Here we go again

[Mike]

The State of California is cracking down on trailer lengths again.

Steve Torrence's Top Fuel rig was in a weigh station and flagged "around back", where they were measured for length and determined to be 3' too long. CalTrans determined the rig was illegal and ordered it to be taken out of service.

Torrence claims to have contacted CalTrans a week ago, trying to purchase a permit, but was informed there are no permits and would be no permits granted.

CalTrans told Torrence there was only one way his rig was ever going to leave the weigh station and that would be if it was hauled out on a lowboy trailer. Torrence asked permission to move the rig to a location where it could be loaded easier and permission was denied. CalTrans informed him he was welcome to hire a company to bring a crane out, to lift the entire rig onto a lowboy. He finally managed to find someone with a low enough trailer they were able to back the race rig onto it.

This was taken on the I-15, between Barstow and Baker, headed north toward Las Vegas. The race rig was 3' too long to be operated on the Cali freeways, but the rig hauling the race rig isn't. A drag racer cannot buy a permit for an over-length trailer, but an owner-operator with a lowboy trailer can. Makes wonderful sense, doesn't it?

The word I'm getting from the Left Coast is there are 67 trailers sitting at the Fairplex which are over-length. And the word is going around CalTrans will be sitting at the gates, Sunday afternoon. NHRA claims they have tried to find a work-around with CalTrans, but CalTrans says they are not going to adjust a long-standing law. If racers want to come to Cali with a 56' trailer, they're either going to have to transport it from the state line to race track on a lowboy, or they are going to have to haul everything in by rail. You can haul a 56' trailer around on the streets of Pomona, but you cannot haul it down the freeway.

We used to have the same issues trying to travel through the great State of Tennessee. With a dualie pulling a 40' aluminum trailer, no less. And the rig had zero advertising on it. Just a plain, white trailer. On one trip, we were chased down by the Tennessee State Police for passing a weigh station. As the trooper was writing the citation for A) passing the weigh station, for B) not having a fuel permit and for C) not having a travel permit we watched a dualie pulling a horse trailer drive right by the weigh station. When asked why the horse trailer was not being chased down, the trooper explained that was just a "dirt-poor farmer" driving that rig. Aye. Right.

On another trip, we stopped in Kentucky and purchased both a fuel permit and a travel permit. At the first weigh station, I rolled in and up onto the scales. We were legal as the day was long. And I was flagged to pull "around back". We strolled into the building with vehicle registration and driver licenses in hand, only to be reamed for not having commercial licenses, insurance cards and log books, since we were well over 30,000 lbs. The "good ol' boy" threatened to park our rig, until someone with a CDL arrived to drive it out of there. After ranting at us for nearly an hour, the idiot let us drive on.

I stopped at the Cochran's Truck Stop, at Ringgold, GA for fuel. Cochran had once sponsored the race car, so we always tried to fuel up whenever we were in the area. After filling everything up with fuel, we pulled the rig over onto the scales and weighed in at 17,020 lbs. We were at 59.5', so there was no need to meet any commercial requirements. But the chucklehead in TN had us at "well over" 30,000 lbs.

The problems arise because there is no standardized federal law. Each state has its own law and you're always at the mercy of whoever pulls you over. Some states are just fine as long as there is no advertising on the rig and is identified as being "not for hire". Some states want to know if you are compensated for winning races. And if you win nothing more than a trophy, that is still considered to be compensation. As a point of interest, many of those "illegal length" teams are based here in Indiana and the Indiana laws read the same as the Cali laws. The State of Indiana views those same race teams as revenue generators and (prudently) looks the other way.

 

[sstock]

I wonder if Cal trans is in the Low Boy business.
Sucks, I think they should have waivers available for a reasonable price. Racing brings people to the event, people buy things at the event and that makes revenue for the state. Cali needs revenue, they need to focus their energy and productivity towards revenue generating projects not otherwise IMHO

 

[EX JUNK]

I don't mean to get political, because I hate political talk on his type of site, but if there was a national or federal regulation, if you prefer, I think that these types of "hassles" would be avoided. This is just my humble opinion.

Jim

 

[RPM]

This is why we have a plain white trailer and truck with no stickers or decals.

 

[Ma_n_Pa T]

Not to be smart but how did the lowboy trailer get a permit to haul the trailer out of Calif., there must be a way to get a travel permit if they got one!!

 

[sstock]

Not to be smart but how did the lowboy trailer get a permit to haul the trailer out of Calif., there must be a way to get a travel permit if they got one!!

That is the rediculous part of the whole thing. Can't run the race trailer- it is too long(a few inches), so you hire a company to get a special permit ($) with a longer bigger trailer to take the race trailer back out of state. Bureaucratic sh!t IMHO.
You guys want to see trailers?? Come to Oregon and see some of the tripple trailers coming up the I-5, nothing but amazing - a small train.

