At MATS, tell us why you’re a member and why OOIDA is important

While the organizers at the Mid-America Trucking Show celebrate 50 years this year, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is starting to look ahead to its own 50th anniversary.

While you are at MATS, you could also help OOIDA with its plans.

OOIDA celebrates 50 years next year. It was founded in 1973 amid the turmoil that included the Arab oil embargo. The Association’s founding members (which included the late Jim Johnston, former OOIDA president) traveled to Washington, D.C., to present the problems of the trucking industry before lawmakers. Fuel availability and pricing topped the list.

As part of the build-up to OOIDA’s 50th anniversary, the Association wants to hear from members about why they are part of the organization and why it’s important to them.

At MATS, stop by the main OOIDA booth at MATS and let someone there know you’d like to make a testimonial. It is Booth 11128. Find it in the center of the back of the North Wing.

Two OOIDA events at MATS

Marty Ellis and the OOIDA tour trailer, the Spirit of the American Trucker, will be at MATS near the PKY Truck Championship custom show trucks. Look for them in Lot J behind the West Wing at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

An OOIDA Town Hall event is scheduled from 1-2 p.m. on Friday, March 25, in room C108 of the Kentucky Expo Center. The event will serve as an open-forum question-and-answer session with OOIDA President Todd Spencer, OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh and lobbyists from the Association’s Washington, D.C., office.

From 9:30-11 a.m. on Saturday, March 26, OOIDA will offer a free preview of its Truck to Success course. The abbreviated version of the full Truck to Success course, which will be offered next in October, will focus on taxes and business structure. The class will be led by Pugh and Barry Fowler, founder of Houston-based Taxation Solutions and author of the “Trucking and Taxes” column in Land Line Magazine.

More MATS activities

The show schedule is available online.

The show floor is enormous. There is an exhibitor list available for the show.

A series free educational sessions are planned. The Pro Talks stage is in the East Hall and the Pro Talks Theater is in South Wing Room B104. Some of the presentation topics: growing your company, artificial intelligence dashcams, shop management, tire retreading, wheel-end assembly tips, metrics for shop management, value of veteran drivers, and negotiation tips.

The opening celebration is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, in the South Lobby. It will help raise donations for the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund.

The MATS Beer Garden is scheduled for 3-5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 2-3 p.m. on Saturday at Booth 70025 in the Pavilion.

The Friday evening concert by country music artist Clay Walker is scheduled for 7 p.m. Eastern in Freedom Hall. Free tickets are available from DAT Freight & Analytics at Booth 65216.

Tickets are available to the Saturday MAC Trailer Winter Nationals Championship Pulling Event at 5 p.m. in Freedom Hall. LL