10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

COVER FEATURE - DECEMBER 2007

ADDING STYLE TO YOUR PILE
YOUNG TRUCKER’S SUCCESS IS A TEAM EFFORT
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

If you are looking to “add style to your pile” then Cory Cloward is the man to call. His shiny new red combination has about as much style as one could ever imagine. At only 30 years old, Cory owns and operates Double C Commodities out of Oakdale, California, hauling livestock feed to dairies throughout California’s Central Valley. And with business booming, Cory has had to add six more trucks to his operation just over the past year. But Cory does not take the credit for his company’s success. Instead, he credits the hard work of his wife, his family, his friends and his drivers – all working together as a team – as the reason things are going so well.

Cory did not grow up in a trucking family, but his father has been a dispatcher at A.L. Gilbert Company, a local feed manufacturer, for the last 23 years. Cory began riding horses when he was 8 years old, and soon learned that he was pretty good at it. Later he began breaking horses and training them for shows and roping events. School was never something Cory cared much about, so when he got the opportunity to start training full-time, he took it – dropping out of high school just a few months into his first year. Today, he regrets not finishing high school and he does not recommend dropping out to anyone, but in the end, it worked out okay for him.

Free to pursue his passion, Cory really got into the horse-training life, traveling extensively and hob-knobbing with the social elite. He also began buying and selling horses. And we’re not talking about horses that cost a few thousand dollars – we are talking about horses that cost a few hundred thousand dollars! While training horses, he met his future wife Sara, who was learning how to ride. They were only 16 years old when they met. Later, Sara began helping Cory part-time while attending college. Eventually, he convinced Sara to leave school to help him. Things were going great.

To succeed in the horse-training business, you can’t just stay home. Success came to the young couple, but it had a high price. Cory was away from home, traveling the nation, five or six days a week. And he was working his butt off! But, at the time, it was okay. They had no kids and they both enjoyed their work – and they were making a lot of money. But as you might figure, ten years of life on the road was taking its toll on Cory – he was getting burned out and his body was getting beat up. He and Sara were also thinking about having kids, and both knew that this was not a good lifestyle to raise a family. So they quit.

Cory always liked trucks, and his dad worked with trucks, so he figured he’d just start trucking. His dad told him that he could do whatever he wanted to do, but made it real clear that he would not get any special treatment from him. So in 1999, Cory became a driver for A.L. Gilbert. Cory loved to drive and was a hard worker, but he had trouble punching a time-clock and dealing with the other drivers. After one year, Cory decided to buy his own truck and go out on his own. He purchased a 1989 Peterbilt and a walking floor trailer, and then formed Double C Commodities. Not wanting to put his dad in a difficult situation, Cory left A.L. Gilbert and signed on with another feed company.

Just like in the horse business, Cory found himself working very hard. Truth is, hard work is all that he’d ever known, so why would he truck any differently? Cory worked 15 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and did very well. In 2001, he was able to order his next truck – a new Peterbilt 379. The truck had a C-12 Cat engine, a 13-speed transmission (which he converted to an Eaton automatic) and a 270-inch wheelbase. And by the time Cory was finished, it was an award-winning rig. The truck was painted red with ghost flames on the hood and visor and featured 8-inch pipes, a 12-inch drop visor, lots of stainless and hundreds of LED lights. After three years of hauling for the other feed company, Cory, who had now earned his stripes, returned to A.L. Gilbert and began hauling directly for them.

Last year, as corn prices went through the roof due to the demand for ethanol, a fuel made out of corn and other natural ingredients, the feed company began using Wet Distillers Grain (WDG) instead of straight corn in their feed products. WDG is a by-product of the distillation process in the making of ethanol fuel. It is the “mush” that is left over after the corn has been processed, which makes great feed for livestock. Unfortunately, Cory was trying to haul this wet mush in a belt trailer, and it wasn’t working very well, so he purchased a cheap end dump trailer to see if that would work better – and it did. After a few months of pulling that cheap trailer around, Cory decided that it was time to order a matching, show-quality end dump trailer to pull behind his show-quality Peterbilt.

In January of 2007, Cory ordered his new 40-foot Mac end dump (pictured on this month’s cover/centerfold and here). Mac is one of the only companies out there willing to build a totally custom, show-worthy end dump. Cory’s salesman Dan Tubbs was very helpful through the eight-week build process. About ten days before the trailer was to be finished, Cory went to their plant in Ohio to make sure everything was going as planned. When it was completed, it was perfect. Cory has done very little to it since it was delivered in March of 2007.

