Pride & Polish: Meet the 2025 champs

Big thanks to everyone here for joining us with this 2025 finale of Overdrive’s annual Pride & Polish virtual truck show. I’m Overdrive Editor Todd Dills, and today I’ll walk through results after dozens upon dozens of entries of trucks mostly by working owner-operators among Overdrive readers with several photos of each competing rig, starting back in September.

We put all the entries up for public display during the month of November at OverdriveOnline.com, where our readers, show entrants’ own owner-operator peers, could vote for their favorites among all.

We announced the finalists earlier this month, and today we’ll walk you through what we like to think of as a final bow on the truck-show season for the year. Plenty in the way of business ownership pride on offer, no doubt, plenty polish, too, and no small amount of custom work to celebrate in spite of what’s been yet another tough year in trucking writ large.

Here we’ll showcase truck owners all across the nation with some of the very best in custom rigs with a top three in five categories, two solely for working trucks -- bobtail and combo. There’s a Limited Mileage category for showpiece and otherwise low-use rigs, a best interior class, and to start, an Antique category open to any unit older than 25 years, so the 2000 model year cutoff this time around.

Sit back, and enjoy.

Here we go, starting with our Antique winners.

Antique

Second runner-up in the Antique category is a Pride & Polish veteran in David Parmer out of Georgia with his 1973 White Freightliner cabover, the “Big Green Mean Machine” he calls it, with a Detroit pushing 350 horsepower with a 13 speed and 4.33 rears. The unit had been a seasonal farm truck before Parmer came to own it in 2004, starting the restoration in 2017 with a motor and transmission rebuild, new brakes, wheels seals, air lines, new stacks and more. The interior, too, got a fresh redo you can see here – as noted, Parmer will be well-known to Pride & Polish competitors for top three placements in Antique and Interior over the past few years. Congrats here on the 2025 repeat, second runner-up in Antique in Overdrive’s Pride & Polish, the Big Green Mean Machine of owner David Parmer.

And first runner-up in Antique is Vermont-headquartered owner-operator Charles Thomas with this White Western Star similarly of 1970s vintage – a 1979 to be exact, with a Big Cam Cummins dyno’d at 750 horsepower to the ground and a whopping 888 hp and 1,873 foot pounds of torque at the flywheel, Thomas noted with the entry. It’s running with an 18-speed transmission and 2012 Airliner cutoff with 3.55 rears on a 268-inch wheelbase. Air-ride on the front axle.

That’s a nice look at the interior there, too, and though you won’t be able to hear it here, the custom stereo system provides accompaniment on the long road home. Big congrats to owner-operator Thomas for 2^nd place in Antique.

And for the big win in Overdrive’s Pride & Polish for the Antique class? That goes to last year’s third-place finisher Gary Mackay, Idaho-based One Circle Farm owner-operator of this beauty of a 1998 Peterbilt 379 extended hood. The Pete once hauled Mackay’s farm’s commodities to market, and today he’s updated it with new paint, plenty of stainless parts and so much more besides, including a brand-new kitty Cat under the hood with an 18-speed transmission, upgraded axles and suspension, and air disc brakes. Not to give away too much, but stay tuned for some more detail on the interior, too. One Circle Farm’s Gary Mackay, first place in the antique class in Overdrive’s 2025 Pride & Polish.

Interior 

Now for the best of the inside finishes and creature comforts, it’s the Interior class results in Overdrive 2025 Pride & Polish, with second runner-up in the category going to a man for whom it’s been a big year of truck show wins – that’s Kenny Ziglar, owner-operator headquartered out in Rawlins, Wyoming, with his custom “Scrapin’ By” 2007 Peterbilt 379. We told the story of it earlier this year in the Custom Rigs video series you’ll find in the Custom Rigs section at OverdriveOnline.com. Since that video was shot late in 2024, Ziglar’s put further work into the interior and exterior alike, customizing inside and out, he said. Clearly, his fellow owner-operators appreciate the classic inside look, warranting a third place in Interior here in Overdrive’s Pride & Polish for “Scrapin By” and owner-operator Kenny Ziglar.

