Air Ride Technologies Street Challenge

Our friends at Air Ride Technologies recently sponsored an interesting promotion in their home state of Indiana. On the invitation list was the editorial staff of just about every automotive and truck publication on the stands today. Although most of us are familiar with air suspension, there still seems to be some misconception on what a properly set-up pneumatic ride system can do. To disperse any information or notion that air is bad, Air Ride brought out a large sampling of vehicles and invited some its customers to participate as well. The place chosen for our play date was 1.8-mile Putnam Park Raceway, located in picturesque Mount Vernon, Indiana.

Being the World's Leading Truck Publication, we kept to the truck selection and had choices ranging from classic '67 hardware to '04 new-ware, C10s to F-150s. We even got to be passengers for few hot laps, being driven by a Busch series NASCAR driver, Steve Grissom. It's surprising how fast you think you're making the vehicle go around the track and then have that view smashed by a professional showing you the ropes.

In the end, we came away with a newfound respect for air suspension and airbag technology. Truckin' features the finest trucks on earth, and we have seen a lot of 'bags in our day, but nothing quite like what Air Ride Technologies puts together. Air Ride's entire systems with vehicle-specific applications are well thought out and complete. These systems are much better than purchasing random parts from many different sources and trying to piece together and fabricate a suspension system for your truck's specs.

Check out some of the action here, and take a look at Air Ride's website to find out what else the company has to offer at www.ridetech.com.