From the Desk of Tray Smith - June

On the road again!

If you are a music fan at all, you should recognize those iconic song lyrics. For us, they are really the truth. Starting the Tuesday after Father’s Day, we will start a 4 week stretch of being on the road. We start with the Back to the 50s weekend in Minneapolis/ST Paul area to Goodguys in Des Moines to Goodguys in Columbus and then finally to the Syracuse Nationals in Syracuse NY. So I would say by the end of this trip we will all be exhausted. Now, 3 of us with split time doing these 4 events; however our Driver/President of H&H, Herman, will do all 4 weeks. Yes, that’s 4 straight weeks he will be away from home and living the truck driving life. So by Syracuse, he may be a little rough around the edges, so please just be patient with him.

You may be asking, "Tray, where in the name of truck driving anthems are you going with this?" Well, I will tell you if you will just be patient with me. Like many of us in this industry, we make a portion of our living traveling all over this great nation of ours, visiting with people from all walks of life. That’s the great thing about this job - meeting different kinds of people. Some rich, some just like me that have lots of children, some that are building their 10th or more project or just getting started in this great hobby. There is a lot of opinion that it’s the high dollar builders and magazines that drive this industry of ours. But I would disagree with this. It’s the everyday people that are driving the bus. They guy that has found a 68 Chevelle just like he had in high school or always wanted while he was there. He is trying to recapture a bit of his youth. Or my favorite is the guy that has found that 57 sedan just like his dad had and he is building it as a tribute to his father or family. It takes all types to make this great hobby go around.

I have been blessed to be involved in all levels, from building cars to designing and selling parts to meeting with Congressman and Senators trying to improve our industry and make it a better place for current and future generations. So enough of my ramblings for this month. Just a few thoughts about what’s going on for us this month and how I feel about. So I hope that I will get an opportunity to meet a few of you over the next few weeks as we get back on the road again. Next month will be one of our special editions as I will write this from the Peterbilt. So enjoy this summer and get those hotrods and restorations out and drive them. That’s all this month from the desk of Tray Smith.