This Pimpin’ Peterbilt is owned and operated by Jason Silva (30) of Ripon, California. Jason started working for himself in 2006 and, besides a few set-backs, has never looked back. His latest rig, this bright red Pete 389 featured here, turns heads wherever it goes – for very obvious reasons!
After driving for Sysco Foods for a while, Jason realized he needed to be his own boss. At the time, the economy was doing pretty good, and his friend Kelly was sub-hauling for a few local outfits with an end dump. Jason decided to go all in, and pulled all the money out of his credit lines and bought his first truck and end dump – a 1976 root beer brown Pete 359 with a 28’ Reliance end dump. In a short amount of time, hustling hard, Jason was doing very well. In fact, business was so good, Jason bought a second Peterbilt and put a driver in it.
Later, when the economy went south, so did Jason’s business. Unfortunately, he had to downsize the end dump operation some, and he began hauling shuttles for DOT Foods – but he was barely hanging on. Thankfully, in 2008, Jason was able to get on as an owner operator at Chemical Transfer in Stockton, California, and things got better quickly. Now, it’s been many years and many miles, but he’s still working for Chemical Transfer, hauling hazmat in tankers. Jason hauls everything from motor oil, caustics, acids and anhydrous ammonia. It’s a risky business to be in, but it has been rewarding.
Driving a decked-out 2009 Peterbilt 389 at the time, this truck was totaled on a foggy morning in November of 2015 when a guy ran a stop sign and plowed into Jason’s rig. His replacement truck is the one you see here.
This new Peterbilt is a 2017 model that was spec’d out and ordered, with some help from Jeff Botelho of Botelho Custom Trucks, just the way Jason wanted it to be. This “Portuguese Cadillac” sports big Cummins power, a 270-inch wheelbase, an 18-speed, and Low Air-Leaf suspension. For Jason, sometimes less is more, so he wanted to keep the truck simple and clean. So, Botelho worked his magic and, among other things, added Lincoln Chrome exhaust, Hogebuilt full fenders, and plenty of accessories from Valley Chrome. And, as Jason put it, “What you see is what you get!”
When he’s not hauling nasty chemicals and such around, Jason sometimes gets to help move the Sunnyvalley Smoked Meats race car transport, when they need an extra hand. The transport hauls Jacob Gomes’ #16 stock car from track to track, throughout the west, but Jason usually just hauls it from the yard to the shop, or to the Truck Tub for a wash! Jacob races on asphalt, but Jason’s big hobby is drag racing on water. Thanks to his dedicated crew, he gets to drive the “Gypsy” drag boat – a six-second hydroplane – running in the NJBA (National Jet Boat Association) and Lucas Oil Racing series.
Happy to be self-employed, things are going well for Jason Silva and his trucking business. Things have not always been easy, but with a bright red “Pimpin’ Pete” like this, decked-out by one of the best in the business, he is excited to hit the road every day – as he should be!
