But unless you’ve been living under a rock the past five years, the vehicle you associate Kelly with is a Kenworth W900 (pictured). She’s arguably the trucking industry’s most recognizable face for the American public, since her splash debut as one of the featured drivers in the third season of the History Channel’s long-running Ice Road Truckers franchise.
Now, after taking a year off, Kelly’s back. And the series is poised for a big comeback with some familiar characters competing in Canada. You can tune in to the new Ice Road Truckers series on the History Channel Sundays beginning June 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Men’s magazine Esquire called Kelly, 32, the “Sexiest Trucker Alive.” Drivers across the nation both male and female responded to her down-to-earth magnanimous personality and the story the series has told of a young woman growing into the nerves-of-steel work ethic required to run where she does, typically on Alaska’s rugged Dalton Highway – the “Haul Road” in local parlance.
After subsequent involvement in the IRT: Deadliest Roads spinoff that put familiar faces and some series newcomers from the United States and Canada in distant locales – India, Bolivia – in rugged terrain, Kelly returned for another season stateside. Last year she took a break from the show. Ratings fell.
For the new season, she says she tried to bring the best of her curiosity, tenacity and a growing veteran’s sense of what it takes to get the job done to the filming in Canada on treacherous ice roads last winter. It was the first time she’d run those roads.
