Legendary off-road racer Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart was at the show meeting with fans and telling stories about his long history of racing. If you had a chance to talk with Ivan you got to see that even as the most decorated off-road racer, someone who holds numerous records for wins and is the founder of his own racing series he is very down-to-earth and one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to talk with. Ivan’s racing series, Protruck Racing Organization, is a ‘spec’ racing series creating a level playing field in off-road racing.

We know that a lot of people don’t like the walk to the top of the ‘hill’ at the north side of the fairgrounds. But if you made the trek up the hill during the show you got the chance to see something truly unique. The crew from Muddy Run Raceway was trucks jumping off small piles of dirt. From the high vantage point on the Observation Deck it didn’t look like they were going very high or far, but if you were on ground level the height and distance were much more impressive especially when you counted the markings on the ground we have for vending spaces you could see they averaged 30’! Rich Dallas, the Event Manager, even took a few laps during the last session on Sunday.

Monster Trucks are a kid and adult favorite and this year you were treated with Virginia Giant and Samson crushing the tiny cars below. The Ride Truck was running all weekend and was full of smiling faces – we hope one of them was yours!

The rock pile keeps getting bigger and better each year and this year we’ve already talked to Rausch Creek Off Road Park and created a 9’ tall concrete wall. This ‘wall’ proved to lead to some exciting roll-overs and great climbs – we hope you enjoyed the action.

• Rausch Creek Off Road Park

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past two years you know the crew at 4-State Trucks known as the Chrome Shop Mafia. Chrome Shop Mafia is the original team behind the hit TV show about tricking out big rigs for deserving owners. The CSM has attended All-Truck for the past two years and 2008 was no exception. Their fans came out and made them feel very welcome. We thank you for making them feel at home and keeping them coming back.

• Chrome Shop Mafia

Making its All-Truck debut, the PA Lawn Mower Racing Association (PALMRA) held a sanctioned event on Sunday. This was open to all mowers from stock to highly modified competing in nine different classes. The racing action was exciting and proved to be a huge hit at the show with spectators lining the fence.

• PA Lawn Mower Racing Association

Over the past three years was have taken six brand new trucks and transformed them into slick machines that some lucky owner was able to purchase new from the dealer with a warranty. Think about that…a custom lifted or lowered truck that didn’t void the warranty…that is great.

This 2008 Ford F150 was outfitted with a Skyjacker Suspension Lift Kit and new Pro-Comp wheels and tires from More Than Tires of Carlisle. If you are interested in purchasing this truck, call Greg Stevenson at Family Ford of PA in Carlisle 717-249-2215.

This 2008 GMC was lowered with a Ground Force Suspension System and outfitted with new American Racing Wheels courtesy of More Than Tires of Carlisle. If you are interested in this vehicle, contact Brooks GMC Trucks of Connellsville, PA at (724) 626-0500.

• Skyjacker
• Ground Force
• Family Ford
• Brooks Automotive Group
• More Than Tires

Meredith Ochs and Chris T. of Freewheelin' on The Road Dog, Sirius station 147, were at the show all weekend! Meredith did a live remote broadcast from the show on Friday and both her and Chris were our guests MCs for the burnout and beauty contest on Saturday evening and helped present the big rig awards during the parade on Sunday.

• Freewheelin' on The Road Dog, Sirius 147
• Sirius Radio

We hope all the ladies that attending the show stopped by the tent and visited our selection of vendors selling great items just for women! From jewelry and accessories to handmade crafts and beauty products, the Women's Oasis was a great place to find just what you were looking for! (Read More)

Axcelerated Motorsports is the official dyno of Carlisle Events and this weekend he had a line of participants waiting to find out how much horsepower their truck really had!

With trucks likes like The Beast, Mayhem and The Punisher on display this year it was easy to see why the crew at ETC is a highly renowned custom rig shop.

This year was unique. First, let’s talk about how it works…we simply measure the distance from the bottom of the driver side door to the ground. Lowest wins and highest wins. We’ll start with the Highest truck, that was easy, but we did have a very close contest with the winner coming in at 55” and second place coming it at 54 ¾”. Now to the low side of the battle. We had a three way tie for first place at 0”. Now if you wonder how we get 0” it was because they each had to kick their doors open and it was laid out completely flat. We asked the crowd to decide how to determine a winner and at first we were going to measure the roof to the ground, but with the one person having a chop-top it wasn’t fair. So our friends from Vertically Challenged happened to be standing on the stage and suggested we measure the amount of lift each truck got. So we did and the winner came in with 7” of lift. Now think about this for a minute…the winner of the highest truck was at 55” and the winner of lowest truck at its highest point was 7” – wow – what a difference! After the competition we spoke with our friends from Properly Grounded and they came up with an even better way for us to break the tie next year if it happens again. We will put 2x4’s under the wheels of the trucks and then measure. They have a truck that lays out while on 2x4’s! We’ll have to wait and see what happens in 2009.

• Lowrider Depot

Throwin’ sparks will always be a part of the truck culture and we embrace it here at Carlisle. Saturday night the sky was lit up with white sparks from the titanium blocks and amber sparks from the guys and gals doing it the all natural way. The guy layin’ it down as the crowd favorite was driving the red and silver Ford Ranger who actually took a break in the middle of the competition and put a new set of blocks on! He didn’t need to because he was already lighting it up, but we’re glad he did because it made it just a little brighter for his last two passes.

Miss Carlisle All-Truck Nationals was crowned Saturday evening on the stage. Nine ladies competed for a piece of the $1000 purse. Ultimately, Sam, a Nanny from Pittsburgh, took home the first prize winning over the crowd with her great smile!

Saturday night we held the classic car show tradition…the Burnout Contest and just like always the grandstand was packed with people waiting to hear that coveted explosion of a tire. The participants didn’t let you down with popping tires left and right.

Saturday night the hills were alive with the glow of neon. That’s right; StreetGlow held a competition to bring out the best of the best to light up the night as they hosted a Neon Contest on Saturday night on the Manufacturer’s Midway.

• www.streetglow.com

We hope you got ‘exhaust’ed at A & A! If you were looking for a new exhaust system for your Truck your search ended at Installation Alley with A&A Auto Stores on hand all weekend installing exhaust after exhaust.

It came down to David Vs. Goliath as the epic Ford vs. Chevy battle in the final tug in the Gas class. David in the case was a Suburban and Goliath was a huge F-350 with a monster lift-kit on it. The stage was set and although David held his own, Goliath eventually won. On the Diesel side it came down to Ford Vs. Dodge and the Ford prevailed. The winner of the Gas class received a Green Air Filter System courtesy of More Than Tires and Green Filters USA and the winner of the Diesel class received a $500 gift certificate to Liberator Performance of Carlisle, PA.

Building R is our little kid’s paradise. We have all kinds of fun games and activities they can take part in throughout the weekend. There is also a playground, sandbox and kettle cars for the kids to play on outside. And for the brave little truckers’ and princess’ Advance Auto Parts, the preferred auto parts store of Carlisle Events, brought the Grave Digger ride simulator to the show. Kids and adults were lined up by their display on the Manufacturer Midway to take a virtual ride in one of the most famous monster trucks of all time.

The Carlisle shows are always exciting and this year we turned up the heat with the Activities Corner! The Mechanical Bull is a lot harder than it looks and you may hang on for a little bit but as they crank up the speed you’ll eventually fall! Participants had fun testing their skills all weekend long and the only thing we found out is that Lane Frost wasn’t here!