COVER FEATURE - OCTOBER 2009
TWO NEW TEXAS ICONS
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor
It isn’t often that two new “icons” appear on the scene at the same time, but it recently happened in Dallas, Texas. On nearly the same day, the Dallas Cowboys played their first game in their new $1.2 billion stadium and Bill Hall Jr. and his son Justin unveiled their “El Patrón” Kenworth to the trucking community. Having been trucking in and around Texas for four generations, Bill Hall Jr. and his family have been well-known in the trucking and construction industry in San Antonio since the 1940s. But now their newly-completed Kenworth, which is by far the nicest truck in their fleet, has taken that well-known status and elevated it to icon.
Andas for Cowboys Stadium and its icon status, well, that place sort of speaks for itself. And although the word “icon” usually refers to a religious image, in this case, don’t you think the term still applies? Remember, we’re talking about trucking and the Dallas Cowboys. In Texas, both of them are considered to be religious institutions. So, when we decided to take pictures of this truck, what better place to do it than at the new stadium.
Bill Hall Jr. (46) has been trucking his entire life, and his son Justin (22) is on track to do the same. Bill’s grandfather started out as a fruit vendor on the side of the road in San Antonio, Texas. “My family has been in San Antonio since it was Mexico,” Bill joked. When U.S. Highway 90 was being built, Bill’s grandfather bought some trucks and started hauling gravel in the late 1940s. His name was Antonio Trevino. Later, Antonio taught his two son-in-laws, Bill Sr. and Frank, to drive, and then both started their own company, but Frank’s really took off. Over the years, most of the family got into trucking, and most of the family worked for Frank. When Frank retired, everyone went their separate ways and started their own companies.
Bill Hall Jr. is a third generation trucker, and now that his son Justin is involved, he is the fourth generation. Bill Jr. started his company, Bill Hall Jr. Trucking, in 1989. Today, Bill’s company has grown to 97 tractors and 104 trailers, with three different divisions. He also has over 70 leased-on owner operators. All of Bill’s trucks are painted with a distinctive light blue color, and all of his trailers are painted white.
Bill’s San Antonio division has about 25 Peterbilts that pull half-round end dumps. This division hauls a lot of demo materials and various sizes of rock and other types of road-building and construction materials. Their main customers are Martin Marietta Materials, Yantis Corporation, M & M Demolition, H.B. Zachry and V.K. Knowlton. The San Marcos division has about 30 trucks that haul “hot mix” in belly dumps. Their main customers are Hunter Industries and Colorado Materials. And lastly, the Uvalde division has about 45 Peterbilts, with sleepers, that pull lightweight end dumps. This division hauls “cold mix” for Martin Marietta Materials. These trucks all have sleepers because the average haul is 200 miles, and oftentimes the drivers have to sleep in their trucks overnight so they can be onsite early in the morning to deliver their load, so sleepers make sense. That is why Justin’s new Kenworth has a sleeper (for those of you that thought it was odd to pull an end dump with a sleeper truck).
Justin has been working with his father since he was born, and at just 22 years old, Bill says that he has already surpassed him in driving skills. Bill has been driving for a long time, too. In fact, he remembers getting his first ticket for driving a big rig when he was only seven years old – he was sitting on his dad’s lap. Justin started out working on the trucks, greasing the trucks and cleaning the trucks, and eventually went on to run each of the three divisions – not an easy feat at only eighteen years old. Justin had to earn the driver’s respect, especially the older ones, but he has always been a hard worker, so that was not very tough for him to do.
When Justin decided to stop managing and start driving, his dad put him into the worst truck in the fleet – a 377 Pete with no air conditioning, no radio, no sleeper and no power (it topped out at 62 mph). Justin would bring a piece of plywood and his pillow with him on the road, and when it was time to sleep, he would put the plywood across the two front seats and then lay on it. After just a few weeks of suffering, Bill got Justin a better truck, but it still did not have a sleeper, so he continued to bring the plywood with him. Not long after that, Bill got Justin a 2005 Pete 379 with a 46-inch sleeper. Justin drove this truck up until he got his new Kenworth W900L.
