- [Narrator] All right guys, it's that time.
You already know you can't go on Instagram
without having every single person who owns a truck
from anything leveled to any level lifted talking about it.
The biggest truck meet of the year,
Daytona goddamn Truck Meet 2021.
But is it all talk or is it worth taking the time off work
and driving across the country to attend?
That's why I'm here to figure out
what's the hype behind Daytona Truck Meet.
Cue bad-ass intro.
(upbeat music)
So before we even get started, I want you to know
that you can get your truck ready for the biggest shows
of the year with wheels, tires, and suspension
from Custom Offsets.
It probably won't be here before Daytona
because shipping times and you installing it
and yeah you get the idea,
but there's always the next one right?
So this is probably the biggest truck show slash meet
in the country.
If you're looking for some excuse or event to get out
of town and have a blast on vacation,
this is the show for it.
For us up in Wisconsin, it was always one
of those shows that was like, yeah,
it would be neat, one day type of thing.
And we said it year after year until finally
in 2021 we decided to go
and make it happen for the first time.
We unveiled the first phase of our SEMA build there.
And I also drove my 1994 Ford Bronco
with no floor pan all the way there and back.
It was a great time.
Like seriously it was so worth it,
but we never made it to the beach.
The world's most famous beach Daytona Beach.
But that was kinda because we had a booth for our con
at the show, which is now host
to the Daytona National Speedway.
So it was kind of our fault for going there to work
and have no playtime.
But hey, there's always next year.
But Daytona didn't start at the Speedway or on the beach
it actually started in typical parking lot truck meet.
The first Daytona Truck Meet was in 2014
in a Burlington parking lot with 500 trucks.
Not much different than your local Friday night meetups,
burnouts and all of that.
The 2014 trucks scene was interesting to say the least
but it was a big time for truck owners
to kinda get out there and go crazy and start modifying
with unique wraps, headlight builds
and of course wheels, tires and a lift kit.
The whole plan was to host the meet on the beach
but the day of, the beach got shut down on them.
They had to improvise and make a parking lot meet of it.
Not exactly what you think of when you think of the nowadays
Daytona Truck Meet.
2015, came around and so did Handz Onn
with the official custom offsets
and Team Stands theme song Flex'd.
If you're a true OG viewer, you know what I'm talking about.
Big trucks, jacked up.
♪You see that pitbull rollin' ♪
♪ On the block lookin' oh so mean ♪
♪ Grippin' on the road on them 35's ♪
♪ Jacked to the sky, so high, oh my we ride on them ♪
Hell yeah.
Our boys Spark Media use that for it's official edit
of the Daytona Truck Meet 2015.
You can see how much bigger the meet became going
from a parking lot with a handful of trucks
to all of a sudden having 3,500 on a beach.
And causing a huge uproar for all of the folks
in Daytona who are either retired and just wanting to go
to the beach and hang out, or the innocent families
with little kids who just wanted to chill
and have a good time.
But hey, they got stuck enjoying a beach truck show instead.
Truck Fever got the licensing
and insurance necessary to safely host a beach meet
the right way this time and it definitely showed.
With 2015 being the first year
of Daytona Beach Truck Meet.
It didn't help that they anticipated 500 to 1000 trucks
on the beach and 3,500 showed up.
But it just goes to show that Florida was ready
for a big meetup and so as the rest of the country.
As word of the beach meet got out to social media
and people started coming from further away
to hit up the meet.
Unfortunately, beach authorities claim that 2016
wouldn't happen regardless of permits because
of the insane numbers of trucks that showed up
for the 2015 meet.
Jordan from Truck Fever had to work harder
and connect with the right people to make it happen
for the next year.
2016 rolls around and there are 8,000 trucks on the beach.
Specialty Ford's Wheels popping up all over the place.
And Daytona Truck Meet has gone from the biggest truck meet
in Florida to the biggest truck meet in the country.
You can see the evolution of the truck scene and style too
throughout the years.
By 2016, you've already got the big ballers
on 24 by 16s with fully powder-coated suspension,
over eight inches of lift and billet wheels.
The Florida trucks scene knows how to ball out.
And I think the build's mixed
with the beach make the staple of Daytona Truck Meet
about as iconic as it can get.
Daytona Truck Meet worked with police,
local beach authorities and added extra staffing
to make sure that the show went off without a hitch.
And it was popping.
This was also the last year of Daytona Truck Meet happening
on a beach.
With pressure from the city and authorities,
it was unfortunately time to move on
to a more controlled venue.
