Shimkat Motor Co. of Fort Dodge celebrated its 75th anniversary last weekend. Its popular “Raminator” monster truck flanked the 12 vehicles and 50 Shimkat employees who walked in the Frontier Days Parade on Saturday, before receiving an escort from the Fort Dodge Police Department and Webster County Sheriff’s Office to the Iowa Central campus.

Originally scheduled for a four-hour session of rides and a car crush show, the demand for Raminator entertainment lasted into the evening hours, according to Shimkat General Manager T.J. Pingel.

“We started giving out rides at 11:30 (a.m.), and we were scheduled to stop at 3:30,” Pingel said. “But thanks to our team and the Raminator Crew, we continued giving rides for almost three hours after we were supposed to stop (to fulfill the public’s expectations).

“The Raminator ‘Car Crush’ took place at 2 p.m. The crowd was in awe as it crushed, jumped and did donuts in the Iowa Central parking lot. People filled the parking garage and flowed down all the way to the intersection on Triton Drive.”

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
The "Raminator" car crush show takes place at Iowa Central Community College on Saturday.

Combined with the activity at Shimkat Motors on Friday, Pingel estimated 1,000 Raminator rides were given. More importantly, nearly $1,000 was collected in freewill donations.

“Originally, that was to be split between The Fort and the Iowa Central Foundation,” Pingel said. “But the Shimkat family has decided to at least double it, making sure each nonprofit receives a minimum of $1,000 each.”

Iowa Central Community College President Jesse Ulrich was pleased to see the crowd on hand to support not just Shimkat Motors and Iowa Central, but Fort Dodge in general.

“Shimkat and Iowa Central have shared a special relationship for decades,” Ulrich said. “They’ve been generational supporters of our school, and almost every Shimkat family member has taken classes here at one time or another. We were happy to help them celebrate by hosting the Raminator event, which ended up being incredibly popular. We were able to showcase our campus to the community in the process.

“That’s why we’re here: to serve the region. Seeing the number of people enjoying the Frontier Days activities in our area (both on campus and directly east at the Fort Museum) really brought a bigger picture to the weekend.”

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
The “Raminator” gives rides in the Iowa Central Community College parking lot on Saturday in an event sponsored by Shimkat Motors.

Pingel observed a similar energy.

“Once the show was over, I think the best part was seeing many people head over to the Fort and enjoy Frontier Days,” Pingel said. “I personally have never seen a line that long to enter an event here in Fort Dodge, outside of maybe Shellabration.”

Shimkat Motor Co. also hosted a Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate its 75th anniversary on Thursday, which was attended by hundreds of people. The Raminator rides began on Friday afternoon for employees and their families.

Shimkat’s public giveaway of 75 jeep powerwheels continues in recognition of its milestone as well.

“We would like to thank Mike Rees from Mid-Iowa Towing for supplying and setting up the cars that were crushed, Jason Hannah from Visions (Auto Glass and Repair) for helping Mike get the cars ready to be crushed, Iowa Central for letting us have a event on their property, our amazing staff that worked countless hours on their feet to make these events succeed, and every single person who came out to make this event a huge success,” Pingel said. “We wanted it to truly be a community event, and I think it turned into exactly that. Hopefully, it gave a great boost to Iowa Central, Frontier Days and The Fort.”

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
The "Raminator" is on display in front of thousands of people at Iowa Central Community College on Saturday. The event was sponsored by Shimkat Motors.

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
The “Raminator” completes its car crush exercise at Iowa Central Community College on Saturday.

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
The “Raminator” concludes its car crush exercise at Iowa Central Community College on Saturday.