Ron McCumbers loves trucks. He loves driving them. He loves working off of them. He loves talking about them. He likes pickup trucks. He likes medium-duty work trucks. He especially likes the big rigs.
So when McCumbers saw an opportunity to start hauling frac water for energy companies on the Marcellus Shale, he seized it. It didn’t take much arm-twisting for the owner of Top Dog Well Service LLC, Normantown, W.Va., to buy his first water hauler in 2009. Adding heavy-duty vacuum trucks to his gas and oil support services company fleet has been a dream come true for this professional trucker.
LOVE AT FIRST PUMP
“I love everything else I do, but when I first started working, the first thing I did was drive trucks,” says McCumbers, 49, who started a business in 2003 locating abandoned wells for oil and gas companies and then removing any hidden trash that got in the way of exploration. “Working on water hauling is one of my favorite things I do. I love the trucking end of it and I do like my rigs.”
When McCumbers sent me a photo of his most recent truck addition a while ago, I gave him a call to talk trucks. He is understandably proud of the 2011 Peterbilt 338 with a 110-barrel steel vacuum tank and a beefy Masport 400 liquid-cooled pump used to haul frac water between gas rigs. I asked him how he’d feel about his truck being the first in GOMC’s new feature, Rockin’ the Rig. As you might expect, he was happy for the opportunity to show off his new ride and talk about his growing business.
When it comes to contractors working in the GOM fields, McCumbers isn’t alone in his enthusiasm and affection for work trucks. The water and wastewater haulers I’ve talked to since the launch of this magazine have had one trait in common: They’d just as soon be behind the wheel of a full tank truck on twisty country roads than riding the Buick to church on Sunday or the Harley-Davidson motorcycle on a nice, warm evening … Well, maybe they’d enjoy the Harley just as much as their favorite work truck.
SEND A PHOTO
Because trucks are such vital tools for any GOM support services company, we’re launching the Rockin’ the Rig feature this month. Contractors are invited to send us a photo of their favorite new or refurbished truck, and we’ll publish the photo and spec sheet in what we like to think of as a virtual truck show for your prized moneymaking machines.
Turn inside to find the photo of McCumbers’ white, black and red Pete, bought from Hunter’s Peterbilt and built out by Curry Vac, along with an extensive laundry list of features that makes this his favorite ride. Then go out in the yard and snap a photo of your favorite truck and send it to me with all the details at editor@gomcmag.com. It’s your chance to share your truck with the world, and give props to the truck builder and other companies that helped accessorize and detail your rig.
To me, the Rockin’ the Rig feature serves a tremendously important purpose. By showcasing the best trucks the industry has to offer, we’re challenging contractors to kick it up a notch and produce more worthy rolling billboards for the industry. At a time when so many are looking for ways to criticize companies serving the GOM sectors for being unprofessional or unconcerned about environmental regulations, these beautiful trucks demonstrate a commitment to quality service and professionalism. To hear McCumbers explain it, a great truck puts his industry’s best foot forward in the eyes of the public.
PROUD PETE OWNER
The Pete is McCumbers’ first new truck. In 2009, he started hauling water with an older International Paystar with a 400-hp Cummins engine and an 80-barrel tank. Then he bought a later model Mack with a 350-hp engine and a 110-barrel tank. Then came his pride and joy.
“This is a personal truck,” he says of the Pete. “I drive it myself and I got it the way I wanted it. I’ve never let anybody else drive it. It’s got that classic Peterbilt look, the stereo is super nice and it’s like driving my pickup down the road.” He prefers the 18-speed manual transmission tied to the Cummins 500 ISX engine to the new automatics. “I like to gear down and I can jake off any amount here without touching my brakes,” he says of navigating the hilly roads.
The way things are going, McCumbers says his next new rig might not be that far off, though he’s trying to stay conservative in the midst of the natural gas boom going on all around him.
“I never dreamed of falling into the Marcellus like I did,” he says. “I could run 10 trucks if I had them and could driver them up. That’s one of the hardest things to find in West Virginia; all the CDL drivers are working. The boom has sucked everybody up and the Texans have really invaded and pretty well moved in here.”
McCumbers runs as many as 18 to 20 workers in crews performing abandoned well location, swabbing rigs for completion work and the water hauling. The swabbing rigs run three-worker crews, while two people go out with metal detectors to do the locating and well plugging.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
You’ll always find McCumbers behind the wheel of the water truck, doing what he loves best and enjoying every minute of it.
“You hit Interstate 79 and you can drive as far as you can and see the pumper and water trucks lined up bumper to bumper,” he says. “I’m real fortunate that all aspects of my business have done real well. This water business has been bigger than I thought it was.”