(upbeat music)
As if the previous years weren't enough,
Truck Fever came back for 2017 with bigger plans
than before all while knowing the issues that have come
up in previous years.
Although it wasn't on the beach,
the new Daytona venue for 2017 was hosted
in a convention center with indoor
and outdoor parking to make it a show and meet all in one.
American Forest made their presence known
with the largest show booth to date back then, taking
over much of the indoor parking with their show builds.
The idea was for the convention center to last a couple
of years with plans to rent out the full indoor arena
in 2018 and keep rolling with that venue.
But there were bigger plans.
2018 became the first year
of Daytona Truck Meet being hosted
at the Daytona International Speedway.
And I'll tell you what, that's probably one of the coolest
and best backdrops for a truck show meet
that I've ever seen in person.
Having thousands of grand stands in the background
and booths and trucks going on for forever,
it became the new expectation for the Daytona Truck Shows.
And it probably is gonna be the venue
for a long time with lots of space to grow and take over.
It seems like Daytona 2018 was also the year
that it truly blew up
for people coming from all over to attend this show.
You do a quick YouTube search,
and you've got people coming in all over
for the show, for the beach, or for both.
You just see videos everywhere on it.
Vendors have a space to put up booths
there's a bikini contest, burnout pit, the whole nine yards.
And of course, people could still head to the beach
and hang out.
And you best believe that happened all weekend long.
2019 was the first year that a majority
of our team attended personally
and the experience was awesome.
I touched on it a little previously
but for the whole Arc-On team to be down there debuting
our new build and our new wheels was a blast.
And getting to hang out with some of our homies
and see Daytona was great as well.
Shit, my family even made vacation out
of it to come check out the show and see my Bronco
when I first got it done.
That year Kane Brown also made a surprise appearance
with a couple of his trucks and rolled up
to the American Forest booth.
Which by the way American Forest had an insane set up
at the show.
Giant metal trusses, banners, a live DJ
and a shit ton of beautifully done trucks.
American Forest owned the show and has been owning it
with their massive presence every year.
2020, what a (beep) show of a year.
Shows didn't look promising and pretty much none happened.
With that, Daytona Truck Meet pushed back their date
as much as possible to ride out the storm
and scheduled for Labor day, which is obviously a few months
after their typical June showtime.
This got into the way of other shows
that were planned for later in the year.
And I know we were super bummed that we couldn't go
because Lifted Truck Nationals was the weekend after.
The city of Daytona definitely noticed an awkward lull
in June as well when essentially zero trucks showed up
because obviously it was postponed.
About 100 trucks showed up
and complied with local law enforcement.
And it was really no big deal, which is kind of crazy
considering in 2018, they had 2100 citations
and in 2019 there are 1800 citations.
But of course, September came around
and Daytona Truck Meet was back baby.
Hosted at the Daytona International Speedway
for the third year in a row, Daytona Truck Meet
went off without a hitch and looked like a blast.
Over 35,000 spectators
and 5,000 custom builds attended last year
and it just continues to grow.
Considering it was Labor day weekend, and COVID was a thing,
I think the turnout wasn't as strong
as it could have been, but still a great turnout
if that makes sense.
I have a feeling that Daytona Truck Meet 2021
is gonna be the largest yet with more hype behind it.
And the angst of sitting inside
with virtually zero shows last year,
has everybody ready to come up bigger and better this year.
To show out and show off.
This year's again, hosted at Daytona International Speedway
with registration and booth spaces already sold out.
So what's the hype behind Daytona Truck Meet.
It's a meet turned show born through enthusiasts
who just wanted to have a good time
and see some bad-ass builds.
Each year through support from you guys to attend,
it has grown and grown into the beast
it's evolved to be today.
If there's one show out of your state that you need
to make your way to attend and check out,
it's definitely Daytona.
Easily the number one show each year, and no, none
of this is sponsored by Truck Fever or Daytona.
We're just really excited to head down south
and have a blast with everybody
and see you guys down there as well.
So we'll see you there.
♪ We takin' over the game ♪
♪ We got them mean trucks, decked out ♪
♪ Rollin' through the woods and they flexed out ♪
♪ Rims so big and the windows black ♪
♪ Got the light bar lit up double chromed out stacks ♪
♪ Yeah we love to get 'em dirty, but still they so clean ♪
♪ Custom Offsets, Team Stance is the team ♪
♪ We on top of it now, we ain't never gonna fade ♪
♪ So ya better be ready we takin' over the game ♪