Apr 16, 2008

Who Won the Big Rig?

A long-haul trucker from Danville, Iowa was the lucky winner of Great American Insurance Group’s second annual Big Rig Giveaway at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) held recently in Louisville, Kentucky. Michael Van Ness’s name was drawn at random from more than 9,000 entries received during the three-month contest period.

Van Ness won a customized Peterbilt enhanced by Stoops Truck Center of Indianapolis and Chrome Country of Nashville that included a new custom paint job, chrome detailing and an externally mounted “Sidetracker” video camera with in-cab display to minimize driver blind spots. A remote-controlled electric hood opener from HoodXpress was a new feature added to this year’s truck. The Peterbilt is equipped with a 475-horsepower C15 Caterpillar engine and a 13-speed Eaton/Fuller transmission. As reported here in Driving Today, the Big Rig Giveaway was open to all truckers with a valid commercial drivers’ license. Van Ness was standing in the crowd around the Great American booth when his name was announced.

“I could hardly believe it,” he said, and when he called his wife with the good news, she didn’t believe it, either.