The city of Denton, Texas, just north of Dallas-Fort Worth — home of Peterbilt Motors Company and its truck assembly plant — played host Oct. 18 to the manufacturer’s seventh-annual Pride & Class Parade.
The event brought out more than 50 Peterbilt truck owners and operators from across the nation who were specially invited by the truck maker. In addition to recognizing outstanding Peterbilt trucks from model years ranging from 1964 to 2025, the event also drove donations for the United Way chapter in Denton County. Peterbilt has raised more than $9.1 million in the last 20 years through various fundraising efforts for the chapter.
Gary Henderson, president and CEO of United Way of Denton County, thanked the manufacturer for continued support, highlighting that United Way of Denton County and its family of nonprofits helped 53,000 people in 2023, made possible in large part by Peterbilt’s donations.
To kick off the annual parade, Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth proclaimed October 18, 2024, as Peterbilt Pride & Class Day, reading a signed proclamation just before the parade began Friday evening.
One invitee’s attendance was in question with just a week to go before the parade. Arizona-based owner and truck enthusiast Shawn Wright, a former working owner-operator, wasn’t sure if his 1968 Peterbilt 358A was going to make the trip after the 262 Cummins that was in it “blew up a week before we were coming here,” he said. In fact, he’d pretty much resigned himself missing the 1,000-mile trip, but Tristan Hatch with Old Iron Truckin’ heard the news and offered up a Cummins Big Cam 400 he had for Wright’s rig.
Shawn and Kolter Wright made the nearly 1,000-mile trip from Arizona to Denton after the engine in Shawn’s ’68 Pete 358A had to be swapped at the last minute.Photos by Matt Cole unless otherwise noted
Wright said getting the bigger engine in the truck was a challenge, but he and his grandson, Kolter Wright, made the trek to Denton with “no A/C, no power steering, no radio.” Yet they made it, as the picture above attests. (Stay tuned to Overdrive in the coming weeks for more on Wright’s classic Pete and more from the event.)
The project classic, Wright said, came together over the last few years through bartering, salvaging and more.
When receiving the invitation to the exclusive Peterbilt parade, Wright said he “thought it was a joke” at first. He’d been told about the parade in the past and “how prestigious it was,” but he didn’t expect to receive an invitation himself.
“This is quite a blessing,” he added.
[Related: Pete’s invite-only Pride & Class parade and truck show]
The single-rear-axle 358A of Wright’s received a warm welcome from the crowd during the parade around the Denton town square.
Small-fleet owner Dylan McCrabb out of Williamsburg, Iowa, showed off his 2024 Peterbilt 389X, No. 626 of 1,389 that were built and well on the other side of the model-year spectrum from the Wrights.
Dylan McCrabb, owner of McCrabb Trucking, leases on with Dan O’Brien Trucking out of Belle Plaine, Iowa. He was invited to bring his 2024 Peterbilt 389X to the Pride & Class Parade.
McCrabb’s 389X has been fully customized on top of the already special-edition options of the limited-run 389X model. He plans to keep the truck as a show truck for a while and not put it to work quite yet, continuing to run is 2022 Peterbilt 389 hauling pigs.
Invited truck owners also took part in a “Peterbilt Open House” that included a tour of the assembly plant ahead of the Friday night parade. Before and after the parade, trucks were staged in a parking lot at the plant, where plant workers and others were able to view the trucks.
Many rolled off that very assembly line at one time.
Small fleet owner McCrabb noted that getting the invitation to the show meant a lot to him, as he “grew up watching Peterbilt trucks, and my grandpa Terry had a fleet of cabover Petes,” 13 running at one point, “back in the day.
“So Peterbilt’s just one of those brands that that’s what you always desired to have. That’s kind of the pinnacle.”
McCrabb’s 389X certainly stood out in Friday night’s parade.
More scenes from the parade follow.
The parade’s first entry was this 2025 Peterbilt 589 owned by Peterbilt itself and driven in the parade by Michael Zuniga.
Gary Peters, with Lewiston, Idaho-based Peters & Keatts Equipment, showed his 2024 Peterbilt 567 water truck, named “Never Forget.”
This 2025 Peterbilt 589, nicknamed “Blood, Sweat and Tears,” is owned by Blackjack Express and driven by longtime former owner-operator Ingrid Brown.
Ryan Feijo, out of Tulare, California, showed his classic 1976 Peterbilt 352 cabover as part of the parade.