LETTER FROM THE EDITOR | Brandon Burrell

New Year, New Me!

bburrell@engaged.media | @burrellimages on all social media

Isn’t that how most people start the year off? New Year’s resolutions, new gym memberships, and new plans that most people don’t keep. I don’t understand the need to “promise” you will do something but then never follow through. For me, the one promise I can make sure I keep is to bring our readers the best feature trucks, the biggest show coverages, and the coolest tech articles. I currently have half a dozen or so covers and issue themes planned out, and you won’t want to miss a single issue! There will be old trucks, new trucks, bodied trucks, and lifted trucks, so get those subscriptions up to date.

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For this issue, we decided to throw things back a little bit—31 years to be exact—and give you OGs something to drool over. Just about every old-school, die-hard mini-truck fan knows the truck known as “Ballistic.” The very first body-dropped truck to ever grace a magazine cover single handedly changed how truck enthusiast view what a “low” truck is. It appeared on the January 1993 issue of Minitruckin’ magazine, becoming one of the most recognized truck covers ever. When we found out Randy Frederick was building a modernized version of the ’93 icon that Ballistic has become, and was naming the tribute truck “2 Ballistic,” I knew I had to do my best to recreate the magazine’s iconic cover.

I wrote this while I was at SEMA, so it was a must to include a photo of the wife, my truck, and me in the Dropstars booth.

Because Minitruckin’ no longer exists, I decided to recreate it in Street Trucks fashion with a modern spin on the original. From the cobblestone driveway to the bucket with the magazine logo on it to the white garage door and green hose, I tried to get it as close as I could. Even though Randy wouldn’t remove his hood to get the exact photo (trust me, we tried!), we did manage to include a model like the original. However, instead of finding a model to fit the look, Randy’s daughter, Lindsay, filled in. Bringing that aspect into the shoot will live on in the Frederick household for years to come. And for me, being involved in an homage to something that set the standard in the truck industry was cool, so I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed shooting it.

For the rest of the issue, we have some epic show coverage on tap, including SEMA and the Grand National Truck Show. There’s also a SEMA Parts Guide to show a few of the newly released parts we saw in Las Vegas. And let’s not forget the other cool feature trucks throughout the issue.

Until next time! Keep building those trucks and attending every show and meet you can!

Brandon Burrell