Tennessee contractor wins ProPickup magazine’s Big Boss sweepstakes

Thomas Ferguson, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based contractor, receives keys from Stephen Abernathy, associate publisher for ProPickup magazine. Ferguson is the winner of the publications 2010 Big Boss contest. The truck is valued at about $75,000Thomas Ferguson, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based contractor, receives keys from Stephen Abernathy, associate publisher for ProPickup magazine. Ferguson is the winner of the publications 2010 Big Boss contest. The truck is valued at about $75,000

Thomas Ferguson, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based contractor, thought the phone calls and e-mails confirming he was the winner of a customized and outfitted custom work truck, worth about $75,000, were part of an elaborate hoax.

When Ferguson verified his being named the winner of ProPickup magazine’s 2010 Big Boss Sweepstakes was true and the reality of his good fortune sank in, the vice president of public relations for Knoxville-based Titan Mining Reclamation, still found it hard to believe. ProPickup is a sister publication to Aggregates Manager, Better Roads, and Equipment World.

“This Ram pickup is going to give me the push I need to keep working hard and accomplish my goals,” says the east Tennessee native. “I followed every article in the magazine and every post on the web site as the ‘Big Boss’ was being built last year. It’s a great truck and I can’t wait to put it to work.”

Ferguson’s name was pulled from more than 9,000 entries ProPickup magazine had received during the nearly year-long sweepstakes program, the winner of which is handed the title to the “Big Boss” – a 2010 Ram 2500 4×4 Crew Cab diesel customized by the magazine’s staff and Truck Supply & Outfitters in Tuscaloosa.

Titan Mining Reclamation reclaims coal mines, and contracts site development and road building projects. Those jobs require Ferguson todrive into rugged areas and tow trailers loaded with construction equipment.

“Having a pickup set up the way the magazine did with the Big Boss gives me all the tools I need to get the job done in style,” says Ferguson who is an avid Ram truck fan.

“We just retired our old service truck, so the Big Boss Ram and the equipment it comes with is going to be put to use right away in the work we do. In fact, I’ll be driving it to South Carolina to bring back some equipment to Knoxville at the end of the month. The Big Boss is also replacing my old ‘98 Dodge Ram diesel, which is close to being worn out,” Ferguson says. “When I’m not at work, this is going to be a sweet truck [to use] for hunting and fishing.”

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“We’d like to thank all of our sponsors for helping put together such a great truck,” says Stephen Abernathy, ProPickup’s associate publisher. “Putting together such a project takes a lot of effort and we couldn’t have asked for it to go to more deserving young man who will put it to work growing his future in the heavy construction industry.”

ProPickup is a bi-monthly publication that reaches more than 220,000 owners and managers of construction, landscaping, aggregates, road and bridge building companies across the country.

The magazine builds one project truck a year with the help of sponsors’ product support and encourages the readers to enter the annual sweepstakes to win it when the build is finished.

The Big Boss Sweepstakes sponsors are the following: Vanair/www.vanair.com; General Tire/www.generaltire.com; Hypertech/www.hypertech-inc.com; Line-X/www.linex.com; Ram Brand Trucks/ www.ramtrucks.com; Sage Oil Vac/www.sageoilvac.com; DeWalt/www.dewalt.com; Truck Supply & Outfitters/www.trucksupplyandoutfitters.com; USFleetTracking/www.usfleettracking.com; Valvoline/ www.valvolinehd.com; Warn Industries/www.warn.com.

Other manufacturers who donated product toward the Big Boss Sweepstakes truck build include the following AFE; Bushwacker; CoverCraft; Curt Manufaturing; Daystar; Dick Cepek; Firestone Industrial Ride Rite; GearWrench; Go Light; Holiday Raceway; J W Speaker; Motorola; N-Fab; PIAA; Poly Performance; Prolong; Road Armor; Superlift; TailGate Master; Teleswivel; TransferFlow; TuscaBlue; Weather Tech; and Whelen.