Whatever Happened To Lisa Kelly From Ice Road Truckers?

From "Swamp People" to "American Pickers," the History channel has found great success by putting everyday people with unusual vocations on the small screen. One of the network's most popular reality TV series was "Ice Road Truckers," which followed drivers taking on harrowing routes in the wintry terrains of Alaska and Canada. The show, just like the trucking industry, was dominated by men, but Lisa Kelly shook things up when she joined in Season 3.

A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kelly grew up in Sterling, Alaska before pursuing her career as a driver. She began with delivery vans, then got her Commercial Driver's License and transitioned to school buses before landing her dream job. "I just applied at truck driving companies only until someone finally hired me," she told Business and Tech. It was while working at Carlile Transportation in Anchorage, Alaska that Kelly got the opportunity to appear on TV. "They were trying out people within the company and the boss recommended me," she recalled in an interview with Diesel Spec Inc. "I know they had to really fight to get a girl on the show and I ended up doing well, so they've let other girls on."

From there, Kelly appeared on nearly every season, only skipping the sixth, right up until the show went off the air following Season 11. Since then, fans have been left wondering what happened to Lisa Kelly from "Ice Road Truckers." The answer is she's still trucking, but her life looks a little different these days.

In October 2010, Lisa Kelly decided to expand her reality TV repertoire by joining History channel's "Ice Road Truckers" spinoff, "IRT: Deadliest Roads." The series took alums from the original show and sent them to tackle roads more dangerous than they'd ever navigated before. In its inaugural season, Alex Debogorski, Rick Yemm, and Lisa Kelly traveled to India where they faced various challenges that saw them driving the wild and mountainous terrain of the Himalayas. It would have been a difficult enough place for a woman to travel to without the added pressure of the job, but Kelly rose to the challenge and excelled, becoming the only trucker from North America to complete Season 1 while navigating snow-covered roads to deliver barrels of aviation fuel.

Given her success, it was no surprise she returned for a second season, this time heading to South America to face new challenges in Bolivia and Peru. Again, as other drivers gave up, she simply pushed on. "I thought, 'I'm here, I might as well do it to the end,'" Kelly told Diesel Spec Inc. "It was really scary, but really fun, and it challenged me." In addition to experiencing culture shock, she was forced to learn how to drive a straight truck rather than her customary semi and trailer combo. In order to succeed, she approached the situation like a student, accepting production's invitation to practice driving the trucks before shooting. "A lot of people didn't go, but I went every day," she mused. "I said, 'I'm going to know everything about these trucks before I hit these deadly roads.'"

Fans of "Ice Road Truckers" will know that Lisa Kelly and Darrell Ward were more than just business partners. The duo first went into business together during the series' ninth season in 2015 when Ward left Polar Industries Ltd to start his own company, D Ward Trucking. Kelly ultimately agreed to join him and their business was in full swing by Season 10. Unfortunately, the pair's close friendship was cut short when Ward died tragically in August 2016. The 52-year-old was flying from Dallas, Texas to Missoula, Montana when his small plane crashed on Interstate 90, killing him and both pilots.

Later speaking with Diesel Spec Inc, Kelly admitted that filming Season 11 without Ward had been difficult, and incredibly sad. "It didn't really hit me until I went back there and didn't have my partner," she mused. "It also put a lot of pressure on me to get things done because Darrell usually took care of a lot of things." That included everything from arranging loads to getting them delivered much faster than she ever did, but Kelly was determined to persevere. "I got Reno, his son, to help me out," she shared. The first winter they worked together, she noted he was "a young punk kid," but by their second winter together, "He had really grown up a lot and was super knowledgeable and a lot nicer."

Given Lisa Kelly's chosen profession, her deep love of horses may come as a surprise to some viewers. However, the reality star has often posted photos of herself with her equine friends, whether it be riding them on trails or hanging with them in a paddock. "I actually always liked horses since I was a kid," she shared in a 2017 YouTube video for Chevron Delo. As Kelly revealed, she used to play with toy horses instead of dolls and she has always been passionate about riding. "When I got into trucking, it was just a way to support my horse habit," she laughed.