And in second place for interiors it’s right back to the 1998 Peterbilt 379 you saw a moment ago take the win in the Antique category. That’d be the pride of One Circle Farm owner-operator Gary Mackay out of Idaho with an all-new interior here, he said. And though you don’t see it, he’s always enjoyed the Pete’s bed & breakfast sleeper setup, with a bunk heater and an upgraded stereo to boot. Mackay noted with his entry he tries to “show pride in my ride,” and he enjoys driving it! I should say so. Well-done for a second place in Interior.

And the winner in the interior class is none other than John Treadway, owner-operator of T-way Rose Transport out of Kokomo, Indiana, with the matched truck and trailer he calls “Teal Appeal,” aptly so. It’s a 1998 Peterbilt 379 regular readers will recall when we caught up with Treadway a couple different times throughout the year, and Treadway’s efforts to bring the colors and other design elements from the outside all the way in clearly impressed the voters.

Daniel and Sons Upholstery in his hometown did much of the work inside, and it turned out absolutely stunning. And I’ll say, good luck, John, getting the unit back fully operational after the recent engine swap – that’s right, if you’ve followed our 2025 Trucker of the Year competition coverage here in the last month, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Treadway competed there, and after a catastrophic failure of the original Caterpillar in this 379, he’s put in a reman replacement with his Caterpillar dealer recently. He told that story earlier this month in an Overdrive Radio podcast talk with the owner.

All in all, congrats on the win – let’s have a big round of applause for the “Teal Appeal” 1998 379 of owner-operator John Treadway, first place in the Interior class in Overdrive’s 2025 Pride & Polish.

Limited Mileage 

Now, on to the Limited Mileage category of Pride & Polish, reserved traditionally for show trucks and those that just don’t experience the kind of miles-run wear and tear of over-the-road competitors’ work.

Coming in at third in Limited Mileage is owner-operator Bruce Roche with this 1991 Kenworth K100 beauty of a cabover previously worked by National Mobile Television out Torrance, California. Roche has owned the unit for near a couple decades now, though, since 2006, and has used it sparingly in the summer months hauling around the area where he’s headquartered in Manitoba in Canada. He’s put plenty work into it, as is obvious in the pictures. What isn’t, though – the 2011 complete rebuild Roche and company put into the mechanical Cummins N-14 in the 1991 K100, with a 13-speed overdrive transmission and 2.70 rears. Sharp cabover, no doubt, third place finisher in the Limited Mileage category of Overdrive’s Pride & Polish. Big shout to Bruce Roche Transport, Manitoba, Canada.

And in second place for the Limited mileage category, we’re looking here at the tough and sharp looking 1989 Peterbilt 379 extended hood of Mike Maher, owner-operator of NWP Trucking out of Ormond Beach, Florida. The sharp unit features several hand-made fabricated parts with all of the work performed by Maher himself – that includes the airbrush paint work with the color black cherry and Red Kandi over a silver base coat. It’s got an air ride front axle, air-lift bumper and a Cat 3406B under the hood – 13-speed transmission and 3.55 rears. Maher says the unit hauled lime for several years, and that he’s got a few little things to finish up on it – he’ll most likely put it back to work when he’s done. Great work for a second-place finish, Mike. Congrats.

And the winner in Overdrive’s 2025 Pride & Polish Limited mileage category is CTS Towing owner-operator Clifton Parsley with the “Heavy Hook” 2024 Peterbilt 389 you see here – outfitted with a 50-ton Miller rotator and powered by a 565-horsepower Cummins and an 18 speed. The owner’s added an E-Z Pete interior, lots of lights and plenty stainless to dress it up. 

Clifton Parsley’s out of Cave City, Kentucky, and this year got a little ink after our own Long Haul Paul Marhoefer met him early in the year and told the story of CTS as part of his long-running “Faces of the Road” series.

Owner-operator Parsley’s been collecting the trophies with the rig after a number of show visits this year, including to the Atlanta Motor Speedway – site of both Shell Rotella’s SuperRigs and the Stars, Stripes and White Lines truck show this year. There, he put the 389 to the test of seven laps around the track. “It was an awesome experience,” no doubt, Parsley said with this pride & Polish entry, of which he’s justifiably extremely proud. Here’s to more Pride, more Polish, with the big win this year in Limited Mileage, Clifton.

