DRIVIN’ BOOTS!
BY ROVING CORRESPONDENT TROY MILLER
Some types of trucking make it easier to build a show-quality truck that can still work, while other types of trucking make it almost impossible. Boots Chivington of Vernal, Utah is an oilfield trucker, and, as many in the industry know, its best not to expect the chrome on your truck to last that long if you’re out in the oilfields on a regular basis. Boots (appropriately named because he loves to wear fancy cowboy boots), however, still wanted to build a competitive show truck, and that is exactly what he did.
Raised on a ranch, Boots realized early on that he didn’t want to follow his father’s footsteps. Instead of being a rancher, Boots chose to drive a truck. After 36 years in the industry he has hauled all types of freight, but the majority of his experience lies in the oilfields. Oilfield trucking has had him haul loads both in terms of size and weight that few highway truckers would ever see, let alone consider trying to put on their truck. Drilling rigs, site equipment, shacks, and other related oilfield equipment are all part of his daily moves, sometimes hauling loads over 400,000 pounds when running trucks in tandem. But Boots still likes a shiny truck, so he built one.
The project started when Boots met LeRoy McRoberts and Charlie Rogers of Bad Boy Customs in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. Once Boots got the ball rolling with ideas about what he wanted to do to his 2000 W900L Kenworth, the two guys ran with it. Although the truck has many wild features to it, including a Jones Performance hood with the headlights mounted in the bumper and loud 10-inch straight pipes, don’t let the wild features distract you from the fact that this truck has many details that can go easily unnoticed.
Boots’ theme of boots (what else would you expect?) can be found throughout the truck, including a boot-shape design on the grille holes and boot-shaped fender mounts on the rear. The truck also features 150 well-hidden lights and the windows on the sleeper cap have been removed and the holes filled. The truck also has stainless bumpers front and rear, full fiberglass double-hump fenders, a smooth deckplate, extra tool boxes behind the sleeper, suicide doors (they had to be for clearance with the exhaust), and painted air cleaners and drop visor. With a natural working-man’s attitude, Boots simply refers to the truck’s colors as being black and orange – no special color codes or names – just black and orange. With all of this going on, the truck may sound messy, but it is one of the cleanest and smoothest trucks around.
The interior of the Kenworth is equally as impressive as the exterior, and no less modified either. The KW’s interior continues the exterior’s color scheme with black and orange leather throughout, including the seats, glove box cover, doors, headliner, and a full wrap-around booth in the sleeper. Amidst all of this leather is a large amount of stainless and chrome, including the gauges, steering wheel, pedals and shift tower. The truck also has a full hardwood floor in the cab and sleeper, a 20-inch flat-panel television, and a moon roof in the cab.
The truck moves down the road (and I mean moves) with plenty of power from a 600+ horsepower Cat C-16 engine, routed through an 18-speed trans, on 46,000 lb. 3.90 Eaton rears. Though the engine is still Cat Yellow, it isn’t a bit out of place on this truck (it is immaculately clean from front to back like the rest of the rig). Sitting on a 280-inch wheelbase, the truck is long, but not excessively long, especially with the entirety of the frame rails being filled out with fuel tanks, fenders and tool boxes.
The engine bay also holds one of the most unique and touching features on the truck. The fan (painted orange) has several murals of boots and drilling rigs on it, however, it also has murals of his son, Cub. Cub rode with his father from the time he was in diapers and loved being around trucks. In 2003 Cub, then 22 years old, bought his own truck and began running it himself, but unfortunately he was only able to run that truck for a week when he was killed in a tragic accident. From a young age, Cub and his sister Traci (now 33) would help Boots polish his trucks, rotate the tires, and do any other maintenance they were big enough to do. Boots’ truck is a memorial to his son, making sure he will never be forgotten.
Inevitably, someone always asks, “Does it work?” Currently the Kenworth is not working, as, luckily, the oilfields are providing Boots with enough work to keep the truck just a fancy calling-card. However, Boots is not opposed to the truck working (on-highway, of course), and has even considered putting it out on the road hauling general freight. But, the project was to build a show truck – something for fun – and that’s what it ought to be if that’s the way Boots wants it! With the big C-16 engine and 18-speed transmission, though, it certainly would not have any problem working for a living if it eventually found its way out on the road.
Boots is not a man of obscurity – he is straightforward and honest when you speak with him – and he’s more than happy to show you a thing or two about his truck and trucking. He has been happily married for six years to his wife Ruth Ann, who not only tolerates his habit, but enjoys the truck as much as he does. After all, those 10-inch stacks were a Christmas gift from Ruth Ann to Boots. His truck is many things beyond a worthy competitor at a truck show – it is a calling card for his dedication to trucking, it is a gigantic toy to have fun with, but most importantly, it is a rolling memorial for his son who always loved trucks and trucking.
Boots would like to say thank you to his wife Ruth Ann for their wonderful marriage and her enthusiasm about the KW, as well as his daughter Traci for all of her help on the trucks when she was younger. He would also like to thank Dennis Wipf of Truck Armor, who supplied much of the stainless on the truck, and Charlie Rogers and LeRoy McRoberts of Bad Boy Customs for all of the hard work that they did on the truck.
In addition to thanking Boots, I would like to extend a personal thank you to Mr. Plandel for allowing us to use his truck bone yard as our photo shoot location. His yard certainly has some interesting older brothers to Boots’ W900, but none as pretty, that is for sure! When your name is Boots, it isn’t hard to fill even the largest of shoes. But this “Boots” wasn’t made for walkin’ – he was made for drivin’!