More recently, she's also found a passion for rescuing horses and helping them heal in a holistic way. Speaking with Diesel Spec Inc in 2018, Kelly explained that her months-long filming schedule for History channel's "Ice Road Truckers" meant she couldn't hold a steady trucking job outside the show, but she could devote plenty of time to her hobby. "I've been playing with my horses a lot and I've been rescuing horses, training them, and fixing them," she said. At the time, Kelly owned six horses, including a miniature horse and several rescues she'd taken from, as she put it, "people who don't have the resources to take care of them or figure out the medical problems they have."

As one of the most recognizable faces in trucking, it only made sense that Lisa Kelly would be approached with a sponsorship deal. In 2016, she joined Chevron Products Co. as a brand ambassador for Delo, a range of heavy-duty engine oils and lubricants marketed to truckers. Her first campaign was dubbed "Reality of Delo" and in it, Kelly offered a glowing testimonial, gushing, per CCJ Digital, "I have relied on Delo since I began my career in trucking." Nodding to her "Ice Road Truckers" fame, she added, "I drive some of the deadliest roads in the world — I can't take chances on oils."

Kelly's partnership with Delo continued extensively in the years that followed. In 2018, for example, she starred in a YouTube series for the brand while also creating more ads, such as one in which she proclaimed, "When I open my toolbox door, it's always Delo." In 2019, Kelly told TruckerNews she also makes appearances at various conferences around the country on behalf of Delo, including the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky and the Great American Truck Show in Dallas, Texas. As of 2021, Kelly was still making videos for Delo and taking fan questions on their Facebook page, sharing her own journey as a professional trucker while also welcoming tips from fellow truckers.

"Ice Road Truckers" was a hit for the History channel while it ran from 2007 through 2017, but it suddenly went on hiatus following Season 11. Interestingly, while no new episodes have aired since and there appear to be no plans for a new season, the show was never officially canceled. Asked about the extended break by Overdrive in 2021, Lisa Kelly said she was all for it returning, but she didn't know much more than the show's fans. "I wish it would come back," she shared. "I know there's been talk of it, but I feel like this whole COVID thing kind of put a stop on everything, which sucks."

Interestingly, despite her enthusiasm to get back on camera, the untold truth of "Ice Road Truckers" is that filming the show wasn't always easy, especially for Kelly. For one, she had to adjust to having a camera person in the truck with her, but she also had to contend with sexism and meager pay. "Just 'cause I had blonde hair, they were kind of, 'Let's play the dumb blonde character,'" she confessed to Truckinginfo in 2020. What's more, she didn't actually get a paycheck from the History channel for the first couple of years. "I just got paid extra from my company for taking the time and doing it," she explained.

Lisa Kelly gained a legion of female fans while appearing on "Ice Road Truckers." She also inspired women to either get into the industry or keep going, if they were struggling in the male-dominated field. Indeed, she could be considered a modern-day feminist you need to know about. "I was told right upfront on the first season, 'They picked you for eye candy,'" Kelly recalled in an interview with Truckinginfo. "I was like, 'I'm going to prove that I'm more than that.'" That determination sure came through on camera as she tried to impart one major lesson to audiences. "You don't have to fit a stereotype," she told TruckerNews. "You can just do whatever you like."

As for Kelly herself, she decided to expand her own career by becoming an owner-operator. As she shared in a January 2023 video filmed for Chevron Delo, she made the decision just eight months earlier and was still figuring things out. "[I've] kinda been winging it," she admitted, noting she first got pre-approved for a loan before making a down payment on her very own truck and starting the business without much prior knowledge. When a fan asked how much she was spending to run her new company, she quipped, "My heart and soul and everything I got." Listing just some of her expenses, from fuel to insurance and taxes, Kelly mused, "It's insane – if you're doing two sets of drives a year that's $16,000 alone in tires."