10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

COVER FEATURE - OCTOBER 2005

BLACK SHEEP NO MORE!
STEVE SANCHEZ WORKED HARD TO EARN HIS FAMILY’S RESPECT

By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

Just over ten years ago, when Steve Sanchez told his family that he was going to become a truck driver, they told him he was crazy. They did not support the idea at all. With a brother studying Fine Arts at a prestigious college in California and a sister that’s an established tax preparer and bookkeeper, Steve was definitely deviating from the norm. He immediately became the “black sheep” of the family. But after taking a trip to San Jose in the truck with his son, Steve’s father Pablo changed his tune.

Steve’s parents, as well as the rest of the family, have now accepted Steve’s “different” career of choice and in fact are now some of his biggest supporters. Hauling high-end luxury and sports cars with his own tricked-out truck, Steve was able to integrate his two favorite things (hot cars and cool rigs) and create the job of his dreams.

Steve grew up on the mean streets of East Los Angeles and got into his share of trouble. Seeing the writing on the wall, Steve’s family moved out of L.A. and into the High Desert community of Palmdale. After graduating, he married his high school sweetheart and they started a family, having one son, Andrew. Steve got a job working as a dispatcher for a container-hauling company in Long Beach that paid well enough to justify the long commute from Palmdale. He always knew that he wanted to own his own truck, but he wanted to start at the bottom and learn everything there was to know about the trucking industry before taking the plunge.

Some of the drivers that he worked with offered to teach him how to drive, so Steve started learning. On the weekends, he’d go to the yard and move empty containers around and stage trailers for Monday morning with a yard goat. At that time, he’d logged more miles going backward than forward, which gave him a lot good experience and helped move him closer to actually getting his license and buying a truck. But all was not well.

Steve and his wife had been having problems which eventually led to a divorce. Steve was devastated. He lost his house, his friends and some of his family (his boy). To help ease the pain, he dove into his work. One day he found himself following a nice C.R. England truck on the freeway. On its rear door was a sign that read, “Looking for Drivers – We Will Train.” Steve thought about it for a bit but dismissed the idea. A few days later, he saw that truck again, and this time he did not ignore what he called, “a sign.”

When he told his family that he was going to become a truck driver, they thought it was a bad idea. They figured that he just wanted to run away from his problems and hide in a truck. Now that may have been partly true, but Steve always knew, deep in his heart, he was already a trucker. He made the call and then went to Utah where the company formally trained him. He drove for C.R. England for six years, hauling general freight, and learning the ropes.

Back then, Steve had one of cleanest company trucks in the fleet. He spent his own money fixing up his company-owned Freightliner Century, adding a nice bumper, stainless steel fenders, lights, the works. Later, he became a leased-on owner operator for C.R. England and got a Freightliner Classic. Now he really went crazy. This rig, among other things, had 385 lights! Steve made the rounds at the truck shows and did very well – especially in the lights category. One day at a show in Reno, Steve met a few guys from Accurate Auto Transport. They had built a neat show truck (Showtime) and were impressed with Steve. They offered him a job and he immediately took it. In fact, when the show ended, he dropped off his Freightliner at a dealer across the street and then headed back with the guys from Accurate.

With Steve’s help, Accurate built a second truck (Showtime 2). As a company driver, Steve had total responsibility of the truck – running it, cleaning it, and taking it to shows. Hauling exotic cars, prototypes and movie cars, Steve was in hog heaven. He loved it! He had always been a big fan of cars, especially low-riders and really old (antique) cars, so this was his perfect driving job. But again, things changed.

Four years ago, Steve’s son Andrew decided that he wanted to live with his dad instead of his mom. They went to court for a custody hearing and the judge told him (Steve) that he couldn’t get his son if he was always out on the road. So Steve left Accurate Auto Transport and went to work for The Waggoners Trucking, hauling cars locally, so he could be home every night. The Waggoners Trucking (TWT), based out of Billings, Montana, is the largest family-owned, non-union car-haul company in the nation.

After a couple years, Steve was involved in an accident that side-lined him from driving for almost a year. He was unloading BMWs on Pacific Coast Highway at night near a dealership in Newport Beach, CA when a lady drove her pickup into the back of Steve’s company truck at 50 mph. Steve dove out of the way at the last minute but injured his shoulder in the fall. The folks at TWT reassigned him a non-driving job while his arm healed.

After about a year of working in the yard, it was time for Steve to get back on the road. When he got the opportunity to buy a clean Peterbilt that had been repossessed, he jumped at the chance. With help from his parents, he bought his first rig and started fixing it up. Over the years, 10-4 has been accused of featuring mostly non-working show trucks on our cover (which isn’t true), but we can say with certainty (whether you believe it not) that this month’s truck works – hard! Steve’s 2003 Peterbilt had just over 250,000 miles on it when he bought it in October of 2004. Just one year later, the odometer reads 364,000 and some change.

