A super rig celebration

“All of the contestants put in a lot of work and time into preparing their awesome looking trucks for our event every year.” –Chris Guerrero, global brand manager, Shell Rotella

In a lot of ways there’s a real “country fair” aura that surrounds the annual “Super Rigs” competition sponsored by Shell Lubricants every year – and in the best possible sense of that term, I might add.

I mean, where else are you not only going to see some of the sharpest looking trucks to be found anywhere in the industry set next to displays of historical military vehicles and “mini mod” racing tractors?

The 29th annual Super Rigs event, held at the Kenly 95 Petro truck stop off I-95 in (where else?) Kenly, NC, offered all of that and more as you can see in the video below.

At the end of this three-day annual event, 12 drivers get their trucks selected to appear in the 2012 Shell Rotella “Super Rigs” calendar, which is about as big a personalized honor you can get in this industry.

Judges for this contest – which is free to enter – are made up of industry professionals and trucking journalists who score the rigs on exterior appearance, design, detail/finish, originality, and workmanship.

In total, 24 trucks receive awards for categories such as Best of Show, Tractor, Tractor/Trailer Combination and Classic. Other awards are also given for "Best Chrome," "Best Theme," "Best Lights," "People's Choice" and other specialized categories.

The "Best Lights" judging gets held one night at dark, while the "People's Choice" award will be voted on throughout the event by all contestants and spectators.

Every entrant, or while supplies last, will receive a gift package consisting of: one gallon of Shell Rotella T Triple Protection engine oil; one gallon of Shell Rotella ELC Extended Life Coolant; a single application tube of Shell Retinax Fifth Wheel Grease; Shell Rotella SuperRigs t-shirt and hat; and a 2011 Shell Rotella Super Rigs calendar.

All the contestants also get to participate in the big “Parade of Lights,” convoying their rigs though downtown Kenly at night, which is the followed by a big family-style dinner spread, a fireworks show sponsored by Peterbilt Motors Co. along with live bands jamming out a wide variety of music.

Stay tuned to this space as I’ll be posting a big gallery of truck shots from the Super Rigs event next week.