Trucking out of Southgate, CA doing heavy haul work, running 9-axles and other big setups. In March 2014 Kevin became an owner operator and leased on with our friend and past cover trucker (July 2013) Rick “Shannon” Crenshaw of JD Specialized of Sapulpa, OK. At the time, Kevin was driving an old 1985 Keep On Trucking (KOT) Freightliner cabover (#337), painted in their signature brown color with white stripes. Fitted with a Detroit Silver 92, Kevin was running that cabover hard in all 48 states and being out for weeks at a time. At some point during his time at JD Specialized, that old KOT Freightliner dropped a valve, so Kevin decided to put a truck he had purchased a few years prior on the road in its place – that truck was the Freightliner cabover seen on our cover and centerfold this month, and on these pages. Flashing back a bit to 2013, the Velasquez Brothers in Los Angeles (known for their red Super Drag KW with yellow flames) told Kevin about a Freightliner cabover that was for sale in Phelan, CA that was equipped with an 8V-92 Detroit, which he was looking for. When Kevin went to look at the truck, it was in bad shape – a homeless guy had actually been living in it! But, as Kevin looked harder, he realized it was dirty and trashy, but underneath all that, it was in really good shape. The guy just wanted it gone, so Kevin offered him less than his asking price of $2,500 and the guy took it. Kevin’s friend Chris Governo of Southside Towing picked it up and drug it to Kevin’s dad’s yard in Long Beach, and that is where it sat until Kevin needed it. Once his KOT Freightliner went down, Kevin, who had moved from Carson, CA to Waxahachie, TX in 2015, flew out to California and spent just over two weeks working on the 1981 Freightliner FLA, which was painted in the yellow, white and blue colors of 3-Way Van Lines, preparing to put it on the road. Replacing all the tires, filters, fuel lines and wheel seals, he also got it all polished out, fixed the air conditioning, filled her up with fresh fuel, and she fired right up! On its maiden voyage, after sitting for 22 years, Kevin picked up a load in Los Angeles heading to Portland, OR. Once delivered, he loaded steel plates for Nebraska, delivered them, then headed to the yard in Oklahoma, where he got reloaded, and then headed home to Texas. Although he was making the most money he had ever made, being away from home was taking its toll, so he left JD Specialized and moved over to Knox Transportation, in hopes of being home more. On a sad note, not long after Kevin left JD Specialized, the young owner and our friend, Shannon Crenshaw, was killed in a car accident in July 2016. Based in Knoxville, TN, Knox Transportation is owned by another friend and past cover trucker (December 2017), Todd Campbell. While at Knox, Kevin swapped out the truck’s 8V-92 with a Silver 92 and replaced the 15-speed with a set of Spicer 6+4 boxes, added the drom behind the sleeper, and then had Chris Governo stretch the wheelbase to 256 inches. In May 2016, Kevin and Todd, driving their Freightliner cabovers, took a trip west to attend the ATHS National Convention and Truck Show in Salem, OR, and made the trip entirely on old 2-lane highways and back roads. Calling it the “Back in Time Tour,” they wore vintage 1970s clothes and grew beards and/or sideburns, and avoided truck stops and the interstates. They cooked most of their meals on the side of the road, they slept in their trucks and stopped to enjoy the scenery whenever they wanted. They traveled about 2,250 miles from Oklahoma to Oregon and only drove 20 miles on an interstate (we printed a story about their entire trip in our July 2016 edition). While at Knox, Kevin did a few different things, including pulling a flatbed, pulling a dry van, and pulling a reefer – but none of them ever quite paid enough. And with hopes of being home more, he was actually home even less! So, in January of 2018, he left Knox Transportation, re-activated his father’s old authority, added his name as an owner, and then started doing his own thing. And that’s what he has been doing ever since. At first, he was running all over the 10-4 Magazine / November 2025 11
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