Chris Ward grew up as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid in Kauai, Hawaii, where he became a great surfer and competed all over. In Hawaii there is a big fascination for Volkswagens and Toyotas that are usually lifted, so Chris believes that’s where he got his taste for customizing vehicles.

In high school he moved away from the destination beaches of Hawaii and traded them for the great snow-capped slopes of Colorado where he learned to ski. A year later he joined the US Ski Team and became a freestyle skier.

“I almost made it to the Olympics but instead I turned pro, specializing in moguls, aerials and super pipe,” said Chris.

SEMA Aspirations

One day, Chris was watching television and saw a show on lifted trucks and thought he should look into getting a lifted truck. He already had an excursion that was “kind of” lifted. So he went online to see if there were any lifted trucks to purchase and found a lime green F350 four-door long bed on 54-inch tires.

“Thought that’s all me! My nickname for skiing is “Neon Deion” so I thought how perfect this truck is for me,” Chris explained.

He purchased it not knowing anything about lifted trucks or SEMA, and had the truck shipped to him from Texas sight unseen that he bought off of eBay.

“What a mistake,” Chris elaborated.

Everything on it was a wreck, and he took it to his local truck guy who then threw the idea of SEMA at him. He thought it was a great idea, but had a budget of only $100,000 and did not want to go over that amount. They started the project in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Chris soon found out it was a little overwhelming for the guys at the local shop to handle, so they quoted him $150,000 to do it.

Pre-Pandemic

He then looked up local truck shops in Denver and found one called Five-R Trucks who had a television show on Amazon Prime called The Lifted Life. Chris was extremely impressed with how they managed to get 10 vehicles to SEMA.

Chris took the truck to Five-R in January 2020, but the following month the world locked down. The shop contacted him and asked if he wanted to continue the build, and of course he said yes. They would try to continue doing some filming but it was really hard during the COVID restrictions. One thing led to another and things fell apart; sponsors fell off, their television show lost traction, their prime mechanics and all the great employees they had left, and the project sat stagnant for 7 months with SEMA approaching.

There was a sense of urgency not knowing whether or not the build was going to be completed, but when SEMA announced they would only be doing a virtual show that year, it was an opportunity to have another year to finish the project.

New Direction

“I was starting to get frustrated by how slow they were moving and decided that I would start a build on my own using my Excursion,” Chris said.

Chris started by subcontracting everything he thought he couldn’t do himself just like he was building a house. Soon he was flying through the build, using Five-R Trucks’ shop to complete the build as he watched his original truck project sit stagnant. When he finished the Excursion he named it Icecursion because he thinks it is sugarlicious and looks like ice, which is fitting for a pro skier.

“Everything inside and out was my design,” Chris assured.

Then Chris was approached by Five-R Trucks and asked if he wanted to take the Excursion to SEMA if they could find him a sponsor. That’s when Hostile Wheels entered the picture. Chris already had Hostile Wheels on his truck, but he would only agree to it if Hostile would give him a set of free wheels since he had already invested close to $100,000 into the truck.

“Being a sponsored athlete most of my life, I knew how the sponsorship programs worked which were completely different in the truck world,” explained Chris. “In the truck world, sponsorship means an employee discount and that’s it. There’s nothing free, therefore they shouldn’t really call it sponsorship! That ticks me off!”

The Build

The truck itself is on a 16-inch lift that comes from Plan B Fab out of Florida, and the interior is custom iridescent leather, which Chris found in New York City at a tannery and brought back to Colorado just for the truck.

The engine itself has been upgraded by Sinister Diesel, who was a big sponsor. The entire engine is Sinister blue, and underneath the carriage is spotless! According to the owner you will not find a cleaner truck. With the Prismatic Powders White and Illusion Purple it’s absolutely stunning. And it’s like a circus at night with over 60 lights from four different lighting companies such as Rigid Industries and Boogey Lights. It’s quite the sight to see! And the KG 1 FORGED Pearl White front wheels and Illusion Purple wheels armed with True Spike lug nuts really help add to the complete aesthetic of the Icecursion. To cement that aesthetic, Royalty Core blew it out of the water with the custom Icecursion grille—there can be no mistaking Chris’s build for someone else’s.

Back To The Ford

“We are now finishing off that F350 that’s a lime green four-door long bed. And by we, I mean I should also have that truck finished for SEMA this year, which will be equally as stunning as my Excursion. Trust me when I say the truck that I’m currently building is one-of-a-kind!”

Chris is even thinking about opening up his own shop and calling it Deion’s Customs! He mainly wants to build his own trucks and cars and sell them under the brand name and not necessarily build them for other people.

Perfect Record

Yes, it’s true! Chris and his Icecursion have a perfect show record! He’s been to 10 different shows and won at all 10, including Lincoln Tech’s annual car show, which is mainly vintage trucks but he somehow managed to beat out some seriously Kindig It Design vehicles, finishing third behind a 1926 and a 1932.

“When they said 2003 Excursion I about fell over!” Chris recalls.

He’s also taken it to a couple of lowrider shows in Colorado and done really well. Chris has even won Best in Show and Best SUV of the year at Summer Truck Nationals in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium. And he plans on taking it back to SEMA this year with a new sponsor. Chris is now with KG 1 FORGED and the build is being managed by Maxxed Diesel, which means he’s getting the tires and wheels for this SEMA. They’ll be on 30s on 44s and will be two-toned, Pearl White on the outside with Illusion Purple on the inside.

With his perfect record, one thing’s for sure: Chris is coming to SEMA for the win!