Owner-operator Robert Budzik and his mother bought this 2003 Kenworth T2000 a few years after his father passed away, he says. He’d urged her to go that route after she’d been driving for a company for a time, not how she and Budzik’s father operated from the time they took him out trucking for a first haul at the wee age of 3 or so — “that’d be around 1996-’97,” he adds.
Robert BudzikEight months or so after the “T-2-ugly,” as Budzik jokingly refers to the aerodynamic model series, was purchased, cancer took his mom’s life. He’ll never let this truck go, the owner-operator says, in part for that reason. Otherwise, he’s sure mom would be proud of what her son’s done to transform the “T-2-ugliness,” as he notes in the video up top, where you can hear Budzik tell more of his story.
As you can see by the mudflaps behind the drives Budzik is a member of the Polska Jazda group — Polish Ride, according to founding owner-op Jerry Stetz, who calls the group an enthusiasts’ club for Polish-Americans among truckers in the U.S., among others. Budzik’s parents were Polish and raised him in the United States in Chicago and then north of the city.
Budzik’s dog, Maja (that’s pronounced My-Yuh but “spelled the Polish way,” he says), was no doubt something of a hit for passersby at “That’s a Big 10-4 on D.C.” in October, where I met Budzik.
