Rob Newcomb: Road warrior of a different type

KITTITAS – The term road warrior is usually associated with sports, as in the Seattle Seahawks are winning away from home now.

There is another road warrior right here in Kittitas. Rob Newcomb battles the elements and his aging body to fix sputtering trucks at the side of the road and get them moving again.

Newcomb has a shop for major work, such as transmission overhauls, but most of his work is done out of a shiny maroon Dodge pickup. He goes to where the trucks have stopped.

Newcomb has been at this about 25 years and still enjoys the free nature of his enterprise. However, there are moments that are not quite so enjoyable.

Such was the case when a call came in for a truck with braking problems just west of Ellensburg on Interstate 90. The roadway was covered with snow and slush, the truck was barely outside of the fog line, and Newcomb had to work underneath the truck.

“Every time a car came by, I got slushed,” Newcomb said. “Every time I saw headlights, I wondered if it was going to hit the truck or go on by.”

It was a quick job. Newcomb made sure of that. But he didn't charge any more than usual.

“I'm sort of stupid in that I don't charge extra for after hours or weekends,” he said.

One of the reasons Newcomb went to a road service in the first place was to make repairs more affordable for truckers en route. Without the overhead of a shop, he can charge a lower hourly rate.

Newcomb grew up in Ellensburg and Spokane. He had some tough teen years, particularly between ninth and 10th grade, when moved from Ellensburg to Spokane. He was not happy about leaving his friends and showed up at his new school with an attitude.

“I couldn't get along with people,” he said. “I got my driver's license and dropped out.”

But Newcomb wasn't a bum. He moved back to Ellensburg and went to work. He did some logging, bucked hay and worked the kill floor at Superior Pack (sheep meat).

“That was a long three and a half years,” he said.

Newcomb found his stride after his CWU girlfriend (now wife) Robin encouraged him to go to college. He knew he liked tinkering with cars. So he researched a career as a mechanic and chose diesel over gas because the pay was better.

“I'd always worked with my hands,” Newcomb said. “Mechanics was something that was easy for me.”

Newcomb was in his early 20s when he earned a GED and enrolled at South Seattle Community College to study diesel mechanics for stationary and heavy equipment. Focused, he breezed through the two-year degree course.

“I enjoyed going to school,” he said.

Newcomb's first job after college was with City Transfer of Kent. He maintained construction equipment. The big difference from the classroom was that he was out in the elements. But there were still books.

“You're always going back to the books,” he said. “You can't retain it all. It's a tool to make sure you're doing the job properly, torque specs and stuff like that.”

Next Newcomb took a job with Ryder Truck Rentals of Tukwila maintaining the trucks. When Ryder transferred him to Yakima, he and Robin moved back to Ellensburg, where they wanted to raise their children.

Newcomb made the full circle home when he took a job next with Okanogan Seattle Transfer in Ellensburg.

Newcomb decided to try something new in 1997 and became a mechanic at Ellensburg Polaris. His brother-in-law, who owned it, needed his help. That same year, Newcomb went whole hog and bought Polaris.

In 1999, S&S Diesel, started by two brothers in Seattle and moved to Ellensburg, became available. Newcomb bought the shop business with inventory, tools and equipment and more than 50 accounts.

Newcomb operated both businesses for a while, then sold Polaris in 2001. The snowmobile market was starting to fail.

Newcomb operated S&S Diesel as a shop business until 2005. He tired of being confined and of having employees and all the challenges they bring. He threw an air compressor and a comprehensive collection of tools in the back of his pickup and started offering roadside service.

Newcomb generally offers his service to an area that ranges from Snoqualmie Pass to Wenatchee to Moses Lake and the Yakima Valley.

“But I'll go anywhere they need me when they need, as long as they are willing to pay the cost,” Newcomb said.

Newcomb believes his is a good deal for the trucker. He noted its costs much less to move his pickup than a disabled truck. To move a farm tractor to a distant shop, he noted, requires a lowboy.

“It takes a day to get the truck, load up the tractor and get it to the shop,” Newcomb said. “It's a lot easier just to get me to drive out.”

There is significant challenge for Newcomb now. All of the bending, crawling and lifting are wearing on his 50-ish body. He's had his share of head bumps, bruised arms and battered knuckles.

“I can't retire, and I don't want to hire anybody,” he said. “I guess I'll just keep on sacrificing my body.”