2016 Shell SuperRigs draws record turnout

Jake Lindamood won Best of Show with this heavy haul tractor.
Beautiful theme throuout and perfect execution for a truck
 that works hard. Lindamood took home $15,000 in prizes.

The Shell Rotella SuperRigs beauty contest and 2017 calendar shoot drew a record turnout this year with 89 eye-popping glamor trucks vying for the nearly $40,000 in total prize money.

For this event, truckers come from all over the United States and Canada for a chance to take top prizes and for a brief moment of immortality should they be chosen to appear in the Rotella SuperRigs calendar.

Best lights went to the blue dump outfit of Luke Leister,
who was also nominated to a Limited Mileage award.
Hundreds of blue lights wowed the crowd on Joplin’s streets.

Held mid-June at the Convention Center in Joplin Missouri, it was the second time the event was staged in this city. First time was shortly after the 2011 tornado did so much damage to Joplin and Shell’s SuperRigs injected much needed revenue into the city. 

This time it was more of a thank you, as truckers moved out of the parking lot Friday night and headed for the closed off streets of downtown Joplin for a parade and downtown where the top rigs could show off their lights.

One of the few cabover was this ’95 Freightliner FLB
 customized to look like an ’85 took second in Tractor Trailer
for Andre Bellemare down from Quebec for the show.

The city responded with a fireworks display for the thousands of residents who walked the warm evening streets to admire the trucks.

As in last few years, 2016 judges were Jami Jones for Land Line Magazine; Eric Harley; the host of Red Eye Radio; Cliff Abbott from The Trucker newspaper; and me, Steve Sturgess, representing a slew of magazines around the world.

The Hard Working prize went to Chad Berry. The award
is given by the other contestants, who certainly; know a thing
or two about hard work!

To look their best, many contestants take their rigs out of commission in the winter for a total refurb that often sees them at the early Mid America Trucking Show contest in March in Louisville. Then the trucks are parked or used little for the next couple of months until SuperRigs.

When they reappear for the judging, it is a tough task for the judges to decide whether the gorgeous tractors and tractor-trailers are true working trucks, as required by the judging rules, or just “trailer queens” that just do the show circuit. 

The dragon theme all over Uno Mas earned
Best Theme and mention in Working Truck -
 Limited Mileage to give Suzanne Rodriguez
two trophies to take home.

Now, judges are aided by Doug Morris who is the director of security operations for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and who comes with a career’s experience in enforcement. As an expert in looking at registration, DOT numbers and the rest he can attest to the working status of the trucks.


There’s also a mileage database that records odometer readings at the shows to check on the true mileages these rigs drive through the year. Shell wants the show to be for working trucks. Rotella lubricant’s brand is the number one for hard-working trucks and Shell wants to keep that association strong.

The most unusual truck on the parking lot
was this R-Model Mack. Built for a
customer by Justin Dickerson, the RD is a
 1991 with outstanding details all around.

So the trucks came – always some shut down for the week, getting on site early to start the task of cleaning to make them favorites or top candidates for the calendar. And the two goals are totally different. Only Best of Show is guaranteed a spot on the calendar.

2016 Best of Show winner Jake Lindamood’s heavy haul day-cab tractor and lowboy trailer was chosen for the calendar before he won the award.

After the awards ceremony, he said “We won Best of Show and got picked for the SuperRigs calendar which was super exciting. Winning Best of Show was huge and we are just beyond thrilled about it.” He was also no doubt thrilled to be taking home $15,000 in prize money.

Get complete 2016 Shell Rotella SuperRigs Results here.