The all-aluminum polished trailer was ordered with 68-inch high sides and a slightly shortened spread between the axles. Cory also ordered low profile rubber, 104 clear-lens LED lights, custom light bars and boxes, WTI fiberglass fenders with custom brackets, and bright red paint on everything that was not polished. When the trailer arrived, Cory was not pleased with the paint, so Mac paid Cory’s local painter, Bill Rocha, to redo the entire trailer. After that, artist Denise Corbett laid out the Metallic Passion Purple flame scheme on the fenders and then Bill painted them. Another unique change Cory made was to relocate the connection for the hoist’s hydraulic hoses. Normally the connection is in front of the fifth wheel on the deck plate, but Cory hid it underneath and behind the fifth wheel, and pointed it toward the back for a virtually invisible connection. The trailer was a perfect match to his beautiful Peterbilt.

Everything was going great until one day in June of 2007 when a man showed up at the yard and asked Cory if his Peterbilt was for sale. He said “no” and sent him on his way. A few days later he came back, asking again if he would consider selling his truck. Cory had no intention of selling it – not only was it exactly what he wanted, but it was paid for, too. Just to make the guy go away, Cory threw out a number that he was sure the guy wouldn’t like, but to his surprise, the man said, “Okay, I’ll get you your money tomorrow!” Cory was flabbergasted. He needed to order a new truck – now! The man agreed to let Cory use the Peterbilt for 45 more days while he waited for his new truck (which he hadn’t even ordered yet) to come in.

The next day, Cory went down to his local dealership and ordered his next truck – but not another Peterbilt – he had seen enough of those – he ordered a 2008 Kenworth W900L. He always thought it would be cool to build a long and low custom Kenworth, so he ordered the truck without any options, knowing he would be tearing it apart anyway. The truck was ordered with an emission compliant 525 horsepower Cummins ISX engine (it has a particulate filter underneath), red paint, a 260-inch wheelbase, 13-speed transmission, 3:08 rears and a 34-inch “coffin” sleeper (which Cory only ordered so that he would have a place to put his big audio/video system). After the truck arrived at the end of July, Cory took it to Josh Crawford at Pacific Truck & Auto Repair in Oakdale, CA for some customizing.

The first task Josh had to conquer was to get the KW down lower to the ground. Cory did not want to divulge exactly how they did it, but Josh lowered the front end ten full inches. The truck only has an 18-inch bumper, and he can still crush aluminum cans with it! Josh also shaved the cab lights, installed WTI fenders, and added a host of other shiny accessories. From there, the truck went to Dynaflex where it spent a month getting the exhaust done. Since it was the first KW they had worked on with a particulate filter, Cory’s truck became the guinea pig (or prototype, as he called it). Once it returned from Dynaflex, Cory had Bill Rocha remove most of the exterior accessories and paint them red including the visor, headlight bezels, the grille (he painted the entire billet grille red and then sanded the paint off the front of the bars), the backside of the bumper, the sides of the steps, and even the insides of the stacks. Josh put it all back together and then added 100 LED lights, most of which are completely hidden. At night this baby really lights up, but you’d never know it by looking at it in the day.

Cory’s older brother Troy is the electronics specialist. He installed an in-dash, flip-screen, Kenwood DVD player and booming sound system inside the truck, complete with four 10-inch subwoofers. But Cory wants four more. He is aiming for about 8,000 watts of power when everything is said and done. Cory also installed a pair of Bostrom Wide-Ride leather seats, a wood steering wheel, and a custom shifter knob, but other than that, not much else has been done to the interior yet. The truck is still only a couple months old. It had about 18,000 miles on it when we took our pictures, but just ten days later it already had 23,000. Yes, this truck really does work – every day! And it obviously runs very clean. After 18,000 miles, the insides of Cory’s painted pipes were still clean as a whistle. Maybe that particulate filter actually does do something!

Today, Cory’s operation includes two trucks, eight trailers, and six subhaulers who own their own trucks. For many years it was just Cory and his truck, but as business dictated, he grew. And since cows need to eat every day, he doesn’t think things will be slowing down anytime soon. But he does not, and could not, run this company alone. He gets a lot of help from his wife Sara, who handles every piece of paper that comes in or goes out of the company. She is the best partner Cory could ever ask for. He has also had a lot of help and support from Bob Hitchcock at Cherokee Truck Parts in Stockton, CA. Cory is very thankful to Bob for all he has done for him over the years. He also wanted to thank his parents, Mike and Patty Cloward, for all their support, and his drivers, especially Rob, Tom and Martin – without these guys, there would be no company. And, of course, he thanks his brother Troy, Josh & Gordon Crawford, and Bill Rocha for their help, too.

Sara would like Cory to get a hobby, but he is too involved in his trucks to do anything else. When he isn’t working (which is rare), he likes to hang out at home with Sara and their two kids – Ashley (6) and Tyler (2). Cory and Sara will be celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary on December 14th, so be sure to congratulate them on that day if you see them.

Cory was one of the most humble guys we ever interviewed, and he did not like talking about himself. But he did well! So whether you want to add some style to your pile or you just want to get the job done right, now you know who to call. If hard work is all Cory has ever known, than hard work is all he’ll ever do – and that, my friend, is what success is all about.