Chris Litzinger and Henry Kuperus
Truck: 2005 Volvo VN, pulling open deck and van freight
Leased to: Brenny Transportation, brennytransportation.com
Chris Litzinger was in his early 20s when he met Henry Kuperus, who trained him. Litzinger was hauling locally for a food-service company, then jumped into over-the-road work with a carrier hauling intrastate, trying his hand in a lease-purchase deal that went sour. There, though, he met drivers who ended up moving to Brenny Transportation, a 50-truck fleet based in St. Joseph, Minn. Those drivers described Brenny as “odd, not like normal trucking.”
One oddity was that President and CEO Joyce Brenny, a former driver, has a reputation for putting drivers first. Litzinger was only 21, but he’d been bitten by the trucking bug and eventually convinced Brenny to bring him on. He was trying to hold on to the truck he’d leased at the former carrier, but ultimately it didn’t work out. When Brenny was looking to sell a 1999 Mack CH 613 that Litzinger says “was probably meant more for a gravel pit” the way it was spec’d, he jumped at the opportunity.
“It never left me stranded, and it made me money,” he says, “I came out of a rut I’d gotten in with the first fleet.” Such good times continued three years later through his purchase – likewise from Brenny – of the 2005 Volvo that he still drives.
In the interim, he and Kuperus had become fast friends. Kuperus is five years older, and they have children of similar ages. “We do a ton of hunting and fishing together,” says Kuperus.
“If I have a problem with something, I can call him, and I don’t have to worry about” that problem anymore, Litzinger says. “We got to talking about it, and we decided we both wanted to have more flexibility with family things.”
They struck a deal for Kuperus to assume half-ownership of the Volvo. Today, the team is one of three leased to Brenny.
