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Friday Night Trucks N Wings hosted its inaugural car show at Morristown-Hamblen High School East last Saturday and raised $3,000 for the Morristown Hamblen Humane Society.

The local organization which began hosting ride-ins through Morristown every second Friday from April to October of this year hosted its first car, truck, jeep and bike show at East High. Founder Derrick Jones could not believe his luck with the results of his first ever competitive motorist enthusiast event.

“Honestly it turned out amazing, I couldn’t be any happier. We had a hundred vehicles register for the show. I did not even think we would have that. I’m blown away to be honest with you. It is an amazing turn out, the weather cooperated with us.” Jones said. “Honestly I spent weeks [before the event] just stressed out thinking how I could best do this or that, and it just paid off well in the end.”

But the competition was not just about shiny, loud, or fast vehicles and their prospective rankings among Morristown enthusiasts. This event, as well as the group’s previous drive-ins, had a community-centered purpose.

“So with the cruise-ins we always gave back to the community, from the sale of shirts and stuff and entrance fee for the competition. Last year we did one on Main Street and gave back to Food on Foot. This year we decided to do a car show. We always give back locally to nonprofits,” Jones said.

In previous events, Trucks N Wings also donated proceeds to the Tennessee Special Olympics and the Serenity House.

“This year we decided we were going to make donations to the [Morristown Hamblen] Humane Society. We asked them, and they said they had been struggling here and there so we decided they would receive the donations.”

Jones first got into the car and truck enthusiast community at the young age of 16.

“To be honest with you, what got me into the whole car scene… and don’t laugh! Was 2001’s “The Fast and the Furious.” That’s my all-time favorite movie. When that film came out, I was a sophomore in high school so that’s when I started the whole concept of wanting to get into the enthusiast scene and it’s not stopped since then,” he said.

Those who want to support their community but are not familiar with the car and truck enthusiast scene need not worry. Jones broke down the mystery behind the elusive motorist community.

“In this area you have, we’ll say, different age groups when it comes to truck and car enthusiasts. Me myself started off when I was 16 years old and it just hasn’t stopped at age 37 now. So as you’ve seen, we have a variety of different types of vehicles. We’ve got lifted, we’ve got lowered, we’ve got old school and we have new school,” Jones said.

“What makes this – the truck and car community come together is everybody getting together, hanging out, admiring their hard work and everyone’s rides. So much blood, sweat and tears they put into them. With car shows it’s all about learning the car language. Like why that guy’s truck is low, and that one over there sounds like a can of bees. There’s usually a reason behind each [modification].”