A TEXAN truck driver has created the world’s largest barbecue pit on wheels. Terry Folsom has been in the trucking business for over 30 years. Terry told R.Rides: “My passion is cooking meat and smoking it, so I own the largest barbecue pit in the world.” After purchasing the truck brand-new in 1997 from Houston, Terry decided to add his own personal touch - a 76ft-long BBQ. Terry said: “It’s the largest in the world. The truck weighs about 22,000lbs and the trailer weighs 80,000”. The smoking pit is at the back of the truck and took about six months to be built. On the front of the pit there is even a place for a big TV screen, stereo equipment, a freezer and beer taps to hook up kegs. Kimberly King, Terry’s wife, told R.Rides: “We acquired this thing through a business deal!” Terry and Kimberly put on a lot of cook-offs and cook free food for the first responders in town. Kimberly said: “We have taken it to the Salvation Army several times and fed the homeless and the veterans for Thanksgiving. During Hurricane Harvey we fed 55,000 people in 11 days.” But with a vehicle this long, it’s not easy to drive around. Kimberly added: “It is costly to move it. You have to have special escorts because it is overweight and over linked. To move out of our driveway alone, we have to have people block traffic because it takes us all the other side of the road.” Terry and Kimberly have no plans to sell the truck as it makes them feel so good when giving back to their community.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [SOUND] The truck weighs about 22,000 pounds.
00:05 The trailer weighs 80,000.
00:07 It's a 76 foot barbecue pit.
00:11 It's the largest in the world.
00:12 [MUSIC]
00:16 Woo!
00:19 I love barbecue.
00:20 [SOUND] This meat right here is like candy.
00:26 Mm.
00:28 Mm, mm, mm.
00:29 Welcome to the Lone Star State.
00:32 Texas pride, 100%.
00:34 Yeah.
00:35 Where they do everything.
00:36 [LAUGH]
00:37 Bigger.
00:38 This is a 1997 Peterbilt 379 extended hood with a 550 cat,
00:43 18 speed, 355 rear end, racial.
00:46 I bought it brand new in 1997 from Peterbilt, Houston.
00:50 But it's what's behind this rig that's record size.
00:53 This right here is our firebox.
00:56 Yep, that's right.
00:59 This isn't just a truck, it's also a 76 foot long barbecue.
01:04 It's the largest in the world.
01:05 I've been a truck driver for 30 years and smoking meat for a long time.
01:11 This is my passion.
01:12 I enjoy doing this type of thing.
01:13 The truck weighs about 22,000 pounds.
01:17 The trailer weighs 80,000.
01:19 We have a TV screen up here in the front.
01:21 We have a cooler in the other side.
01:23 And we have our actual smoker in the back.
01:27 This pit was built at Texas Fibers down there close to Houston.
01:31 It took them about six months to build this.
01:35 We acquired this thing through a business deal.
01:38 It cooks anywhere from 8 to 12,000 pounds of meat.
01:40 It just depends on what you're cooking.
01:43 This is the best part I like right here is this big Texas on the back.
01:46 You have a lot of cookouts and cookoffs.
01:48 We just love what we do.
01:49 Today, Terry, his wife Kimberly, and a few local chefs
01:56 are cooking free food for the town's first responders.
01:59 We're feeding our local law enforcement, fire department, and EMS.
02:08 Whoever wants to come out that takes care of our community and keeps us safe.
02:13 I'm friends with a lot of these folks here in this town.
02:15 I was raised here.
02:16 I called dispatch and had a friend of mine send out a text that
02:20 anybody could come eat if they wanted to come eat.
02:23 We do like to do the events.
02:24 It makes you feel good.
02:26 It takes about two and a half hours to get this up to temperature.
02:29 This is our firebox.
02:31 There's a heat exchange tube that runs from the rear to the front of this pit.
02:37 We have 24 smoking compartment doors on here.
02:40 Woo, there's some good ribs right here.
02:42 Woo.
02:44 Not no joke.
02:45 There's cutouts on the heat exchange tube that allows the smoke and
02:50 the heat to come up.
02:52 And this damper is what controls the heat that rises through it.
02:57 Man.
02:58 Mm.
03:00 Mm-mm-mm.
03:02 Good.
03:03 Right now we're at 250 degrees on these ribs.
03:07 We like to keep it right at that temperature.
03:09 We smoke them for hours and hours.
03:11 [MUSIC]
03:15 [LAUGH]
03:17 It's good.
03:18 Well, we've got enough to eat for days.
03:20 [LAUGH]
03:22 We sure do.
03:23 Woo.
03:25 We're at the end of the pit.
03:26 The firebox is at the other end.
03:28 And this is our largest smokestack.
03:30 This is the main one that creates the draft to all the other compartments.
03:34 Woo, this burn is good.
03:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]
03:39 I could eat this all day.
03:41 All day.
03:42 Never get tired of this.
03:43 [MUSIC]
03:46 And when it's not feeding local firemen, cops, and medics,
03:50 this truck's done some emergency work of its own.
03:53 We have took it to the Salvation Army in Galveston several times and
03:57 fed the homeless and the veterans for Thanksgiving.
04:00 Also, we did Hurricane Harvey for Red Cross.
04:05 During Hurricane Harvey, we fed 55,000 people in 11 days.
04:09 So with a vehicle this long, what's it like taking it out for a spin?
04:13 It is costly to move it.
04:15 You have to have special escorts because it is overweight and over length.
04:19 To move out of our driveway alone, we have to have people block traffic
04:24 because it takes us all the way to the other side of the road.
04:27 In that case, better off staying at home, having a barbecue, and
04:31 doing Texas stuff.
04:33 [MUSIC]
04:48 I love barbecue.
04:50 Mm.
04:54 And it's so delicious.