It would be hard to miss all those light blue Werner fleet trucks out there on the road, but there is one, that looks a little different, that you may not have seen. It’s the transporter for Werner’s top fuel dragster. Racing team owner Peter Lehman assemled a group of rookies and, along with support from Werner, has quickly become a driving force in Top Fuel racing.

The history of Werner is an amazing success story in itself. Started back in 1956 by C.L. Werner at the age of 19, the company had one truck and a huge dream. Today, Werner has 7,750 trucks and nearly 20,000 trailers, with well over 12,000 employees and owner operators! Werner generated over $1.2 billion in revenue in 2000. Today, C.L.’s three sons are active in the publicly-held company, with Greg Werner serving as President.

Not only is Werner one of the top five trucking companies in the nation, it is also a leader in technology. In 1998, Werner became the first trucking company authorized by the Federal Highway Administration to use digital driver logs instead of paper logbooks. They were also the first trucking industry business to use simulation-based training when they opened a driver training center at their Omaha office in February of 2001. The center is home to Lockheed Martin’s Millenium Driver Trainer, a high-fidelity, motion-based simulator. As a truckload carrier of general commodities in both interstate and intrastate commerce, Werner is known for their on-time service, low accident percentages and modern fleet (tractors average only 1.6 years in age).

When Top Fuel team owner Peter Lehman initially announced the sponsorship, the Werner President showed genuine enthusiam for the new racing project. Greg helped Peter with the color scheme and graphic designs for the car and transporter. The truck and trailer were even painted at Werner’s Omaha facility. Werner helps keep the transporter in top shape, and even sends fill-in drivers if the crew needs them. Between races, you can often find the transporter parked in one of Werner’s many terminals.

Peter Lehman is no doubt destined to become a legend in the racing team ownership industry. At only 25 years old, he is the youngest team owner in racing history. Peter’s great grandfather started Fel-Pro gasket company back in the days when Henry Ford was just getting started. The story we were told was that Mr. Ford came to the gasket factory where Peter’s great grandfather worked. He wanted them to build some gaskets for his creation (a mass-produced auto) but the company declined. So his great grandfather decided to do it and started Felt Products, a gasket company. Over the years Fel-Pro, as it was later called, became one of the largest gasket manufacturers in the world. A few years ago, Fel-Pro was purchased by Federal-Mogul, and Peter found himself having to change careers. He chose to get involoved in racing and the rest is rapidly becoming history.

Teamed up with Werner, Matco Tools, Royal Purple, Goodyear, and many other sponsors, the Lehman team features a veteran crew chief by the name of Mike Kloeber, a young driver named Clay Millican and a team of rookie crew members who are learning quickly what it takes to be a competitive Top Fuel crew. Their 2001 season will be long remembered as one of the finest in IHRA Top Fuel history. Clay claimed six consecutive victories (breaking Don Garlits’ previous record), seven pole positions and smashed both IHRA mile-per-hour and elapsed time records (4.63/320mph) on his way to his first Top Fuel championship. Not bad for only their second year.

In 2000, Clay and the Lehman Racing team finished 2nd in the IHRA points, won three national events and set the IHRA Top Fuel elapsed time record twice. In addition, Clay qualified on the pole at five of the ten IHRA national events and set low ET of the event six times. Clay, who lives in Drummonds, TN was named the 2000 IHRA Pro Rookie of the Year. This year, in addition to the full 12-race IHRA schedule, the team will also be competing in seven NHRA national events.

Keelin Hooten, crew member and driver of the team transporter for the last three years (since the team’s inception), filled us in on all the details about trucking in the racing world. Although Keelin is the official driver of the rig, he considers himself a crew member first, truck driver second. He has an extensive background in all areas of trucking, including management, maintenance and driving.

The tractor is a 1990 KW T-600 with a 425 Cat and 15-speed transmission. The truck pulls a custom-built 1994 Featherlite race trailer, which has enough parts and equipment inside it to make three complete engine rebuilds. It also has all the machinery to perform just about anything that needs to be done to the car while at a race. There is also a spare race car chassis hanging inside the trailer from its roof (in case of emergency only). Keelin said, “It’s not a good thing when we have to go to the spare car!”

The 8-man crew rebuilds the car’s motor after every run. At NHRA events, they only have 75 minutes between passes to completely rebuild the (hot) motor and be back on the line ready to roll. At IHRA races, they get 15 extra minutes. Their car is not always the fastest, but it is known for its consistency. Even team owner Peter Lehman helps out in the pits - he attends every race and can often be found cleaning parts and helping out between races.

As much money as Werner invests (spends) supporting the team, they figure they save even more. Setting up driver recruitment booths at most of the races, Werner seeks out experienced drivers and owner operators who need work. The company figures it costs $5,000 to train a new driver, so if they can find drivers with experience and a license, than they don’t have to spend the money and time training them. Hundreds of drivers have signed on with Werner after finding them at the races.

After the final race of an event is ran, and the fans and television crews have gone home, the “real” work behind racing begins. When we met with Keelin in the parking lot (pits) of the NHRA Winternationals at the Pomona Fairplex, most of the teams had closed shop and left town. Four days after the event ended, Keelin and the rest of the crew were still there, getting the car ready for the next race in Phoenix. That was when we realized what racing is all about. It’s not about the glamour and glitz of race day, it’s about the hard, behind-the-scenes work of the crews that maintain the cars. No glamour - just grease. No fame, just fun. The satisfaction of a job well-done is payment enough.

In addition to connecting the country by asphalt and winning races, Werner Enterprises also serves as the official transporter for the IHRA, moving vital track equipment to each national event on the schedule. So the next time you see a big blue Werner rig rolling down the highway, remember that it represents the same championship performance as Clay Millican and the entire Lehman Racing team.

We would like to thank Keelin and the crew for hanging out in Pomona for an extra day, Bill Walters for all the vital information he provided, Kai Schwerdtfeger for supplying some of the photos and Clay Millican for making us feel so welcome. We’d also like to extend a special thank you to April Potter, media relations expert at the NHRA, for providing us with press passes and tickets to all the local NHRA events. The next time you are trucking through a town with an exciting NHRA event taking place, stop in for the day and have a great time (but don’t forget to bring your ear plugs!).