the trucking industry has Louisville. Kentucky’s
largest city once again was the trucking hub of
the nation for three days during the Mid-America
Trucking Show, March 22-24. An estimated
71,327 guests from all 50 states and 61 countries
converged at the Kentucky Exposition Center for
the 2018 edition of MATS, the nation’s largest
trucking show and best opportunity of the year for
trucking-related companies to show their wares.
But when you’re one of more than a thousand
vendors spread out over a million square feet of
exhibition space, you have to go the extra mile
to stand out, and every year vendors use various
tactics to draw in the guests.
An eye-catcher in itself, all the Shell Rotella team had to do was put its Starship truck-of-the-future
prototype on the floor and heads turned.
Fred Andersky, director of marketing at
Bendix, practices his presentation.
For sheer drawing power you can’t beat celebrity
appearances, and Mack Trucks figured who’s a bigger
celebrity than “The King”? Tracy and Jim Hartwig of
Medford, Wisconsin, have their picture taken with
NASCAR legend Richard Petty.
When a giant flying moose is your
mascot, as it is for Canadian trailer
manufacturer Manac, that really
should be all the attention-grabber
you need.
Yolanda Gates gives Matthew Miller a
free shoeshine as Sapp Brothers Travel
Centers’ way of emphasizing that they are
all about hospitality.
Speaking of bigger-than-life celebrities, Quandrant
Truck Liners was promoting their new heavy-duty liner,
the Haulk, and Theresa Todd of Mulberry, Florida,
found herself between beefcake bookends as she had
her picture taken with “Incredible Hulk” Lou Ferrigno.
Barry Pawelek tries his luck dressing
as a leprechaun to stir up interest in
TruckDriversHealth.org.
Ryan Murley of Bowling Green, Kentucky, burns up
the virtual track on Mobil Delvac’s racecar simulator.