Now in its fourth year, the State 2 State Cruise sponsored by Chevy Trucks and JC Whitney proved to be a fun day, full of burnouts, prizes, and a whole lot of cannonball-run-type driving. The cruise is the pre-event to the Truckin' & Sport Truck 4x4 Nationals held at Firebird Raceway in Arizona. This cruise also features a poker run type of competition, where each participant draws a card at every stop, hoping to get the best hand at the end and win a billet steering wheel from AIM Industries.
The cruise started at Line-X in Huntington Beach, California, where owner Marcel Venable was waiting for us with all kinds of fattening breakfast goods. After the last doughnut was wolfed down and registration was complete, everyone drew a poker card. After that, everyone stared intently at their raffle tickets, hoping to hear their number called. Three lucky participants won and received either Grippin' billet handles, valve stem covers from Shorty, or a set of underdrive pulleys from STS.
Once everyone was in their trucks, the cruise moved on to Sir Michaels, where we all got a tour of the facility and behind-the-scenes look at how the company manufactures its fine roll pans. We stayed there long enough to pick up a goody bag, draw the second card, and find out who was going to win the $100 gift certificate from Sir Michaels.
After the Sir Michaels stop, everyone got back in their trucks for a short jaunt down the road, where they were treated to a guided tour of the huge warehouse and showroom that Fabtech calls home. Everyone got to check out what Fabtech was thrashing on for SEMA and see some of the company's demo trucks. Before leaving, we were grouped together so Fabtech could give away three $100 gift certificates. Then, the third card was drawn.
The fourth stop on the cruise was at Gibson Performance Exhaust in Corona, California. The company's location farther inland proved to be a chance for attendees to warm up and check out all of the trucks under the sunlight. "The Shawn Gibson" was on hand to meet everyone and show off all his toys. As an added bonus, Shawn drew the next raffle winner and gave them a complete Gibson exhaust system.
From there, it was over the mountains and toward the desert for the JC Whitney-sponsored lunch stop in Blythe, California. The 76 Station cooked up some burgers and pumped out gas while JC Whitney held its raffle and gave away 200 bucks worth of certificates. Then it was time to draw the final card and give the winner a new steering wheel.
The final, and longest, leg of the cruise culminated at the F-1 Race Factory go-cart track in Arizona, where you could play games or ride go-carts. This was also where you could register for the show early and get your truck classed for judging.
Sponsors:
Chevrolet
JC Whitney
advanced Flow engineering
AIM Industries
Alfa Otto
APC
ATS
BTW
Gibson
KAIK
MagnaCharger
Rhino
Rolling Big Power
Stylin' Concepts
Tucker's
Vortex