Dragging and Pulling in the Pines
Just outside the small Texas town of Lufkin lays a drag strip facility nestled in the middle of the woods. The Pine Valley Raceway complex is the perfect venue to host a show of multiple varieties.
Even though show dates were October 15t and 16th, trucks from across the country began rolling into the raceway much earlier in the week to begin the cleaning and polishing of their rolling iron. When Friday came, the show staff team followed their plan by parking the street rods, imports, classic lowriders and pickup trucks in the “Bull Pen” area behind the drag strip tower. Motor Trend television’s “Extensive Metal Works” had their display set up with several TV built customs on hand. From there, semi-trucks complete the rest of the asphalt lot spilling into the grass parking lots covering many acres row by row. Weaving in and out of the show areas were multiple vendors and food trucks. PDI of Utah was in attendance with their mobile display unit and Burl’s Custom Trucks was representing locally with a few of his incredible builds on display near the registration tent. As the sun began to set on opening day, folks gathered at the far end of the property parallel to the drag strip shut down area for the pulling display by trucks, tractors and semi-trucks. Pipes were screaming and mud flying as the crowd loved the show for several hours into the night.
Saturday morning arrived and the line to enter backed down the small county road for miles. On top of the event menu, drag racing. Drag rigs from coast to coast showed up, driven and trailered to prove they could put the horsepower to the ground racing one on one head to head. Race trucks and street trucks battled in bracket style off the Christmas tree of lights putting on a fantastic show to the massive crowd packing the grandstands the length of the strip.
Before the award ceremony, Steven Molanders of Tri State rallied the crowd for doing push-ups as a group to raise money for a local charity. Dozens and dozens of men and children were on the ground pumping out push-ups for a great cause. Next was the awards ceremony as multiple winners in dozens of categories walked away with custom cut metal trophy/plaques. Once the last award was given out, the crowd slowly dissipated, and rigs began pulling out of the park.
As this show has seen steady growth year after year, it’s easy to see why so many travel from all points to attend. The show committee has bigger plans for 2022 and should be on everyone’s plans to attend. Definitely action packed from the gates opening of day one. This is a quiet show that gaining traction and making big waves. Let’s see you in Lufkin in 2022.