Working Bobtail 

We’re down to the last two categories in this year’s Pride & Polish truck show – working bobtail and working combo, respectively, for the true workhorses whose owners nonetheless keep the rigs show-ready with untold hours put into the units.

For the second runner-up in Working bobtail, it’s another Kenworth in the fleet of Hallahan Transport out of La Crosse, Wisconsin, the 2024 W900 piloted by driver Ronald Anselm they’re calling “Dirty money.” It came out of the factory with the Mountain Dew green and Omaha orange paint scheme, a familiar one for the fleet. Owner Rob Hallahan’s 2022 “Joke’s on you” Peterbilt 389 featured a similar scheme when it took first in working combo here two years running in 2021 and 2022. This KW hauls on a 295-inch wheelbase with a Cummins motor -- exterior lights have been changed out to clear watermelons but for the top cab lights. It’s a sharp rig. Big congrats to its driver, Ronald, and the team out at Hallahan Transport for Second runner-up in Working bobtail.  

First runner-up in the working class is another rig that puts on the miles and hours, yet was somewhat difficult to categorize, given Virginia-headquartered owner Hunter Hubbard’s beautiful 2005 Kenworth W900B dump “Smurfette” features that dump body, unique for the Pride & Polish competition. It might be familiar to those of you who’ve followed our Trucker of the Year awards, though – Hunter’s three-truck Dice Mayhem’s Trucking business was our March 2025 Trucker of the Month – she and her husband, Tim, have another dump and a tractor in addition to Smurfette working hard, and she’s also developed custom-build expertise through the year as the proud owner the specialized business.

The 2005 W9 started its life as a W900S, with a slightly sloped hood and with what Hubbard called a “weird puple, pink, mauve, I don’t what color to call it, but it was terrible.” Her words there back earlier in the year. KW didn’t make a lot of those 900S models, and she got to measuring, thinking she might be able to get B model parts to fit it for the full build-out. She found a B model hood in Pennsylvania, and swapped it directly with just a couple adjustments.

The truck is outfitted with numerous lights, plenty chrome and much more, the work proceeding over the course of years between 2021 and today, including a full rewiring of the unit. The original body was replaced with an East-manufactured body prior to the 2023 Mayberry truck show, and Trux Accessories lights and other parts add character. Keep it up, Hunter – well-deserved working-truck second place.

And the winner in the Working Bobtail class for Overdrive’s 2025 Pride & Polish is none other than Ziglar Transport owner Kenny Ziglar and his 2007 “Scrapin’ By” Peterbilt 379, which happens to be the first truck he bought at the very start of his business. This pristine 379 boasts more than 1.8 million miles, its name a nod to his small fleet’s lean beginnings doing oil field and other work. We told the story of the unit earlier this year, as noted previously. 

In addition to the redone interior since that feature, the truck is completely custom, with parts made specifically for what was bought originally outfitted for car hauling, complete with the rack over the cab. Originally Viper Red, Ziglar modified it to an even brighter red, with paint work done by Kiser Custom Collision in Martinsville, Virginia, pinstriping by Kenny’s wife, Heather. Specially made grille, mirror lights and brackets, the IFTA bracket, and much more were finished by Beger Industries out of Manitoba, and the Weld Shop in Leavenworth, Kansas, made the visor, window chops, panels and pieces specifically for the truck. A&A Stainless built the step bars, breather bars and tank straps, Talladega Fiberglass the fenders, deck plate and T-bar. All around a complete work of art here, no doubt, and well-deserved for the Ziglars, first in Working Bobtail to add to that Interior placement for “Scrapin’ By” in Overdrive’s 2025 Pride and Polish.

Working Combo 

Finally, the working combo class in Pride & Polish, including the trailer in the mix.

For the second runner-up we’ve got this beautiful 2003 Peterbilt 379 paired with its 2021 Mac step deck and seen trucking in the business of Petrizzo Transport owner-operator Joe Petrizzo, out of New Jersey. It’s with sadness that I note here that, as we made efforts to contact the owner-operator while putting this Pride & Polish finale together, we learned of his passing back late in October this year. Here’s big condolences from all of us at Overdrive to his family, and hope that the well-deserved working-combo placement is at least some fitting tribute to a man who clearly took pride in the ride. He bought the ‘03 379 in 2008 as a daycab to run sand and stone locally in and out of New York City and other parts of New Jersey. After a few years, he stretched her out to 290 inches, adding a 36-inch sleeper Petrizzo would soon grow out of and outfit the ‘03 truck with the 63-inch flattop you see here.

