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Smoking hot: 5 of America's most extreme BBQ rigs, from battle tanks to jet airlines
David Klose is America’s bell cow of extreme barbecue rigs.
The founder of BBQ Pits by Klose in Houston, Texas has custom-built many of the world’s biggest, most beautiful and most ambitious smokers.
Among them are a motorcycle sidecar that could barbecue ribs at 100 miles per hour, a giant beer bottle smoker, and a stunning rig designed to look like a giant model of a commercial passenger jet.
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Yes, there’s ego, showmanship and all-American barbecue bravado behind the orders for the extreme rigs.
But the No. 1 motive for customers is easy to pinpoint.
“It’s charity,” said Klose. “You can raise millions of dollars a year by showing up at events with one of those barbecue pits to feed thousands of people.”
A smoker designed like a M1A1 Abrams tank from WarPigs BBQ of Texas, left, and a military surplus tow truck used by C&J Sand Pigs of New Hampshire. (Dennis Butterworth; John Janelli)
John Janelli, a former Marine from Raymond, New Hampshire, also experienced the charitable power of a tricked-out barbecue rig.
He uses a military surplus tow-truck to haul a hog-shaped smoker he fabricated from a giant propane tank.
Janelli intended to serve barbecue to friends and family. The rig, and the food, proved a popular party guest.
“It’s kind of ingrained in our culture.”
He’s recently cooked for Wounded Warriors and the VFW. He also rolled his rig through his hometown Memorial Day parade last year with a hog cooking inside his hog-shaped smoker — trailing a smoky, aromatic tail of deliciousness in its wake.
Barbecue, charity and veteran are a natural all-American trio, said barbecue champ and Army veteran Dennis Butterworth of WarPig BBQ in Crosby, Texas.
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“Anybody who’s been in the military, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines — at some point we had downtime and there was a grill and some charcoal and some cold beers and so that’s how we hung out,” said Butterworth.
“It’s kind of ingrained in our culture.”
5 of America’s most amazing barbecue rigs
1. A Class Carriers 76-foot trailer smoker
Terry Folsom of Brenham, Texas, is owner of what’s touted as the world’s largest mobile barbecue rig. The trailer is 76 feet long and can cook up to 12,000 pounds of meat at once. (Terry Folsom/A Class Carriers)
Dubbed the world’s largest mobile barbecue rig, A Class Carriers in Benham, Texas can smoke up to 12,000 pounds of meat at once.
Terry Folsom has used his full-size, 40-ton trailer to aid charity events and disaster relief.
He rushed the rig into service to feed victims of Hurricane Harvey when the category 4 storm struck the Texas coast in August 2017.
2. BBQ Pits by Klose passenger jet
David Klose of BBQ Pits by Klose in Houston, Texas took nine months to fabricate this scale-model passenger jet smoker. (David Klose/BBQ Pits by Klose)
Klose spent nine months fabricating this smoker into a scale model of a commercial passenger jet, styled like a plane from the former Continental Airlines.
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Klose has fabricated thousands of custom-built barbecue rigs over the decades.
This one in particular, he said, “is breathtaking.”
3. C&J Sand Pigs military tow truck
John Janelli of Raymond, New Hampshire, hauls his giant barbecue smoker to events with a 1991 BMY M92 military surplus truck. (John Janelli/C&J’s Sand Pigs)
Janelli, who spent time in the U.S. Marine Corps, took a giant green propane tank and turned it into a work of art: a giant hog-shaped smoker, complete with snout, fiery eyeballs and corkscrew tail.
It even has details hanging from the back to show that it’s a male pig.
The rig proved too heavy to tow with an ordinary road truck, so he found a military surplus tow truck to handle the chore.
The combination of patriotic truck and mischievous male pig (the smoker is, um, anatomically correct) is a huge hit at partis, charity events and parades.
4. Orange County Choppers RUB barbecue sidecar
BBQ Pits by Klose fabricated a motorcycle sidecar smoker for Orange County Choppers of New York and RUB Barbecue. (David Klose/BBQ Pits by Klose)
Klose fabricated a motorcycle-sidecar smoker for an episode of “American Chopper” starring the Teutul family of Orange County Choppers in upstate New York.
The episode featured what was then the popular barbecue restaurant group RUB Barbecue.
“It costs as much as a Bentley,” Andrew Fischel of RUB Barbecue said at the time.
The stylish barbecue rig can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour and cook 20 racks of rib.
5. WarPig BBQ M1A1 Abrams tank
Butterworth is a legendary barbecue champion who served on tank crews during his time in the U.S. Army.
A model of the battle tank proved a perfect design for his competitive barbecue team’s smoker.
WarPig BBQ’s M1A1-model barbecue smoker. Dennis Butterworth of Houston, Texas, who heads the competitive barbecue team, served in tank crews in the U.S. Army. (Dennis Butterworth/WarPig BBQ)
The tracks work, allowing Butterworth to roll the rig onto the barbecue battlefield. The barrel, of course, is a chimney to vent the smoker.
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A former Riverside County man was found guilty of sex trafficking a female victim and forcing her to engage in commercial sex acts along L.A.’s notorious Figueroa Corridor.
Elias Abdul Shabazz, 34, formerly of Perris, was found guilty by a jury following a five-day trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors said Shabazz had led the victim to believe they were in a romantic relationship before he turned physically and sexually violent. He began demanding that the victim engage in commercial sex acts from May to October of 2021, court documents said.
He carried a handgun with him and, on occasion, was accused of using it to pistol-whip the victim. He also fired the gun at her feet while threatening to kill her, prosecutors said.
At trial, the victim said Shabazz demanded that she meet a daily quota of commercial sex proceeds and that she was terrified of the consequences of not meeting that quota.
She testified that Shabazz compelled her to work in the notorious Figueroa Corridor in South L.A., a dangerous area known for human trafficking and prostitution.
Shabazz had confiscated her identification card, Social Security card and birth certificate. He constantly monitored her cell phone to stop her from communicating with any friends or family.
“He also introduced her to addictive narcotics and controlled every aspect of her life, including when she ate, slept and showered,” prosecutors said.
In May 2025, Shabazz was arrested and has remained in federal custody. His last known address at the time was in Washington, D.C.
On June 26, 2026, Shabazz was found guilty of one count of coercing or enticing interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6, where he faces 15 years to life in prison.
“Sex trafficking matters rank among the most tragic cases our office prosecutes,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “This defendant will now face many years in a federal prison cell for his sick, disgusting, and disturbing behavior.”
“Elias Shabazz preyed on a vulnerable victim using physical and sexual violence and cruel psychological coercion to compel commercial sex acts for his own profit,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “There is no place for this type of conduct in civilized society. We deeply respect the victim’s courage to face her trafficker in court. The Criminal Division will continue to bring these cases and try them.”
Anyone with information about human trafficking can report tips to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888
The star-studded feel-good giveback event of the summer has returned. KTLA 5 is teaming up once again with Project Angel Food for the annual “Lead with Love: Going the Distance” telethon to raise critical funds for medically tailored meals delivered to people living with serious illnesses throughout Los Angeles County. The seventh annual telethon airs […]
A woman was hospitalized with serious injuries after she was violently attacked by a robber in downtown Long Beach. On June 18, Jennifer Silva, 34, was attending a World Cup watch party at a Hooters restaurant at 90 Aquarium Way. After the game ended, she left the restaurant just before 11 p.m. As she walked […]
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