Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/114712
Sponsored information by Shell Rotella® WORK HARD, PLAY HARD Name: Terry Eipers Truck: 1999 Kenworth W900L Miles: 1,948,616 miles OWNER-OPERATOR TERRY EIPERS TAKES PRIDE IN HIS LONG-RUNNING TRUCKS T erry Eipers bought his first truck in 1977 and has worked as an owneroperator ever since. In his career, he's hauled all over the country, and his truck, a 1999 Kenworth W900L, is nearing 2 million miles. Eipers, a long-time Shell Rotella customer, was inducted into the Shell Rotella Million Mile Haul of Fame for exceeding a million miles without rebuilding the engine. Eipers has wanted to drive a truck for as long as he can remember. "I was born and raised on a farm. My dad hauled grain and was in the trucking business his whole life. When I was in high school, I dreamed about driving a truck. I guess I'm one of the few guys who lived out my high school dream." Works hard Eipers drives nearly 150,000 miles per year and loads and unloads his own hauls, rain or shine. "Sometimes if we've got a tarp, you can get under the tarp," he says, laughing, "but sometimes you can't, and sometimes you've got to chase a tarp across a parking lot if the wind blows." Eipers has operated under the most extreme weather conditions such as blowing snow, freezing rain and wind, but he takes it ShellAdvertorial_OVD0313_PG.indd 1 all in stride. "The extreme conditions are just part of the job. I wasn't a guy who looked at the weather and worried that we can't go somewhere because of snow. We just went. Whatever there was, we dealt with it. That's the way I've always been. If you ran into inclement weather where you couldn't get through, you just sat there until you could," Eipers says. That doesn't mean there haven't been times where Eipers wished he had stopped a little sooner after running into icy roads and bad conditions. "I remember being in Iowa one night where I know you couldn't have stood up on the roads," he says, "but you just pull off at the nearest exit and wait for the salt trucks to come through." While Eipers doesn't travel as much over the road as he used to, he has fond memories of his travels across the country, particularly in the wide-open land west of the Mississippi River. "I love the west," he says. "I never mind going through the mountains. My wife used to ride with me and we got to see a lot of beautiful western country, all the way from the north to the south. I love wide-open spaces. To this day, if I can grab a route out west, I will do it. Plays hard Eipers passion for all things trucking has evolved into a new hobby "I'm currently restoring an old 1980 Kenworth and am trying to build a show truck down to the last bolt. I even removed the motor. Now, we are putting it all back together with the goal of making it show quality.". " A career using Shell Rotella Eipers bought his first barrel of Shell Rotella oil in 1980 for a new GMC General. "We never had any bearing-related failures on that engine until we got rid of it," he says. "This is my 19th truck that I've got nearly 2 million miles on, and I've used Shell Rotella on each of them." I've been a Shell Rotella guy since way back to 1980, and that's all I've bought for motor oil ever since. My motto is, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." With nearly 35 years of driving experience, Eipers remains a stickler for engine care and maintenance, which he says is one of the things that helped his engines last so long. "When I'm home, the truck goes in the shop where I spend my downtime checking it over," he says. 2/26/13 10:20 AM