OOIDA tour trailer heads to truck drag race event

Marty Ellis and the OOIDA tour trailer will hold court Sept. 3-5 at the Over the Top Diesel Showdown at the Onaway Speedway in Onaway, Mich.

The Over the Top Diesel Showdown at the Onaway Speedway features tractor-trailer and vintage bus drag races and hauling competitions.

“It’s basically truck drags – you know, class A, B, C, and there’s going to be empty and loaded, and from what I understand the strip is uphill. So, it should be pretty exciting,” Ellis said on Land Line Now. “I’ve never been to a truck drag. I’ve seen truck pulls and tractor pulls, but this is going to be a new experience for me.”

Driver registration is $50 or $75, depending on the category.

Day tickets for the public are $25 online plus a 75 cent fee for adults and $5 plus a 15-cent fee for children. Weekend passes for adults are $45 plus a $1.35 fee. Gate prices will be higher, the website says.

Here are some truck drag YouTube videos from 2018 posted by Charles Russell.

What drivers are talking about

One thing on the mind of several truckers are mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, Ellis reports.

President Joe Biden has asked private-sector companies to require employees to get a coronavirus vaccine now that the Food and Drug Administration has officially approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Though some businesses have announced vaccine mandates, whether they apply to truck drivers hauling into or out of a facility is not known.

Reuters published a list of companies mandating masks and/or vaccinations in an article dated Aug. 25.

For drivers wanting to get vaccinated, help is available to find a location at Vaccines.gov.

Stop by when you see The Spirit

If you see OOIDA’s tour trailer, stop by and say hello. Ellis is looking forward to visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. There are copies of Land Line Magazine to pick up there. You can join or renew your membership for $10 off the regular price there. Face masks are available at The Spirit for anyone with a commercial driver’s license.

After the stop in the showdown in Onaway, The Spirit is scheduled Sept 7-8 to be in Elgin, Ill., then head to the South Dakota Special Olympics Convoy in Rapid City, S.D.

Here is the schedule for The Spirit. LL