 

[RESINATOR]

This is what we deal with on a daily basis, both on a personal and business level in California. The People up there making the rules
don't think like the rest of us, maybe they never had kids in public schools or had regular (non state) jobs. From what I have heard
from both the Racers and the CHP is that there are quite a few non-qualified drivers motoring around in those Tricked Out Monsters, they get off the Highway and cause all sorts of havoc.
I think someone must have pissed off somebody. There are so many large non-commercial Rigs and Motorhomes towing huge Boats running up and down the Highways here, and its rare to hear someone getting hasseled.

 

[Mike]

...if there was a national or federal regulation, if you prefer, I think that these types of "hassles" would be avoided. This is just my humble opinion.

it would get everyone on the same page. Until the states' rights people started crying foul at even more federal intervention. Here's the real bite. In most states (California being one) pickups are not required to stop at weigh stations. I can tell you what happens when you drive by a station in TN. If a pickup rolls into a station here in IN, the driver is going to get a tail-chewing for wasting INDOT's time. But a loaded steel trailer and a dualie can easily exceed the weight limitations, which would require the driver to hold a CDL A ticket. Which then opens the can of worms on liability insurance, medical cards, logbooks, etc.

This is why we have a plain white trailer and truck with no stickers or decals.

Ron, believe me, it's a false sense of security. If you do not have a fuel/permit, all it takes is three axles and a trophy from the show you're coming home from to find yourself outside the law. I sat right alongside I-40, between Memphis and Nashville while the state trooper explained the citations to us. You're likely not going to attract attention with your TN registration, but TN isn't the only state with those laws.

I realize Steve Torrence's team was not going to spend enough to pull Cali back into the black, but CalTrans assured he would not be purchasing any diesel, he would not be purchasing any gasoline for the vehicle they won't be driving to the motel rooms they cancelled. Who knows how many meals will not be purchased at local restaurants? When a state is as obviously bankrupt as Cali, one would think they might consider looking the other way.

By the same token, if the law says 53' is the maximum length and 46' from kingpin to rear axle is the maximum, then trailer manufacturers should be building trailers that meet these rules. Why would anyone want to manufacture/buy a trailer that you cannot use in many states? Why would you want to hang out at the Cali state line, waiting for weigh stations to close at 2 AM, so you can charge across the line and blast straight to Pomona? Or was that a secret I shouldn't have revealed?

I just see it as being pretty silly Torrence's rig is too long and CalTrans refuses to make a few extra bucks on a permit, when that lowboy rig is not too long and that operator can buy the permit he needs.

As an update to the developing story, the CHP Commercial Division has admitted to NHRA they had people at the last race, in Vegas, where they were identifying 56' trailers. On Monday, after the Vegas race, CHP admits they noticed many of the 56' trailers belong to Indiana-based teams and they had contacted their counterparts with the ISP.

In a conference call made to NHRA's Graham (a.k.a. Dim) Light, CHP stated their position, as having a responsibility to “enforce the law” and the teams' responsibility as having to “comply with the law”. CHP's opinion is that the law was revised in the late 90’s to accommodate motorsport transporters and they now have little willingness to change a long-standing law (the same law that exists in most other states). They also expressed they are “not supportive of exempting longer trailers”. Light stated NHRA does not have a sense as to how aggressively CHP plans to enforce this law.

That motorsport exemption is what allows race teams to run trailers with 46' KPRA lengths, since all others have to be 40'. And there is no wriggle room, as the trailer must be 53' in length, the truck has to be rated for the trailer, the trailer must be carrying a motorsports operation, the rig must be licensed commercially and the driver must hold a CDL A ticket.

Rumor has the Al-Anabi and Don Schumacher Racing trailers as just some of those determined to be too long. Teams using Featherlite trailers are all legal (John Force, for example), as Featherlite does not build anything longer than 53'. CHP officers are roaming the Pomona pits and a CHP helicopter spent a considerable amount of time over the racetrack, yesterday. And rumor has it the going rate to cut 3' from the back of a trailer and to re-hang the back door is running around $25,000. It should be interesting to see how many teams will wait to try an early-AM dash to the state line.

 

[madmike8]

I wonder if all the NASCAR teams trailers are '53?

 

[Keeper]

So how long before teams just start saying "Screw it we just won't race in California"?

 

[fordsbyjay]

I wonder if all the NASCAR teams trailers are '53?

From what I read yes they all are.

 

[Mike]

The NASCAR teams all used to have trouble getting to Loudon, as CT was playing the government games with them. CT has since changed their way of handling things and now teams can pass through without problem.

