Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/757641
72 | Overdrive | December 2016 ReaRview O verdrive dabbled in movie- making and rubbing elbows with celebrities in the 1960s and '70s, due largely to the aspirations of founder and editor Mike Parkhurst. It didn't hurt that the magazine was based in Hollywood's home, Los Angeles. In addition to hosting the drag race in the original "Smokey and the Bandit" in 1977, the magazine funded two Parkhurst projects, the 1965 documentary "Big Rig" and a fictional 1972 trucking film called "Moonfire" starring Charles Napier and boxer Sonny Liston. Napier was an Overdrive editor who went on to act in dozens of movies and TV shows, many of them well-known. Other celebrities such as country star Johnny Cash, actor Don Knotts, "Hee Haw" actress Misty Rowe and President Carter's brother, Billy, appeared in Overdrive ads or stories during the '60s, '70s and '80s. Overdrive and the big screen BY JAMES JAILLET Burt Reynolds, star of the 1977 and 1980 "Smokey and the Bandit" films, appears here in the May 1977 issue, opening the then-monthly CB section. Overdrive was involved in both movies, organizing racing and other truck-related scenes. Though Overdrive left the movie business when Parkhurst sold the magazine in the mid-1980s, it still covers trucking's celebrities du jour. That includes "Ice Road Truckers" stars Alex Debogorski, featured here on the September 2012 cover, and Lisa Kelly, as well as shows such as "Shipping Wars" and "American Trucker." Season's greetings Each December for nearly 20 years, Overdrive used red and green on its covers to ring in the Christmas spirit. Some covers addressed serious topics, such as the December 1974 issue, left, where Overdrive railed against the Interstate Commerce Commission for pushing carriers to take away truckers' CBs. Others, such the December 1978 issue, right, offered more casual holiday cheer.