Pouring rain and stormy skies created a grey, dreary and wet backdrop at the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the opening day of the Shell Rotella SuperRigs competition, but those conditions just made the orange and blue paint scheme that much more visible.

The two-colour treatment – complete with highly-polished chrome and stainless steel accents – was Rodger Nelson’s personal pick for his 2013 389 Peterbilt. Orange is Nelson’s favourite colour, and blue matches the eight-axle double-drop trailer he pulls behind the truck. 

Nelson, who has driven for Titan Transport in Saskatoon, Sask. for 19 years, thought he finally had a truck worthy of entering in the international custom truck show, and he wasn’t going to let a downpour stop him from getting his ride cleaned and polished and ready for judging. 

He had entered the Peterbilt in two previous shows, including one in Walcott, Iowa where he won first place among trucks of the same year.  

Even though the truck is by no means finished yet – Nelson intends to customize the interior and change the seat coverings, adding more blue and orange as he goes, and as he is able to afford it – he’s proud of his truck and the way people perceive it. In fact, while the truck, which is led by a chrome lady perched on the top of the grille, doesn’t have an official name, it does have a catch phrase painted on the exterior.

“There is a country and western song called ‘She thinks my tractor is sexy,’” explains Nelson. “We were listening in a nightclub one night, and one of the girls said, ‘That’s the name of your truck, you have to put it on there,’ so I did. And it looks pretty good.” 

Although he didn’t place first, Nelson won fourth place in the SuperRigs tractor division, and took home $500 in prize money. 

To watch Nelson point out some of his updates and customizations see http://tinyurl.com/ShellSuperRigs.