Over the six years I’ve been working as a writer and editor at The Drive, the place has seen a lot of changes—most good, some not so good, but all done with the long-term goal of building the best car site around.
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m Caleb. If you’re a regular reader, you know my byline is usually attached to stories about trucks. That’s what I’m here to talk about, actually, because this summer I’ve taken on a new role as The Drive’s truck editor. And here’s why you should care about that.
You see, I’ve lived in the Missouri Ozarks all my life, and ever since I came into this world as an 11-pound, two-ounce baby boy, I’ve been surrounded by pickups and other large trucks. Anyone else that grew up in the middle of the country will tell you how important trucks are—to the culture, to the economy, to huge swaths of the population. And while it’s easy to write off anything body-on-frame as excessive or boring or basic in this day and age, I think the opposite is true. Most of the time, anyway.
That’s why I’m here—to cover the truck and SUV segments in an intelligent way, as someone firmly embedded in this space. Plainly put, there’s a reason the United States can’t get enough of ’em, and it sure isn’t because they’re cheap. People rely on big vehicles to get them and their families from Point A to Point B, to tow and haul, to let loose and have fun, to drive off-road to their work site or favorite camp spot that may or may not be accessible by a normal car. I’m not here to point fingers, or push an agenda, or give anybody a free pass for neglecting the safety of others. It’s my job to open up the world of trucks to everyone and report on the facts so you can make up your own mind.
Hopefully that ethos shines through in stories like my recent report on the EPA’s war ongoing, messy war against diesel truck tuners. Of course, not everything I write is going to be a 3,000-word investigation, but those will be a lot more common than they’ve been in the past. There are so many tales worth telling in the truck space, especially as electrification transforms it, and I can’t wait to put them on the page for you to read. I’ll also be spinning up shorter, more digestible hits on truck culture, like this 12-valve Cummins drift rig, the world’s junkiest Chevy Silverado, and—of course—GMT800s with gardens growing through their rocker panels.
Stories like that are too much fun to pass up on, and so are personal journals from behind the wheel of my own dump trucks. Mhm, I said dump trucks. Plural.
To make a long story short, I’m stoked to write more about the off-roaders, workhorses, and ridiculous rigs that I and maybe even you love so much. It’s time for more people in automotive media to treat these topics with the care and intelligence they deserve. If you ever see me slipping, I hope you’ll let me know. In the meantime, I think you’ll enjoy what we’ve got cooking!
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com