Hauling high-end cars for TWT on a flatbed trailer with curtain sides, Steve, for the most part, runs California, Nevada and Arizona. His main job is hauling Lotus Elise sports cars – in fact he is the West Coast Distributor for this neat little car, picking them up in San Diego and delivering them to dealerships throughout the west. When he’s not delivering Lotus cars, he hauls a lot of BMWs, Porsches and sometimes even Lamborghinis.

Last year, Steve convinced the folks at Waggoners to utilize his experience and connections and start a Special Moves Division. This is where it really gets fun for Steve. He now gets to haul POVs (Personal Owned Vehicles) from time to time. These vehicles are usually owned by well-known entertainers, popular athletes and/or extravagant business owners. Steve has not only had the chance to meet a lot of celebrities, but he gets to drive (load) their cars too. And most of the “famous” people he has met, he says, are really cool and just regular people. He especially enjoyed recently meeting actor/comedian George Lopez at a television studio lot in Los Angeles.

Steve’s truck is 2003 Pete 379 with a 280-inch wheelbase. Under the hood is a Cummins Signature 600 hooked to an 18-speed transmission. Steve has put a lot of thought into all of his accessories – everything follows a general concept and everything matches. He wanted his truck to look old but be new. He went with single round headlights and Double JJ brackets, as well as Double JJ blinker bars and light grilles (front and rear). He swapped out the standard grille for a louvered one and added old-style WTI fiberglass fenders (front and rear). Visors were added to the cab, the headlights, the spotlights and the logos, and then7-inch pipes and a 22-inch bumper were installed.

To finish off that “old” look, Steve added an antique radiator gauge hood ornament and two grab handles to the top of the grille surround. Steve also had burgundy-colored vinyl graphics applied to the rear fenders to offset the Black Sapphire Gold paint, but those vinyl graphics are now being replaced with painted scallops. Having recently secured a sponsorship from Maxxima, Steve got hooked-up with a ton of LEDs. Now, all of the rig’s lights facing forward have clear lenses and all of the lights facing back have red lenses.

Steve tries to buy from local (Southern California) people whenever he can. His graphics were done by Imagemaker in Ontario, his tank covers were done by Darryl at California Custom Accessories (also in Ontario), and all of his chrome and stainless was purchased at The Chrome Barn in Montebello. Steve has been a longtime friend and customer of Angel Reyes, owner of The Chrome Barn. Recently, Angel’s young son Andy took over the fabrication shop and store and now Steve works mostly with him. At only 19 years old, this kid is sharp. Over the years, Steve has watched him grow up and the two have become very good friends (Andy even came along with us on the photo shoot).

Three years ago Steve got married again and moved to Oxnard, California. He and his new wife, Diana, bought a house near the beach and they love it. Diana has a seven-year-old son from a previous marriage named Danny. Steve is still in the process of getting his son, Andrew, now 14, moved in with them. They have a court date set for next year, and Steve is hoping that his local job, his marriage and his new house will allow the judge to give him custody. Andrew is an awesome kid who absolutely idolizes and loves his dad – and his dad’s truck – and isn’t afraid to say it or show it.

Looking toward the future, Steve hopes to one day break away from The Waggoners Trucking and start his own company hauling nothing but specialty cars. He is also in the process of starting a big rig truck club, similar to a car club, where members get together on a monthly basis for barbecues and softball games, and take an occasional cruise together. His goal with the club is to get the whole family involved, thus making truck shows and club events something that even the wives look forward to attending.

Although he attends some truck shows, for him, the show starts on Monday morning after the show, when he gets back on the road with his rig shined-up and clean. But his truck is always clean. In fact, Steve washes his rig before every pick-up and before every delivery, so his customers never see a dirty truck. The “Oxnard Boys” back at the yard, help Steve keep his truck running at peak performance.

“Life is too short to let yourself get stressed out,” says Steve, who is lucky enough to wake up every day and do what he loves – and for that, he is thankful. Taking care of his family, his parents and his truck is his whole life, and that’s just the way he likes it. If Steve Sanchez ever was the “black sheep” of his family, he certainly isn’t anymore. He might not have a college degree or a “regular” job (whatever that is), but he surely has a terrific career and a bright future. And his family couldn’t be prouder – especially Pablo, who loves to boast about his “trucker” son. For a boy, there’s nothing better than hearing your dad brag about you to his friends. Black sheep no more!