It’s nice to live in California for many reasons. There are a lot of things to do, the weather is nice, and Vegas is close. What is not nice about California for enthusiasts are the CARB and DOT laws surrounding a modified vehicle. Another instance where California sucks, are their vehicle length basic laws. According to California’s legal truck length, no semi-trailers total length can exceed 75 feet, including room for load. The physical dimensions of the truck are further reduced to 65 feet. Some race teams pulling full size trailers along with trucks containing campers are having problems with CalTrans.

Top Fuel pilot Steve Torrence and team CAPCO have reported that they were nabbed by CalTrans, their rig and trailer disconnected, with their trailer transported out of state. It is unclear how many teams have been effected by CalTrans at this time, but we do know there will be one less Top Fuel team in qualifying at Pomona this year.


Steve has reported the following on his Facebook page:

As we were all aware of, many trailers including mine are not in compliance with the laws of california because of length. I called CalTrans last week in efforts of obtaining a permit to avoid any problems with this issue and was notified that there “IS NOT and WILL NOT” be a permit given.

We were stopped at the scales, pulled over and inspected. This is where our trailer was measured and entire rig taken out of service and deemed illegal. Through many conversations and with CalTrans I was told that the only way that my trailer was allowed to leave the weigh station would be by hauling it out on on a lowboy trailer. There suggestion was to hire a crane company to come out, lift the trailer and load it to haul. But under no circumstance would we be able to move the trailer. Not even to get it to a better location for loading.

Through much help from a few other race teams, I was able to contact someone who had a stretch trailer that would be long and low enough to back our trailer onto. Unfortunately by the time we were able to get everything taken care of, we would not have enough time to make it to the track for qualifying.

I have no issue with paying a fine or buying any type of permit that would eliminate this problem. Being that we are in no type of points chase and using the last few races of this season as testing for next year. I made the decision that hauling my trailer “on a trailer” in and out of the state of california was not feasible nor something I wanted to do
by..Mark Gearhart on November 11, 2011

This is nothing new for California. Their laws have been different for many years.

But there are ways around it. Check out the length of V. Gaines rig..

I think it's about 85ft...





Chris..

There are lots of states with 65' overall length laws on the books but they only apply to STATE highways.

I don't know where this guy was when they nabbed him but instead of wasting his time trying to get non existent permits, his time would have been better spent hiring a local carrier with a short wheelbase cabover to haul his trailer from where he got nabbed to the track. Leave it to California to make it not OK to be over 65' and 13'6 high but OK to put the trailer on an extendable double drop, make it over 90' long and over 15 ft high.

Kevin

cali will do anything at this point for money.that state is so broke,that they cant even pay attention. ive lived there most of my life and ive seen it coming for years.i miss all youi can do in cali,but i dont miss the bs you have to go threw to live there.

I don't feel sorry for him at all. It isn't about California picking on him. IT IS THE LAW, and it has been this way forever. Where is the confusion? Anybody who truly knows how these transport drivers work (I do), will certainly tell you, that if you are over weight, or over length, and you are going to have to pass scales, you roll through in the middle of the night, when they are closed. Simple. How did all of the other over length transporters make it into Pomona this weekend? Torrence knows this, and did himself/sponsors no favors by going this route (pun intended)

The rest of that story is that many of the over length haulers that did make it into the track w/o being caught will be inspected and fined on their way out.

CA has been doing this since the late '80's IIRC.

Yeah, hard to feel sorry for anyone who knows their rig is illegal, but takes it on in anyway.

posted the right pic now

Auto transports are subject to different laws , so this one has the ring of truth to it.
I have been driving one for 14 years and every state has it's own set of issues with us , but it is the game.
They play theirs..........I play mine.
When 53 foot trailers were first introduced , I remember a bunch of fuel teams getting hassled in Ca.
And Ca. has always been a real ball buster for commercial vehicles.
The fines are staggering and we are now a source of revenue for many states.

All the info you'll need....


http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/trucks/routes/restrict-process.htm



Chris..

Sorry, but California is not an automotive friendly state - IMO. Too bad since it has a history of being the state where many different types of racing started. Our moto here - "Don't Californicate Arizona. " Maybe if they quit voting in actors as governors .....

I believe that another way around the restriction is a limited time/route permit that allows over-length. Seems like some of the teams were doing that during the Western Swing.