This month’s cool creation was built for Oldenkamp Trucking out of Bakersfield, CA, in remembrance of its founder, Harold “Butch” Oldenkamp (AKA The Legend). Butch was a devoted husband and a loving father that built a great company, which is now owned and operated by his widow and their kids. Wanting to build a special truck in Butch’s honor, the family called Clint – and he got it done.
Butch was born in 1959 in Corona, CA to Harold and Beppy Oldenkamp. He was raised in Ontario, CA, but he didn’t have it easy growing up, including losing a sister in an accident right in front of him when he was young. He had a rough childhood – he liked to fight, he dropped out of school in the 10th grade to work at a dairy, and even made a couple visits to rehab. But, in 1982, something good happened – he married the love of his life, Dana Pinheiro.
During his last stay at rehab in 1990, Butch finally realized that family and being sober was the most important thing. During that final stay in rehab he found God, and his life forever changed. After that, he drove a milk truck for about two years before ordering a beautiful new blue 379 Peterbilt daycab and a West-Mark tanker and opening Oldenkamp Trucking back on June 1, 1993 – and they have been open and working every day ever since. Hauling milk, there are no days off and no weekends. Today, the company has 93 units on the road.
Butch and Dana were blessed with three children – Danielle, John and Nathan. Danielle is the oldest, and she is married to Brad Bachar (they have five-month-old twins, Scarlett and Jamison). Next is John, who is married to Katie, and has three children – Brooke (6), Roxanne (4) and Jeremiah (1). The youngest is Nathan, who just married his wife Jessica last October.
Always an avid hunter and fisherman, Butch and Dana bought a cabin on the shore of Henry’s Lake in Island Park, Idaho, where they spent a lot of time boating and fishing. Butch passed away at this cabin on August 14, 2014 of natural causes – he was only 55 years old.
Today, Oldenkamp Trucking is mostly run by John. His mom Dana is still the CFO, and she handles all the bookwork, while John’s younger brother Nate takes care of the equipment and runs the shop. Wanting to build a special truck in honor of his father, John called Clint last year and ordered a new 2016 Peterbilt 389 extended hood daycab with a 279-inch wheelbase and all the goodies, including a 600-hp high-torque ISX Cummins, an 18 speed, all-wheel disc brakes, Low LowAir on the rear and a 12 Ga. air-ride system up front. They also ordered a brand new matching West-Mark tanker trailer, which you can see in the pictures, as well.
Once the truck arrived at the dealership, Charlie in the service department, along with the “night shift” and all of the guys in the body shop, worked hard to complete this wonderful project by adding a “Next Level” exhaust system from Lincoln Chrome, hiding the urea tank, and then installing a smooth and flush painted deck plate. They also added body drop skirts, stainless steel covers on the boxes, one of Clint’s visors, Hogebuilt low-rider half fenders with hidden brackets, a 20-inch bumper, nine bullet-style cab lights, a painted “I” panel between the fuel tanks, and a Jim Crain rear light bar. To finish it all off, special LED lights that can change colors were mounted all over the truck, and the air cleaner lids were chopped, compliments of Clint’s dad.
Clint is very thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of this special truck build in honor of “The Legend” – and he really enjoyed seeing how the completed combination finally turned out when hooked together.
Butch had a lot of sayings that he lived by, and one of them was, “Don’t worry about it,” which he said often and truly followed. He believed in not putting things off, in living life to the fullest, and keeping everything in order, because any day could be your last.
Another one of Butch’s famous sayings, ironically, was, “Chrome don’t make you money, but hard work will.” We suppose he might not completely approve of this fancy truck in the fleet, but hard work is what paid for it and made it possible, that’s for sure!