Iowa-based Joey Carola was 8 years old when he first realized his love for trucking. At that age in 1985, Carola’s dad bought a Peterbilt 359 to haul produce out of Mt. Airy, North Carolina.
“I remember standing on the step of that 359 when I was 8 years old and diesel got in my blood, and it never thinned out,” he said. “So, here I am, 48 years old, been doing it about 25 years, give or take, and wouldn’t do anything else.”
After a quarter-century in the trucking business himself, as both an owner-operator and company driver through the years, Carola today hauls livestock for Lexington, Virginia-based Nathan Deacon as a company driver for Iowa-headquartered CS Trucking.
As of September 2025, when Overdrive caught up with Carola at the Guilty By Association Truck Show in Joplin, Missouri, he was set to begin operating in the 2024 Kenworth W900L you see here. CS Trucking bought it with about 207,000 miles on it. Carola had yet to pull a load with the truck at the time of the show.
Carola's hauled a variety of freight -- mostly reefer and flatbed -- since he got his start in 1999. He was an owner-operator for 17 years, the last few of which were spent pulling a livestock trailer for Deacon.
“I met Nathan 23 years ago, probably, and him and I have become friends,” Carola said. “He moved into the livestock industry, and I always said I was going to do it and never did -- life happens. In 2018, I decided that it was time."
Like diesel, he added, livestock hauling "you get in your blood, you can’t get it out. It’s a great time. It’s a hard living, but it’s a good living.”
Joey Carola
When he was ready to get back on the road, he called Chuck Stoolman, owner of CS Trucking, who “was more than willing to get me [a truck],” Carola said. “He just keeps upgrading me and treats me great.”
The latest upgrade is the 2024 Kenworth W900L featured in the video up top. The truck boasts a 565-hp Cummins with an 18-speed on a 290-inch wheelbase.
Carola showed it at GBATS coupled with a 2019 Wilson spread-axle livestock trailer.
Carola said he “leery at first” of the gray and purple paint scheme, “but it’s growing on me. I like it,” he said.
The truck already had some custom touches when CS Trucking bought it, and the team added a few more before it was set to get on the road.
It features dummy stacks -- “rain spouts, if you will,” Carola said -- to give the truck a classic look in spite of the “weed-burner exhaust,” he added. Custom lights inside and out, I-29 Custom Truck Parts half fenders, an RLK visor, plenty other additions.
The rig’s interior features Kenworth’s Seattle package with black upholstery and purple button-tuck to match the exterior. Interior lights are glass watermelons with purple LEDs. The dash is also painted purple.
Carola said he didn’t have plans for much more in the way of custom work, at least for the time being. He wanted to “get it to work and go make some money with it before we start changing anything,” he said. “I think the boss would be happy if I did that.”
[Related: Arkansas-based Jerry Whittmore's 2005 Peterbilt 379X a 'labor of love']
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Joey Carola: In 1985, my dad bought a 359 Peterbilt. Pulled for A&W out of Mount Airy, North Carolina, pulled produce. And I remember standing on the step of that 359 when I was eight years old and diesel got in my blood and never thinned out.
Joey Carola, I drive for CS Trucking out of Dallas Center, Iowa. We pull a livestock trailer all over the 48 states for Nathan Deacon out of Lexington, Virginia. Haul anything from ... We haul cattle, sheet, goats, pigs, anything we get in a trailer. How I got in the industry, I started in 1999. Started pulling livestock for Nathan in 2018, and now I wouldn't do anything else. I met Nathan 23 years ago probably, and him and I become friends, and he moved into the livestock industry, and I always said I was going to do it. Never did. Life happens.
During COVID, everything was hard to get. Truck prices were high, so I took advantage of that because I had a glider kit, and I sold it at a pretty good clip there, and got rid of it, and just took a break for two years. Kind of relaxed, went home, farmed, and did a little bit of that. And when I came back, I called my friend Chuck, who owns this one and a few more, owns four trucks, actually, and he drives himself. And he was more than willing to get me one, buy me one, and put me in it, and he just keeps upgrading me and treats me great.
It's a '24 W900L. We bought it pretty much how you see it. We added a few different things here. 2019 53-foot spread-axle Wilson pot. 565 Cummins, 18 speed with a twin stick. 290 wheel base. Pretty sharp truck, done inside and out.
So it's a nice truck. Jimmy Ferrell air ride front end. The gray and purple's growing on me. So I was leery at first, but it's growing on me. I like it. The stacks are dummy stacks for show. It does have a weed burner exhaust. That was all custom after done stuff. So they stay clean and don't turn colors and they're just there for looks. Rain spouts, if you will. Yeah. Custom lights. It's inside and out. All the lights on the outside are the Roadworks hero lights. Everything inside is glass watermelon with purple LEDs in it. Painted dash, Seattle interior with the purple buttons throughout the whole truck. The whole nine yards.
Got the half fenders, Leroy, I- 29 Customs, does all that for us. Great guy to work with. Everything else is pretty much how we got it. We did change the visor. I called Chase at RLK and got the visor. It had a big low paint advisor on it. Not much on that. So called Chase and got the RLK visor.
I haven't even pulled the first load with it yet, so we'll see how that goes. See what happens, get it to work and go make some money with it.
