The $2 million Peterbilt 389 with a special mission

In this week's Overdrive Radio podcast, the expert singing voice of Marine veteran and Nashville-headquartered singer-songwriter Sal Gonzalez warms up and brings to fruition a special celebration event held in his hometown last week by Rush Truck Centers. Rush was announcing the big winner of the quite expensive, final, only 2025 build of a Peterbilt 389. A 389X, to be exact, that Rush won the final 389 build slot for, with Pete retiring the model for good.

As Rush Enterprises CEO Rusty Rush explains in the podcast, the build slot was awarded after an auction among Pete dealers and was secured for $1.5 million. Peterbilt and Rush donated those proceeds half-and-half then to the well-known Wreaths Across America and Truckers Against Trafficking nonprofits. They then announced a sweepstakes at the Mid-America Trucking Show to deliver another half a million to the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) org, supporting post-9/11 veterans in need back on the home front.

That’s where songwriter Gonzalez enters the picture.

In the podcast, hear his harrowing, moving story of losing part of his left leg in Iraq, then returning home to pursue a songwriter’s dream only to fall into an addictive pattern and seek out the support of WWP. Likewise, get ready for a moving song, "Heroes," that Gonzalez wrote as a result of his subsequent work with the nonprofit, inspired by fellow veterans and his own experience.

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Overdrive Radio's sponsor is Howes, longtime provider of fuel treatments like its Howes Diesel Treat anti-gel and Lifeline rescue treatment to get you through the coldest temps, likewise its all-weather Diesel Defender and Howes Multipurpose penetrating oil, among other products. Here's congrats to the latest inductee into the Howes Hall of Fame, the Farmer Veteran Coalition. Read more about them here.We’ll hear, too, from Rusty Rush, detailing the sweepstakes and its ultimate winners, Shane Best Trucking owners Jennifer and Shane Best, out of Pryor, Oklahoma. The win was fitting for the small fleet owners in more ways than one -- the 389X will add to their fleet of 17 Peterbilts doing dump work around their region, yet don’t expect a lot of wear and tear on it. The Bests plan to keep the rig around for many years to come, working with Rush Truck Center hands in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to finish out the rig with back-end mods as a show unit. With any luck, work should conclude in time enough for September 2025 -- look for the Bests and the last of the 389s out at the Guilty by Association Truck Show in Joplin, Missouri, then.

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Also in the podcast, a window on the presentation with Rusty Rush, Peterbilt’s Jason Skoog, and reps from the Wounded Warrior Project, with Sal Gonzalez rounding things out with that moving, terrific song we're happy to be able to share with you. Take a listen: