Tailgating is most popular at college and pro football games and NASCAR races, although Jimmy Buffett concerts -- which attract legions of dedicated "parrotheads" -- also draw notable tailgating crowds, Miller said.
The reasons for the explosive growth are hard to pin down. Miller and others speak of the shared passion for a sports team or stock car driver and the camaraderie of sharing a beer and some smoked brisket with friends and fellow fans before an event.
Whatever the reason, the advent of advanced tailgating equipment like Campbell's trailers has definitely amped up the experience.
"Ten years ago, we were sitting in the parking lot in my Volkswagen van with a bag of chips and a fifth of vodka," said Kevin Anderson, 42, of Huntington Beach, who went in with his brother-in-law last March on a $17,000 Gameday trailer. "Now, we have 40 to 75 people at our tailgate."
Anderson, a 1986 USC grad, even gave Campbell an impromptu radio plug when he mentioned the company's products during an interview with a local sports talk radio station before last month's USC-UCLA game, where he was tailgating outside the Coliseum.
Campbell expects to sell 22 trailers this year (about $400,000 in sales) and hopes to increase that to 30 to 40 next year. After a slow start, he said, he's now turning a profit -- a nice trick for a 2-year-old business.
The idea for Gameday Customs came while he and a friend were tailgating before the USC-Cal game four years ago. A guy with a beat-up old trailer outfitted with a grill and a satellite dish inspired Campbell's friend to suggest that they try to build their own.
The first trailer, jury-rigged in his friend's Belmont Shore garage, was intended to be their personal party wagon. But the reaction from the tailgating community hinted at bigger things.
"We took it to the SC games and the response was so positive we thought that maybe this was a viable business," Campbell said.
Using $50,000 of his own money as start-up capital -- all but cracking his nest egg in the process -- Campbell set up shop in rented industrial space in Long Beach.
He bought several stripped-down, two-wheeled trailers from an Arizona outfit called Wells Cargo and gave them the full Gameday treatment.
That was mistake No. 1.
Turns out not everyone needs to keep a keg cold, so for some early customers, he had to pull out the kegerator and install a mini fridge instead. Or maybe they wanted a bigger TV or more powerful generator.
