OOIDA on the Road – March/April 2023

If you make it to Louisville, Ky., for the Mid-America Trucking Show on March 30-April 1, be sure to check out Lot J behind the West Wing.

You were going to anyway, most likely, because that’s where the PKY Truck Beauty Championship is presented. It is also where you will find Marty Ellis and the OOIDA tour trailer, the Spirit of the American Trucker.

The truck show is named in honor of Paul K. Young, founder of MATS. The PKY Light Show on Thursday night is surreal. There also will be a parade of the beastly beauties around the Expo Center before everyone goes home.

Ellis loves MATS even though he doesn’t get much time to check out the show with so many drivers and OOIDA members to talk to at The Spirit. However, he tries to wander around at MATS in the early morning. He likes to check out the trucks, especially the working show trucks.

“I really admire the working show trucks, with all the hard work these folks put into making these rigs look like they don’t go up and down the roads on a regular basis,” Ellis said. “The trailer queens are nice to look at to see some of the possibilities of transforming trucks, but I will always gravitate back to the working trucks.”

Ellis enjoys his stops at truck shows with the OOIDA trailer, and MATS is a great way to kick off the truck show season.

“I look forward to meeting folks, and, with MATS being the largest show out there, there is no shortage of new names and faces,” Ellis said.

OOIDA will again have a big presence at MATS, counting staff and Board of Directors members. In addition to The Spirit in Lot J, the Association also plans to have a booth in the North Wing. LL