Photos: Grady Mundell
There’s a lot of big truck shows out there, but the one to keep your eye out for is the Atlantic City Truck Meet, which hosted its first annual show the weekend of July 17th – 18th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The first annual show was supposed to be in 2020, but COVID-19 had other plans, so it was postponed until this year.
The show is put on by Mark Wickline, Christopher Varner and John Klebaur. The three came up with the event after they realized that the Northeast was truly an untapped market in the truck show industry. “You see all the shows out west and down South, but there wasn’t a true truck show to the caliber we felt needed to be,” admits Mark. So after months of kicking it around, another truck show in the area canceled their event indefinitely and they felt like that was their opportunity to announce an event.
On June 25th 2019 Atlantic City Truck Meet was announced officially. There was no venue, no dates, or anything set in stone. But the one thing they did have were sponsors thanks to John Ramos and Myles Kovacs at TIS Wheels. With one year to put on the show, the team hit the ground running. Each had their own role in making the show a reality, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen so they had a whole extra year to perfect the details. “It was two years in the making, but it was well worth it,” Mark details.
For a first-year show, they crushed it with 2,000 vehicles in attendance and 14,000 spectators in total. Notable vendors and booths included: TIS Wheels, Renegade Products, Versa Tyre, Fury Tires, American Force Wheels, Forgiato Wheels, Skoop & Nikki of SMG, Black Red Headwear, BAMF LED Offroad Lighting, Liberty Forged, Diamond Mobile Detailing, Zephyr Polishes, Tobin’s Detailing and much much more. There was also a DJ, Sand Castle for Photos, and 15 food trucks as well as a beer garden. Mark boasts that people are extremely happy with the event. “We have gotten so much good feedback from sponsors, vendors, participants and spectators. Some people have suggested things to add or change and we are taking everything into serious consideration for next year.”
They’re already planning next year’s show, which Mark says looks like it’ll be the weekend of July 30th & 31st in 2022…so keep your calendars open!