PA was hassling teams running the Turnpike a few years back. If you passed through one of the tunnels without placards, they would pull you over and check for any fuel containers in the trailer. If they found any fuel jugs or a fuel drum, they would cite you for hauling flammable liquids without placards. And to show you how carried away things can get, a pal of mine started cracking wise with them and they popped him for the propane tank on his grill. Some states draw the line at 140 gallons, some states say 1,000 lbs. and some states consider fuel in tanks to be "diminishing load" and don't care at all. And look at the Homeland Security regulations the nitro teams have to meet, in order to transport nitro from race to race. They can thank Timothy McVeigh for that.

The word was going around the Fairplex yesterday the over-length teams should start making arrangements to get their rigs moved out of state, as Big Brother will be watching.

 

[sstock]

I'm all about them citing them for flamms without a placard though.
I'f they carry fuel or Hazmat, first responders need to know that and a DOT placard is a must for everyone's safety.
Diminishing load fuels are usually diesel, combustible, not flamms. Hauling around nitro methane/Alky has the potential of nasty outcomes.

 

[TubT]

If the teams went into CA with 56 foot trailers (not counting a refer unit on the front), they got what they deserved, which is trouble.

I dealt with this for years. You can go anywhere on an interstate or access to the interstate (the distance is often posted on the ramp) in CA with a 53 foot trailer. Even with a 53 with a refer. By federal law (and this is what you wanted to know, isn't it?), states cannot pass a blanket length restriction on any 53-foot trailer and any length tractor. However, this is where it gets sticky. If you have any carrying capacity (a drom box, or a big generator unit, like most race trucks), you are not a tractor/trailer. You are a truck and trailer, and the length limit for that is 65 feet.

We ran into this when I pulled explosives. The CA DOT would get a burr under their saddle and start measuring our trucks, many of which had drom boxes. Then, for a week or two, we'd get paid to go in, pick up their loads, and deliver them. After a few weeks, it would die down and not be a problem for the next 6 months or so.

I have said for years that no truck registered in CA should be allowed more than 5 miles outside the state, and no truck registered outside the state should be allowed into the state. If those folks want their stuff, they can come out to the border and get it. In their Priuses, preferably.

 

[RPM]

What is a "drom box"

 

[Mr T Bucket]

Dromedary box is a big box sitting behind the sleeper, almost looks like a double sleeper. Do a google image search for dromedary box and you'll see some cool trucks.

Did an oral report on trucks in 6th grade, LOL.

 

[Mike]

There was a meeting at the track, yesterday. All the truck drivers, NHRA, CalTrans and CHP had a wee chat and they apparently ironed out the details to get all the trucks out of Dodge. Although there was at least one lowboy parked at the Sheraton Fairplex, last evening, so someone was covering their bets.

It should be interesting to see how the Indiana-based teams will be received, once they get back here.

Chris, have you seen any images of Mike Salinas' tow rig? Absolutely gorgeous.

 

[Mr T Bucket]

Crazy. May have seen it before, but don't recall for sure. I just can't imagine the time (article said 4,000 hours), but such a monumental task to do something like that. You watch Foose and Trepanier and the vehicles they win the Riddler awards with and what they have to do to do that, but to do a semi truck.......not to mention the money involved. Seen several episodes of I think, Trucks, where the guy talks about big trucks and custom trucks. Wouldn't mind going to one of those shows someday. Wife and I do some traveling on a motorcycle and it's been interesting to see the increase of true custom trucks working out on the interstates. Wild!

 

[TubT]

Crazy. May have seen it before, but don't recall for sure. I just can't imagine the time (article said 4,000 hours), but such a monumental task to do something like that. You watch Foose and Trepanier and the vehicles they win the Riddler awards with and what they have to do to do that, but to do a semi truck.......not to mention the money involved. Seen several episodes of I think, Trucks, where the guy talks about big trucks and custom trucks. Wouldn't mind going to one of those shows someday. Wife and I do some traveling on a motorcycle and it's been interesting to see the increase of true custom trucks working out on the interstates. Wild!

There are several big truck shows every year, but if you want to see the big daddy of them all, go to the Mid-America Truck Show in Louisville, KY. It's worth it. I can even tell you how to get in free. They have a huge custom truck show there every year.

I heard the NY police were sitting outside the gate at the GoodGuys Rhinebeck show last year, doing inspections, etc. I understood the GoodGuys people had a long talk with them about the financial benefits of the show to the city, and they quit. But the Rhinebeck show has been replaced next year.

I wonder what California would do if NASCAR decided to hold their race somewhere else next year? Isn't that how the free market works?

 

[sstock]

There was a meeting at the track, yesterday. All the truck drivers, NHRA, CalTrans and CHP had a wee chat and they apparently ironed out the details to get all the trucks out of Dodge. Although there was at least one lowboy parked at the Sheraton Fairplex, last evening, so someone was covering their bets.

It should be interesting to see how the Indiana-based teams will be received, once they get back here.

Chris, have you seen any images of Mike Salinas' tow rig? Absolutely gorgeous.

Mike, I enjoy going to these races just to look at some of these trailers and tow rigs, nothing short of amazing so say the least.