Oshkosh Truck's Pierce and Medtec Brands are Named Official Fire and Emergency Vehicles of Legendary Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
APPLETON, Wis.--July 20, 2001--Oshkosh Truck Corporation announced today that its fire and emergency subsidiaries, Pierce Manufacturing and Medtec Ambulances, have been selected as the official fire and emergency vehicles for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, to be held August 6 through 12 in Sturgis, South Dakota. This is Pierce's second straight year supporting the Rally.
The companies will provide three new fire trucks and two new ambulances for use by the Sturgis Fire Department and local emergency medical personnel for this year's 61st anniversary rally. These vehicles will be on hand to help protect citizens, motorcycle enthusiasts and property during America's world-famous rally, when the population of this small town of 6,000 people is expected to swell to an amazing 500,000 plus.
"The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is one of the premier motorcycling events in the world. It's also the largest event in South Dakota. We enjoy linking our reputation for quality to an event with this kind of exposure and notoriety. It's a legendary event and we're proud to help protect everyone who attends," said Robert G. Bohn, Oshkosh's chairman, president and chief executive officer.
"We're pretty sure, too, that a lot of the firefighters who keep the paint and chrome on our vehicles so shiny in the stations, spend some of their time keeping the paint and chrome shiny on a two-wheeled cruiser at home," Bohn said.
"The Rally is an opportunity for our city and our fire department to stand out, and it now requires almost year-round planning. We regularly run Pierce apparatus, so we know first-hand the company's unequaled reputation for quality is well deserved. We rely on Pierce quality. Last year worked out so well that we immediately thought of Medtec, Pierce's sister company, for our ambulance needs," Chief Ron Koan of the Sturgis Fire Department said.
A Pierce Dash(R) custom 100-foot aerial platform, decked out in special motorcycle rally graphics, will lead the Wednesday, August 8th, Sky Ranch Awareness Ride, a new tour presented by Jack Daniel's and promoted by the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club, founders of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The ride is sanctioned by the American Motorcycle Association and will take a 200-plus-mile, round-trip tour on some of South Dakota's most beautiful back-roads to Sky Ranch, a 3,000 acre working ranch for troubled teens, located on the tip of the South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana borders.
The Dash platform features TAK-4(TM) independent front suspension. The independent front suspension improves vehicle safety, performance and ride quality. In addition, Pierce will provide two of its very popular Contender Series(R) commercial pumpers.
Medtec will supply one Type II, van-based ambulance and one Type III, commercial chassis ambulance.
For more information about the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, people can log on to the official web site at www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com or the site for the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club, founders of the rally, at www.jackpine-gypsies.com.
Oshkosh Truck Corporation is a leading manufacturer of specialty trucks and truck bodies for the fire and emergency, defense, concrete placement and refuse hauling markets. Products are marketed under the Oshkosh, Pierce, McNeilus and Medtec brand names. The company is headquartered in Oshkosh, Wis., and had annual sales of $1.324 billion in fiscal 2000.