DTM-SMH | It’s Tough to be on Top

After four or five years of covering one of the largest all-truck meetups in the Southeast, we hate to suggest that this once great event, may never be truly great again. A combination of inflated egos and dangerous driving has black-flagged the yearly get-together for the Street Trucks team, even though we know the show will go on. Street Trucks represents and documents industry enthusiasts and true truck lovers around the country. So, when we see the family-friendly truck community become a lawless landscape of hate and disrespect, our voice becomes ever more important.

This year was especially different for most with the absence of any and all media passes. We thought it was odd at first to not want national exposure, but after a few days in Daytona during this meet, we can now see why they didn’t want the additional attention. We travel all around the country in search of the most passionate enthusiasts, the most helpful individuals and the most deserving dreamers in the country. Unfortunately, they were few and far between with this past outing at the world-famous speedway. The term “bigger is better” just isn’t a blanket statement that can be used with any situation. Sometimes quick growth can happen while one bad apple is rotting the whole bunch, especially when the focus is on quantity over quality. A single style of truck is breaking down the half-century-woven fabric of the lifted community, quickly eroding anything in its path—including at least three nationals events we know of. Until the promoters can control the crowd and keep the bandits at bay, we will stand down and turn our attention to what we guess is the softer side of Street Trucks.

By making a statement and recommending a hard pass on these future Daytona events, we know some will say we are being hypocritical due to some history in hotrod and mini-truck communities of the past. The difference is, we saw our community being infected and we cleaned it up ourselves. With this particular group of four-wheel freedom seekers, they have no limits and take no lessons. We hear a lot of complaints about the EPA cracking down on our racing and customizing, but less aggressive concerns about the leading factor causing all the negative attention. If your event isn’t fun for everyone, welcoming to all types of trucks and truck owners, and controlled with quality in mind, we would rather just move on to the next event and let you do your thing.

Best of luck to this event and the crew putting on the party, but if you’re looking for a quality weekend with cool cruisers and passionate people, we recommend finding an alternative in 2022.