ITS Is Swallowed by Huge Vegas Convention Center

LAS VEGAS — This city features a scaled-down Manhattan skyline, a pyramid not quite as large as some of those built by the pharaohs, and other replicas of familiar sights from somewhere else. So perhaps it’s not surprising that Las Vegas was host to something that looked a lot like a major trucking show — only smaller.

In March, the Mid-America Trucking Show dominated the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, stretching over a million square feet at the facility in Louisville, Ky.

By comparison, the International Trucking Show, which ran June 9 to12, was swallowed up by the huge Las Vegas convention center, occupying a single exhibit hall.

In a city famed for its gambling, the floor of this truck show seemed to be the only place in town that didn’t have slot machines. But something else was missing, too.

Some of the industry’s big players did not show at ITS. Freightliner, along with its Sterling subsidiary, was absent, as was the nation’ s newest manufacturer, Bering. Eaton was also a no-show.

ITS was the 1961 brainchild of Wade Sherrard, a former managing director of the California Trucking Association, which retains ownership of the event. Production is handled by International Trade Show Management, which is owned by the Sherrard family.

Roger Sherrard, chief executive of the management company, is the grandson of Wade. Gary Sherrard, Wade’s son, is chairman.

Roger Sherrard conceded that “Las Vegas is not the truck capital of the world,” but described the show as more “business-oriented” than the Louisville show — which, to be sure, carries a certain “state fair” flavor with its country music performances. There are no concerts at the ITS, he said, although something called the Jumpin’ Boots Band, was scheduled for the Trucker Appreciation Bar-B-Cue.

However, Sherrard said he is convinced that the move to the sprawling convention center — last year’s show was at the Sand’s Expo and Convention Center in town — is an improvement, citing the “virtually unlimited parking.”

Familiar sights and sounds filled the North Exhibit Hall. Big Class 8 trucks still dominated the hall with their sheer size and power. There were the sellers of tie-down systems and wheel alignment machines and “easy-on” tire chains and everything else that might make a truck safer or more comfortable or more fun. There were the sellers of company logo T-shirts and ball caps. There were the booths of the trucking press — including this newspaper — and the booth where participants could meet members of America’s Road Team.

Perhaps ITS, as some have suggested, is turning into a regional truck show. But it is clear that the event offers at least two ways for an exhibitor to profit.

One is by selling products to attendees.

The other is by staying in a booth all day and working to exhaustion — thus staying out of the casinos.