Driver's Seat
4 CUSTOM RIGS Winter 2009 Custom Rigs (ISSN 1941-4595) is a registered trademark of Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC., 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. POSTMASTERS: Send address corrections to Custom Rigs, P.O. Box 3187, Tuscaloosa, Ala. 35403-9871. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Copyright (c) 2009 Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC. T he speed at which time passes is truly amazing. One year ago I walked in to the Randall-Reilly Publishing offices and was thrust headlong into a world of customizing I had seen only a glimpse of through TV reality shows and an oc-casional custom car show. I'd been handed the editorial keys to a brand new magazine called and all Custom Rigs the responsibilities the job as editor entailed. What a challenge! Now it's a full year, four issues, a remodeled web site, and dozens of trips and truck shows later. Still, it seems like only yesterday I walked into this office to embark on a new editorial adventure. When time passes that quickly for me, it's because 1) there's a lot going on, and 2) I totally enjoy what I'm doing. I've been a magazine editor in-volved with custom cars and pickups for a long time. But Custom Rigs is different. What I quickly learned is un-like street rodders and custom pickup owners, the majority of customized big-rig owners use their trucks every day as the mainstay of their work; their rigs are not hobbies or show pieces only taken out of the garage on sunny weekends. That was brought home when we presented John Lacusky the keys to the Sequel af-ter he won our sweepstakes giveaway in August. Up to that time he owned one 20-year-old dump truck he's babied every day because his entire livelihood centers around it. Now he owns two custom rigs. Then there's the camaraderie among the custom rig fraternity. At every truck show I've been to this past year, I see competitors helping each other, making first-timers feel wel-come, sharing jokes, chatting with show goers, and in general, having fun while portraying truckers in a very good light. Such camaraderie extends well beyond truck beauty shows. Time and again I've no-ticed when there's a loss of a family member or a person in need, you can count on custom rig owners providing support as individuals or through benefits and charity events. Truckers are special, and custom rig owners even more so. How can an edi-tor not enjoy his job when the latter are his readers and the subjects of articles? No doubt this past year has been a blur. But what is clear to me is I'm very fortunate to be involved in such a cool segment of the trucking industry. My hope is the next 12 months fly by like the previous dozen and you are along for the ride. If you keep helping me along I can guarantee we'll make it another great one! Bruce W. Smith Bruce W. Smith bsmith@rrpub.com FIRST ANNIVERSARIES DRIVER'S SEAT DRIVER'S SEAT Driver's Seat Driver's Seat Truckers are special, and custom rig owners even more so. How can an editor not enjoy his job when the latter are his readers and the subjects of articles? John Lacusky in his custom 9400 International. Presenting Brad Johnson (center) and Jake Lindawood with a Best of Show trophy at the Dallas GATS.