In today’s competitive market, it’s important to keep costs under control. This is something that many show truck owners forget from time to time, but not Chris Lewis. Even though he has one of the finest working show trucks around, he never loses sight of what he is - a trucker who earns his keep by delivering goods in a timely manner.
Over the years, Chris has learned to balance his work and play. As great as showing his truck is, he knows his limits. His truck is his business and it doesn’t make good business sense to put too much money into it or to shut down too often for shows. With the exception of the Mid-America show in Louisville, Chris never bobtails to a show. If he can’t find a load, he doesn’t go to the show. But that doesn’t happen very often.
At only 36 years old, Chris has been
involved with trucking for over 18 years. We met up with him the day after the Las Vegas Trucking Show ended at a beautiful spot just 15 miles west of the Strip called Red Rock Canyon. In the short time we got to spend with him, we were very impressed with his
professionalism and maturity. You just don’t find that in too many people his age today.
The weather was hot but the scenery was beautiful. Spending the day in Red Rock Canyon was like taking a little vacation from reality. It was calm and quiet, with cars passing once every 15 minutes or so. We meandered our way through the scenic 13-mile loop, stopping at every bend or vista to take in the sights and snap a few (hundred) pictures of the truck. And boy did that truck stand out among the jagged rocks and desert scape.
Chris’ truck is a 1999 Pete 379 with a Cummins Signature 600 hooked to a Eaton 18-speed and 3:55 rears. The truck features a custom-fabricated stainless headache rack, deck plates, light bars, plates under the hood and on the engine, various interior pieces and a strip down the center of the hood. The truck, which has a 272” wheelbase, also has fiberglass front and rear fenders, 8-inch stacks, Double JJ blinker bars and headlight brackets, and, of course, many lights. The interior features Talladega Low-Rider seats, wood accents, a hardwood floor, and upgraded gauges and switches.
But what makes this truck exciting is its unique use of colors. The truck is Dark Metallic Blue with striking pink accents. Chris had his fenders painted with DuPont’s ChromaBase paint. This paint is a two-color mixture, combining Passion Pink and Violet Pearl. When viewed from different angles or in different lighting, the paint looks either more pink or more violet. Chris also had the tank straps, the radiator, the backside of his visor, the air-to-air cooler, the top of his steps and his driveshafts painted this color. The two colors, blue and pink, contrast each other perfectly and create a real treat for the eyes. Jack Irwin of Sparta, Illinois, finished off the truck by adding some colorful graphics.
So, just how does such a young man keep a level head and own a competitive show truck? Let’s back up a bit and trace his steps. Many of you out there might learn a thing or two about patience and making sacrifices. Chris was born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where his father was stationed in the Navy as a dentist. One year later, the family moved back “home” to Jackson, Missouri. From early in life, Chris wanted to drive a truck. His grandfather owned and operated a farm, a sawmill and a pallet operation near his home, so Chris grew up around farm equipment and trucks. When he was younger, Chris would tag-along with his grandfather’s drivers just to get a feel for the open road.
At the age of 18, he got his license and began running a log truck locally for his grandfather’s sawmill. This was the most
important “education” he ever got in trucking. He can remember going up and down hills that were so steep that he had to be attached to a scraper with cables to keep him from rolling down. At 21 he began taking more regional runs to bordering states and beyond.
After attending college for about a year (and still driving in the day), his grandfather offered him a management position at his pallet company. He was now at a crossroads. Should he keep driving or take the “inside” job? He dropped out of college and began working as the mill manager and became immersed in payroll, banking, financing, purchasing, inventory and the like. Chris learned a lot about how to run a business from his time at the mill. Occasionally, just to keep his feet wet, he would run a load or cover for a sick driver.
By 1995, seven years later, the mill wasn’t doing well so his grandfather sold it to a company that decided they had no use for the fleet of trucks that came with the mill they now owned. Chris made a deal with the new owners and took over the payments on a 1988 International cab-over. It wasn’t in very good shape, so Chris got a business loan just to get it road worthy. He signed on with a local company and began hauling various household goods.
Quickly realizing that there wasn’t much of a future driving for someone else, after only six months he applied for his own authority, formed Lewis Trucking of Jackson Inc., and began hauling for C & G Feed & Supply. He began working very hard, and he started making good money. Because of this, six months later, he got the chance to buy a new Pete.
A Peterbilt was his dream truck, so he jumped at the chance. Chris couldn’t believe it when the bank gave the go-ahead for him to buy the new 1996 Model 379. He drove this plain but clean truck for three years and just hammered on the payments, making extra ones whenever he could. In three years, he went from owing $86,000 to only owing $9,000. With the equity he had accumulated, he was able to spec out his next truck (his current truck) just the way he wanted it.
Chris was always known as a guy who drove a plain-jane truck and saved all his money, so when he began building a show truck, his friends thought he had fallen off the deep end. But all those years of patience and sacrifice, driving beater trucks and plain-janes, was the price he was willing to pay to fulfill his dream of owning a show truck. This is why he had, “And they said I was tight with my money!” painted on the back of his sleeper.
After ordering his new dark blue Pete just the way he wanted it and adding many of the accessories you still see today, he went to Louisville and entered it into the show. He didn’t place but he learned a lot. He entered three more truck shows that year, not
placing in any of them. The next year (2000) he entered two more and didn’t place. Finally, at his sixth show, he won some awards. At that point, Chris
decided he needed something to catch the people’s eyes. That’s when he
decided to add the pink accents and the fiberglass fenders.
People either love it or hate it, but Chris likes it and so do the judges. The truck recently won a spot on the 2003 Rotella SuperRigs calendar and the coveted People’s Choice Bobtail award at the truck show in Las Vegas, just to name two. Since he added the pink accents, his truck has been doing very well, and he has had a lot of fun. But winning isn’t everything - he loves the camaraderie. Losing doesn’t always feel good, but winning isn’t why he goes to the shows. He goes to spend time with friends and have fun.
Chris wanted to thank Andy Schumer for his awesome stainless work, Mid-America Pete for spraying all the pink, Joplin Peterbilt for the custom tank and fender skirts, Steve at Got Shine for his nearly unbelievable polishing abilities, and all the family and friends who have supported him along the way.
Chris pulls his own flatbed trailer, hauling ventilated wire shelving for Rubbermaid throughout the country, but mostly around the east coast. He has two boys, Levi (12) and Logan (5), and is glad that he gets to be home at least once a week to spend time with them. Chris plans on keeping this truck for one more year, than stepping up to something bigger and better. But for now, he’s pretty happy with the ride he has, so he’s in no real hurry. Besides, it does a fine job of taking care of business. And isn’t that what it’s really all about!
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