With construction and testing complete, the Jersey Surf is proud to take the wraps off of its new “Triple Supertruck” which will make its debut for this 22nd anniversary season of the corps and its first Texas tour. Combining equipment, cooking and administrative operations into one vehicle is intended to save the corps money and will enable the corps to reallocate drivers to other corps vehicles, including member and staff buses.

According to Jersey Surf Business Manager Marty Fricke, the new truck “is simply a dream come true.”

“With two years of scrimping, saving and fund-raising to make this a reality, we couldn’t be happier with the result. It’s going to be a great experience driving this bad boy down the road this summer,” said an exuberant Mr. Fricke. “We’ve been listening to the concerns of corps members, as well as members of the support and instructional teams, for the past few years. With this ‘Triple,’ we think we’ve hit a home run,” Marty added.

The Surf cooking crew shares Marty’s enthusiasm.

“This set-up will enable us to drop the gear near the field, so the corps members won’t have to hike from the housing site to the rehearsal location putting extra wear-and-tear on the equipment. The kitchen staff is thrilled, because their spacious facilities will give them more capacity to feed the entire organization on the road, and the design staff is happy because they’ll be able to sleep, shower, meet and “brainstorm” in the lap of luxury. It’s a win/win/win for us,” one member of the pot-washing team said.

Features of the equipment truck portion of the rig include: individual gear and instrument lockers for corps members, separate hair and makeup facilities for color guard members, equipment repair facilities, as well as uniform and prop maintenance equipment including donated dry cleaning and steam pressing gear. A spacious storage chamber beneath the floor will contain field lining machinery, public address system, scaffolding and other critical items. The equipment truck is sponsored by several corporate partners and by individual donations from alumni and friends of the corps.

The new “Ron Popeil Mobile Food Service Vehicle” features upgraded cooking equipment, walk-in refrigeration and freezer compartments, potable and gray water holding tanks, hot water heater, ice machine, and a wide variety of Ronco® products including Showtime® Rotisseries (enabling cooking staff members to ‘Set it & Forget it’), Inside-the-Shell Egg Scramblers®, Dial-O-Matic Food Slicers®, Ronco Food Dehydrators® and Ronco Pasta Makers®. Each member of the corps will also receive a Popeil Pocket Fisherman® under a special sponsorship and marketing agreement. The corps will also be selling the Flavor Injector® system on its souvenir wagon this summer as a part of this deal.

The fully-sponsored, air-conditioned design staff “caboose car” includes custom-themed sleeping berths featuring CraftMatic® Adjustable Beds, individual solar heated shower stalls, state-of-the-art Bang & Olufsen® entertainment center, Panasonic® plasma television with Dolby® 5.1 Digital Surround Sound, DirecTV® mobile satellite system, T-Mobile digital cellular communications center, soundproof conference room facility, and mini-galley stocked with Oreo® and Fig Newton® brand cookies by Nabisco®, Red Bull® Energy Drink, a Starbucks® coffee corner with barrista, SuperNuke® microwave oven, 7-11® Big Bite® Beef and Bean Burritos and two continuously-operating Slurpee® machines. A special storage compartment contains a unique “away pod” transportation vehicle for staff members needing to travel from remote housing sites to town centers for procurement of essential provisions.

A low-ranking member of the Jersey Surf visual staff, speaking on condition of anonymity, was visibly excited after viewing the new Supertruck. “It’s a great day for the Jersey Surf when we can start our day, knowing that there is no risk of waking up the design staff people since we won’t have to step over them on our way out to teach the corps in the morning. With their new staff vehicle, they will be able to roll out of bed just in time to watch the corps perform, and they’ll be fully refreshed and freshly showered. It will make life easier for all of us,” the staff member quipped.

The Jersey Surf staff chamber is sponsored by the City of Las Vegas, NV. “What happens on the staff bus, stays on the staff bus,” one veteran member of the organization stated in an online interview.

Look for the Jersey Surf “one truck caravan”” cruising down a highway near you this summer!