Truckers Plan Convoy to Honor Burt Reynolds This Weekend in Texarkana
Breaker Breaker 1-9! Have you heard the President and Spokesman, James Lamb of the trucking industry group, formally known as the Small Business in Transportation Coalition will be holding a special memorial tribute and convoy for the late actor Burt Reynolds this weekend September 29-30 at the Texarkana Convention Center on the Texas-side, according to recent press release on Truckers.com.
Trucker.com's choice to hold the memorial event in Texarkana and duplicate the Bandit's run with a present-day 10 hour trucker convoy to Atlanta along I-20, in accordance with Federal hours of service regulations which allow truckers to drive 11 hours after 10 consecutive off duty hours.
Thanks to the 1977 release of the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" Burt Reynolds became an icon for truckers for over four decades. Texarkana became a household name across the country because of what the movie was about.
Wealthy Texan Big Enos Burdette and his son Little Enos seek a truck driver willing to bootleg Coors beer to Georgia for their refreshment. The Burdettes find Reynolds' character, the legendary trucker Bo "Bandit" Darville, competing in a truck rodeo at Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta.
They offer the Bandit $80,000 to haul 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas back to Atlanta in 28 hours.
Lamb indicated his group decided to organize the event after 95% of truckers polled said they wanted the event to happen out of admiration for Reynolds, who passed away on September 6th, 2018.
Thousands of truckers from across America plan to participate in the historic event over the course of the weekend to pay tribute to the legendary actor. Among the activities planned is the headliner act: a Saturday evening concert at 7PM, free for CDL holders and their families, by the award-winning, trucker-oriented Canadian Country Band "The Road Hammers".
In addition to a comedy act, the group plans to show three of Reynolds' movies throughout the day on Saturday, which will be selected by truckers through an online social media poll.
Truckers.com has received word that the City of Texarkana (TX) will be issuing a special proclamation in Honor of Burt Reynolds. The program ends on Sunday at Noon with the interstate trucker procession from Texarkana to Atlanta, Georgia.
For more information about the event, visit the event post or their website.