By now, all of Justin’s uncles and cousins were getting fancy new trucks, so he thought that it was time to build one, too. Justin has always liked Kenworths, so when it came time to buy his new (used) truck, it had to be a W900L with a large 86-inch Studio Sleeper. About three months prior to the unveiling, they found a nice 2003 Kenworth with a 550 Cat, an 18-speed transmission and a 270-inch wheelbase that was in pretty good shape. They bought the truck and then took it to their friends at the Texas Chrome Shop in San Antonio, where Raul Sr., Raul Jr. and Roland Mendez took it under their wing and did most of the work. A collaboration of ideas from Bill, Justin and the Mendez brothers, the truck was put together in about three months, and then debuted at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas last August.
The first thing you notice about this truck is the striking color – the light blue has a lot of pearl in it, which makes it very interesting to look at. Then, upon closer inspection, you begin to see all of the custom fabrication and paint that has been done to both the truck and trailer. First, they stretched the frame to 295-inches, and then “reworked” the hood and front fenders, which included shaving the headlights and extending the back of the fenders four inches down. They also repositioned the fuel tanks to be centered with the sleeper and then moved the filler necks to the rear of the tanks. The cab lights were shaved and replaced with small, nearly invisible, recessed lights. All of the door handles on the sleeper were shaved, the step boxes were re-designed, custom rocker panels were made, a smooth deck plate with a unique shape molded into it was built, and then every bolt on the frame was countersunk.
In addition to the classic Seminole paint scheme done by veteran painter Raymond Lund of Rainman Graphics, a Billet Details grille milled with a diamond-cut pattern on the face of each bar was installed, as well as a flip-up 22-inch bumper from 12 Gauge, 8-inch Dynaflex pipes, uniquely-shaped motorcycle headlights with one-off brackets and a custom tail piece. The brothers also mounted a set of customized fiberglass fenders with hidden brackets, a custom visor and a host of other unique items. The 38-foot Clement Star Lite end dump trailer, which has an electric tarping system, was also painted to match the tractor and juiced-up with extra lights, paint and custom pieces. The final touches to the exterior were custom emblems, in the classic KW emblem shape, that say El Patrón. This is a Spanish term meaning “the boss” but not in the literal sense. El Patrón is not a title you give yourself because you are the boss, but more a term of endearment that workers give their boss when they like him.
The interior was completely redone, but it is nowhere near being finished. Everything inside the cab and sleeper was re-covered with a diamond-tuck pattern, with no buttons, using black pleather (fake leather). Custom door panels, seats and armrests were made with the El Patrón logo embroidered on them. Bill and Justin wanted to give a lot of the credit to the guys at the Texas Chrome Shop, saying, “They went above and beyond our expectations with this truck, and for that, we thank them.”
So, that takes care of one icon – how about the other. The new Cowboys Stadium, located in Arlington, Texas, is a domed stadium with a retractable roof. The stadium seats 80,000 people, but is expandable to seat up to 100,000. It is the largest domed stadium in the world, and also features fully-retractable glass walls at each end. A pair of steel arches that weigh 3,255 tons each and span the entire length of the stadium soar 292 feet above the field and then anchor to the ground at each end. The center-hung video board, which has become a hot-bed of debate because footballs keep hitting it when the punters kick it really high, is the largest high-definition television ever assembled. Made by Mitsubishi, each of the board’s two sides is 72 feet high by 160 feet wide. At a cost of $1.2 billion, this stadium is one of the most expensive sport venues ever built.
Never intent to rest on his laurels, Bill Hall Jr. intends to continue to expand his company, citing, “You have to always keep growing to keep going.” Bill hopes to one day hand over the reigns to Justin, but not any time soon. Bill has been married to his wife Frances for 27 years, and along with their son Justin, they also have a 26-year-old daughter named Nikki. But the apple of their eye is their granddaughter Chanel, who at only 3 years old, already rules the roost. It was also a real treat for the whole family when Uncle Frank came out to the show in Dallas to see all the trucks.
So, whether you’re a well-known trucking family with a hot new ride or a sports stadium built for millions to enjoy, both are destined to be Texas icons for many years to come and both looked equally great on that humid summer morning in August of 2009. But, only one of them can be proud of the fact that they earned the title El Patrón, and only one of them can take solace in the fact that their iconic status did not cost them $1.2 billion! Ah, the price of fame.