Before his passing, he primarily hauled aluminum products on the 2021 Mac step deck, likewise some specialized machinery, along the East Coast lane between New York City and South Florida.

Again, big condolences to the Petrizzo family, and well-deserved for an owner-operator I know will be missed.

For second place in the working combo class, we’re looking at D.J. Ross Trucking owner-operator Dustin Ross’s 2000 Sterling AT9522, “Stella,” and 2019 Utility van trailer. 

How about that for a unique make and model making truck-show rounds? The 2000 Sterling started life as a Shilly Leasing truck that was then purchased by Ross’s father around 2006. Robertsdale, Alabama-headquartered Dustin Ross bought it in 2011 to start his own career in business. In 2014, he started the process to get it to where it is today, installing a custom fiberglass dash painted to match the exterior, fabricating his own gauge panel and wiring all the gauges and switches originally pulled from a Peterbilt. Custom-made fiberglass door panels are painted to match as well, with hardwood flooring inside and diamond-tuck overhead panels. Ross built the 20-inch drop visor completely from scratch, and had Valley Chrome build the 20-inch bumper, the first one they’d done for a Sterling, he said.

As is the case for most of the pieces of this unit. The grille he fashioned himself from 12-gauge stainless, eighth-inch aluminum flat stock, and 8-gauge hexagonal stainless mesh. Six-inch Lincoln Chrome exhaust is fully functionally, running along the fuel tanks with custom-fabbed mounts and brackets for them. That’s just a few of the details of the effort Ross put into the Sterling. It’s powered by a Cummins N14 Celect plus, fully rebuilt, with an Eaton-Fuller 13 speed, and 3.55 rears -- factory spec on those was 3.90.

Stella’s got around 2.7 million miles behind her, and still has the factory paint job, Ross said – the 2019 Utility dry van Ross recently turned into a spread axle, and he’s added all the extra lighting, building his own harness. You can read more about the rig by searching Dustin Ross’s name at OverdriveOnline.com – we profiled this beauty in 2024, too, after it hit our Reader Rigs gallery.

Well-deserved on the finish here, Dustin, second place in the Working Combo class in Overdrive’s 2025 Pride and Polish.

And for the working combo win, we’re back to the beautiful Teal Appeal 1998 Pete 379 of John Treadway, paired with this 2017 Great Dane reefer trailer painted to match it and the 2017 Harley ultra-classic motorcycle Treadway also owns. They cut a sharp trio, no doubt, and Treadway completed most of the work on the Pete in 2021, replacing factory exhaust with 8 inch Lincoln Chrome pipes, adding a 20-inch American Eagle bumper with 24 two-inch lights, Bad Ass front fenders & rear T-bar, stainless Hogebuilt full fenders over the tandems, and a 14.5-inch drop visor. Original 135-gallon tanks Treadway replaced with 150-gallon units doubling up the tank straps to four each, new aluminum painted deck plate, 8-inch window chops, not to mention but we’ll mention it anyway, that award-winning interior showcased earlier. The trailer transformation’s the most recent addition here, where Treadway painted it to match the truck and added two 50-gallon fuel tanks color-matched and mounted parallel to the side rails, with plenty polishing all around. New landing gear, new ICC bumper, and 30-inch Hodgebuilt quarter fenders.

Clearly, John, Overdrive readers appreciate the results here, and again, good luck with the engine in the new year and big congrats on first place, working combo, to put a wrap on the 2025 show season here in Overdrive Pride & Polish.

Competitors, keep an eye on the mail for plaques headed your way, and to the rest of you, keep tuned for much more about all of the winning owners here in our post-show coverage of each you’ll find in Custom Rigs section of Ovedrive. That’s Overdriveonline.com/custom-rigs.

See you on the other side in 2026. It’s Todd Dills here, over and out.