Kansas, over the last several years, has become a yearly destination for me and I have met some amazing people with each visit. What began as a conversation with my friend Trevin Walck (May 2019 feature), turned into a scheduled trip to photograph a few trucks in that Kansas heat, including the pictured Kenworth W900L owned by Tony Lampe (59) out of Spearville, KS.
Growing up in Spearville, it was around his grade school years that Tony realized he wanted to drive a truck. Living on a busy highway gave Tony the ability to watch plenty of trucks roll by, and he was just enamored with them. He didn’t have anyone in his family that drove truck, so one might say he grew up in the right place at the right time to catch the trucking bug.
He and his wife Michelle met in their very early teenage years, which sounds like something you would only read about. He was 14 and she was 13 when they met in town by a tree by the old swimming pool. Fast forward a couple years, and Tony was working for a farmer, which happened to be Michelle’s sister’s husband. No one had taught him how to drive a truck, but that very farmer had Tony hop in a truck, and then told him to drive it into the next hay field. He was 16 at that point, and not long after that he went to get his chauffeur’s license.
Just shy of turning 21, Tony and Michelle got married on May 3, 1986, but a year or so prior to that, Tony went out to get a real trucking job. The only way he was able to get this job for a trucking company out of Dodge City was the fact they did their math wrong and thought Tony was 29, when in fact, he was only 19. He hauled “fat cows” (ready for market/finished cattle) for this company for about three years.
1988 hit hard – literally – when he was driving a cabover loaded with cattle. Trucking during the night, he came up over a hill, and cattle were standing in the road. After the dust settled, life as he knew it changed. He was pretty banged up, including his knee popping out and turning 180 degrees, because he had slammed his foot so hard on the clutch pedal. At the accident scene, Tony couldn’t talk because the impact had knocked all his teeth out, and he also fractured his orbital socket. They used hand squeezes to communicate, and the EMTs attached patches to monitor him, as they instructed Tony how to start his own IV. Getting him out of the truck was going to take a while, but thankfully an oilfield truck came by that had a crane with a hook, and it was able to rip the top of the truck off.
After several surgeries, recovery, and much remaining pain, Tony was back to driving again two years after the wreck. In 1992, after driving for a company for a couple years, Tony and his friend Tim Hayes partnered up to start DC Commodities and Tony bought a 1984 Kenworth W900B, hooked to a hopper bottom, to haul feed ingredients. In 1994, Kenworth came out with the Aerocab and Tony had to have one, so he bought a 1994 Kenworth T600.
In 1996, Tony found out that KW was going to offer W900Ls with the Aerocab in 1997, so he went to Dodge City Kenworth and ordered one exactly how he wanted it, including the Studio sleeper, that came from the factory with a fold-out couch, a non-factory sunroof that was added during the build process, and the factory stripe pattern he wanted. Tony spent an hour looking at the blue color swatches, already knowing in his mind what colors he was looking for (the bottom blue is actually a Ford color that had to be shipped to the factory). Once complete, the KW was shipped to Wichita, KS, where Tony and Michelle drove to pick it up, because Tony couldn’t wait for it to get to Dodge City. They took delivery of this truck in June 1996 with a mere eight miles on the odometer, and when Tony initially laid eyes on the truck, it was love at first sight.
That truck is the pictured 1997 Kenworth W900L seen here. Currently powered by a CAT C15 hooked to an 18-speed, 3.55 rears, and a 250-inch wheelbase, when ordered new, the truck had a 475-hp CAT with a 13-speed and 3.08 rears. He changed out the driveline because, at the time, he was running to Carlsbad, NM three times a week. With a speed limit of 75 mph, he was hindered with the old engine and wanted to be able to run 80. A week before photographing the truck, Tony’s nephew Dustin Lampe installed a new flywheel with an easy clutch pedal. The truck also sports 6-inch Lincoln Chrome stacks, WTI fenders, a Jones Performance hood, and an interior that was customized by Tony himself. You’ll find this truck regularly hooked to a 2014 Wilson 44’ hopper bottom, which he uses to haul grain locally, as well as a lot of fieldwork during harvest.
Throughout my time spent with Tony and Michelle, several emotional conversations were had, including a most recent occurrence regarding this very article. Where Tony parks his truck, there has been a sort of seniority on this lot, and Tony’s parking spot used to belong to Dennis Merica. Prior to his retirement, Dennis was able to stop at truck stops that carried 10-4 Magazine, and each month he’d pick up a copy for Tony and then drop it on the front seat of his truck. This went on for about 15 years throughout the early 2000s.
When Dennis retired about ten years ago, he came to Tony’s house and said Tony could have his coveted parking spot. Fast forward to spring of this year, while vacationing in Key West for their anniversary, Tony received the call that I would be coming out to photograph his truck for an article. Once off the phone, he told Michelle and said he couldn’t wait to get back home to tell Dennis. Unfortunately, the very next day, before they returned home from vacation, Tony received the call that Dennis had passed away. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when Tony told this story.
Photographing this truck was very easy considering all the locations were within three miles of where Tony and Michelle live (definitely a “small town USA” feel, where everyone seemed to know each other, and at every turn there was a story about back in the day). We photographed the truck as a bobtail at the church where Tony and Michelle were married, then in front of a nearby barn, and then got some beautiful combo shots by some milo fields, which are owned by a farmer Tony hauls for during harvest, and out amongst some windmills.
Today, having always remained in Spearville, Tony and Michelle have two children, their son Cory (38) and their daughter Jessica (30), along with two grandsons, Silas (6) and Raylan (2.5), as well as a grandbaby on the way due to arrive in March 2025. Tony and Michelle have a welcoming home with an inviting back porch, and a yard that has a special bench set in place. That previously mentioned tree that Tony and Michelle met under was going to be torn down some years back to build a new public swimming pool. A friend of theirs was the one who took the tree down and actually gifted Tony and Michelle with a bench he made from that tree.
I had a moment to talk to Michelle to get her description of Tony and she mentioned that he is a combination of a very hard-working man and a bit of a prankster. Life is full of laughter around him, plus he is very complimentary, and a great caregiver. One of Tony’s greatest achievements is the title two little boys call him – Grandpa – two of the best things that ever happened to him.
A shoutout and special thanks from Tony to Michelle who has been his rock and stuck with him through all that he has gone through. Michelle has never wavered with her support, including his truck addiction, but most importantly, she loves him, which is evident when you see them together. Thank you to his brother Kent who has done a lot on Tony’s truck, plus they are very close, they talk every day, and they would drop everything for each other. To Tim Hayes who Tony appreciates for all his help through the years, including taking care of the accounting and books to this day. Thanks to J&A Services in Spearville who take care of all of Tony’s mechanical work, and Oscar and the crew at The Truck Wash in Dodge City who do an amazing job washing his truck.
I’d personally like to thank Trevin and his girlfriend Jessica for opening their home to me while I was in town, for Trevin’s help finding and scheduling trucks to photograph, but more than that, for the continued great friendship. Thank you to Tony and Michelle for allowing me the opportunity to hear and tell your story, for getting the truck dialed in, and for being all-around wonderful people. That Kansas heat may be hot, but so are many of the trucks that call Kansas home. As always, to all the drivers out there doing the deal, truck safe.
