Last year the contingency of West Coast show trucks at Overdrive’s Pride & Polish during Truck Show Latino pretty much had their way with the judges, raking in the majority of honors including a sweep of Best of Shows. But the outcome might be different this time around as a couple of Pride & Polish winners from this year’s Great American Trucking Show in Dallas are headed West on I-10 to Pomona, California, to take on the West Coasters…

Nothing gets Mike Salinas’s adrenaline pumping faster than seeing a green-light flash on a Christmas tree and feeling 540 cubic-inches of blown Chevrolet, sitting inches ahead of his toes, punch him into the seat while it lifts the wheels of his 7.0 Pro nostalgia dragster skyward. The thrill of that seven-second quarter-mile, 200-mph blast is hard to beat. It’s also hard to beat his tow vehicle: a 1997 Peterbilt 379 extended hood that reflects both the colors and style of this Gilroy, California, National Hot Rod Association Hot Rod Heritage drag racer. Salinas’ hot-rod-style hauler, dubbed Slippery Pete, is an odds-on favorite to win every time it rolls into a racetrack or a truck show