History: James Horsley opened Lone Star Rentals in north-central Houston in 1982. The company grew to about $11 million in annual rental volume and was as high as No. 67 on the RER 100 before he sold it to NES in 1997, retaining all of the properties as owner. He worked for NES for two years before leaving to take some time off. After NES vacated his original Lone Star location in early 2002, Horsley set to work fixing it up along with former store manager Steve Whatley. Former customers began dropping by, looking to rent equipment and encouraging Horsley to go back into the rental business. He opened Champion Rentals in May 2002; his 13 employees are all former Lone Star employees.

Inventory: Champion has about $4 million worth of inventory. Its biggest areas are earthmoving and high reach. Earthmoving equipment, primarily Case, goes up to small bulldozers, backhoes, skip loaders, mini-excavators, skid-steer loaders. Aerials — Champion is the Haulotte dealer for southeast Texas — as large as 60-foot booms and scissors. Champion also carries M-B-W soil compaction and trowel machines; Airman air compressors; and Mi-T-M pressure washers.

Philosophy: “What is our objective? To make a profit? To grow fast? It's to create customers. If you create enough customers, the volume will come. Create customers, eliminate waste, and hire, train and motivate the best people. Those are the three objectives. Keep it simple.”