Custom champs: A run with dry-bulk owner-operator John McCormick and his 'Bandit' '21 W900L

It’s not just Snowman's classic black-and-gold throwback paint scheme from Smokey & the Bandit on owner-operator John McCormick's beautiful rig that’s all behind the name. The owner-operator christened the rig "Bandit" more than a year after he first purchased it working through the MHC Kenworth dealer in Springfield, Missouri. He admits the calls of "There goes the Bandit" -- and "Hey, it's the Snowman!" -- over the CB did play a role, though.

The other influence? "When me and my wife ran team, we got a little Yorkie at six weeks old," McCormick said. "His coloring on him -- he looked like he had a black mask on, kind of like a raccoon."

Searching around for a name for the pup, McCormick's son said, "Well, he looks like a bandit." 

John McCormick and his Kenworth's custom shift knob, aka Bandit would turn out to be "my little buddy through the years," McCormick said, growing up in the truck; John and his wife, Marilyn, back then were pulling reefer trailers as company drivers. (Marilyn's since come off the road herself after a parent took ill and moved in with the couple many years ago now.) Bandit "marked everything from Boston to L.A.," McCormick said, over 17 years of his life. The owner-operator's Pride & Polish-winning 2021 Kenworth W900L is now rolling memorial to his memory. 

And not just Bandit, but also, as shown on the driver-side sleeper window, Sassy and Molly, all Yorkies.