Troy’s Treasures: By Troy Miller Since 1982, J&J Handy Trucking of Penrose, CO has been a perennial sight on the front range of Colorado transporting aggregate and bulk materials in their various dump trucks. Always kept clean, J&J Handy’s power units are a testament to the family-owned and operated company’s pride, both in their drivers and their customers. Eleven years ago, we first featured Shawn Carroll and his extremely clean 2006 Peterbilt 379. Just twenty-seven years old at the time, Shawn ran his 379 and East end dump daily, keeping up on company contracts and customer’s needs. Today, at thirty-eight years old, Shawn has taken over the bulk of the day-to-day operations management, with his Uncle John Handy largely acting as a silent partner in the company. Opening their doors in April of 1982 under Shawn’s late grandpa Jack Handy and John Handy (thus the “J&J Handy” name), Shawn became involved in the company at an early age. Like many who grew up in trucking families, as soon as Shawn was old enough to be riding in the truck with Uncle John or Grandpa Jack, he was! But those rides and that involvement in the company were predicated on Shawn keeping up his performance in school, as well. Earning his restricted CDL at 18, Shawn had been rebuilding a 1992 Peterbilt 379 through his high school years, which was his late Grandpa Jack’s last truck. Simultaneously putting in time with the Penrose Volunteer Fire Department, Shawn was very busy. Three years ago, Uncle John began handing the reigns over to Shawn on daily operations management. With the constant and consistent support of his family, employees and customers, Shawn has grown J&J Handy Trucking to ten power units and eighteen trailers, which brings us to the rig featured on these pages. With Uncle John preparing to retire and J&J Handy being in the market to add another truck to the fleet, Uncle John mentioned that he would like J&J Handy to have a brand-new truck built in memory of Grandpa Jack. Contacting John Kernen of MHC in Pueblo, CO, they had a new 2025 W900L in white and orange (Shawn’s favorite colors) sitting on the lot. The truck was nearly perfect, but the tanks were a bit small to run split tanks for hydraulics, it was equipped with the lower-output 565 Cummins, and there was no window in the sleeper. John Kernen had a slot open for Kenworth’s 30 10-4 Magazine / January 2026 COLORADO CRUISER
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