American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
The Journey from Paint Shop to Hall of Fame Pat Winer
Pat Winer's journey through the towing industry reveals a career marked by innovation, service, and an unwavering commitment to community. From his humble beginnings in the paint department at Challenger Wrecker Manufacturer in the early 1980s, Pat shares the fascinating evolution of his career alongside the technological advancements that have shaped modern towing.
Working under industry pioneer Bill Bottoms at Challenger, Pat witnessed firsthand how manufacturing excellence and thoughtful design could transform an industry. He describes the state-of-the-art facilities where an overhead chain-link system moved parts between stations – a testament to the ingenuity that has always driven the best in the business. As the wheel lift revolution took hold in the mid-80s, Pat found himself at the epicenter of change, watching as demand for add-on wheel lifts grew so intense that "guys were waiting in line to get them."
Perhaps most compelling is Pat's creation of Tow Trucks for Tots in 2007, an initiative born from a simple yet profound desire to transform the somber processions of tow trucks at industry funerals into something joyful and community-focused. What started as a local parade has grown into an annual tradition that has broken Guinness World Records, delivered toys to children affected by economic hardship and natural disasters, and even inspired similar events internationally. The friendly competition with the French Towing Association, who now hold the record with 491 trucks, only serves to benefit more children in need.
Today, as District Sales Manager for Landau Corporation, Pat continues to champion innovation with new trailer designs featuring 10-foot-1 spread axles and expandable capabilities reaching 61 feet. His humility shines through when discussing his Hall of Fame induction, crediting his entire team for the success of Tow Trucks for Tots.
For those interested in learning more or touring the Landau factory, Pat welcomes contact at pat.winer@landoll.com or 630-878-9837. Join us for this inspiring conversation that demonstrates how dedication to craft, community, and continuous improvement can create a lasting legacy in the towing industry.
Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast. I want to remind all of you that the American Towing Recovery Institute aims to promote professionalism, safety and education within the towing and recovery industry. Remember, we provide training and certification programs for towing operators. We also advocate for industry standards and best practices, support research and develop all new techniques, including research and development of electric and alternative fuel vehicles With extensive research, with the EV Clever app, available now on Apple and Google Play stores, Foster cooperation among industry stakeholders. Please, if you need to contact us, we're always at wwwamtowri G. Now here is Towing.
Speaker 2:News Now, as always, dj, thank you so much for those kind words. I really do appreciate hearing them. Sometimes it's the nicest thing anybody said to me all week long, so they really mean a lot. How are you doing?
Speaker 3:I'm doing excellent. I want to tell all our listeners April right off the start here that we heard back from Tunnel to Towers and the van that we gave them down in Orlando while the tow show was going on, atlanta, georgia. So as that process goes on, we'll keep our listeners posted and then about a month from now, Paul Meyer, who's the head of all the veteran villages for Tunnel to Towers, will be on this podcast relaying to all of our listeners how much they appreciate Wes Wilburn and April Wilburn's listeners for helping out with Tunnel to Towers. And we'll progress as we go along. But that's what's happening today. It was good April and everything here is beautiful and Georgia is a beautiful. Beautiful blue skies, big puppy white clouds out there. It's gorgeous today.
Speaker 2:And I heard it's 85 degrees there.
Speaker 3:Oh yes. That's all it's doing good, and so Wes and you have been. You know it's a key thing, and so when you're asking about, I just figured this would be a good tease. So, down the road, anticipate hearing right from the man himself, from Tunnel to Towers.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you, DJ. You give us a lot of credit, but really the credit belongs with you. You've been the one that's been active on this program. You're the one with the connection with United Recyclers Group, URG. By the way, I hope some of our fans have given their podcast a listen and given them a subscribe. If you haven't, please do that as a personal favor to me. Dj does the podcast with them, URG. How do they find that, DJ?
Speaker 3:If they just go thank you, wes If they just go to URG on their Spotify or on their you know, just go to podcasts on your phone and hit U-R-G stands for United Recyclers Group, and it'll come right up. And the lady who's their host is called Amanda Morrison. She's very easy on the eyes, but she's the host and I'm the co-host and they do a great job, but they're only nothing like you guys. You gotta have over 20 000 listeners they're. They just broke 9 000 and they struggled doing that. But if we could get them up to 10 000 as you know, wes, that once you hit 10 000, spotified and all of these people itunes, iheart, media they all kick in and kind of help you a little bit, get your audience. So but if you don't hit the 10 000 mark, you, you still stay down in the limbo land that's right, which?
Speaker 4:that's where they are right now. And it's a good podcast. There's a lot of good information on there that they can apply, whether you're in the recycling business or not, so give them a listen. Give them a subscribe. That's where everything is. Give them a subscribe, like them and rate them, and all that too.
Speaker 2:Yep. So I also think that, with the current situation, urg might be a good podcast to listen to, because we're looking within America now for sourcing. That's right For sourcing materials and recycling. We should be doing anyway, but we don't because we're a very disposable nation. That recycling group could be a very good resource for a lot of people in a lot of different businesses.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I sure do appreciate you guys.
Speaker 4:We appreciate you, we appreciate your G for making us feel so at home at their function and everything they do.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, they loved you guys coming over and, of course, tunnel to towers. You did a great job interviewing Matt from Tunnel to Towers. It was a good podcast.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we need to get Matt back on on a more regular basis and we're going to work on that as well.
Speaker 3:You got it All right, so what's happening with April?
Speaker 2:April is good, we're rolling. It's the middle of the training season and the spring season, so I um if I could take five minutes to think about how I'm doing, I don't know, but today I'm great. We're you know, we're just rolling. We're rolling with them. This podcast is one of the best things that we look forward to doing all week there you go absolutely, and we're excited about this podcast and the interview.
Speaker 4:Really, it really lays out what our future is and the group we're working with and I'm super excited about that. This just came across my desk yesterday afternoon and I feel like it's worth talking about for a moment Yesterday. Well, first of all, let me read you the news article from the KFOX14 CBS4 affiliate in El Paso, texas. The KFOX14 CBS4 affiliate in El Paso, texas. The son of a 65-year-old man who died in a fiery semi-crash that involved 12 vehicles on Trans Mountain in northwest El Paso, has filed a lawsuit against the towing company and the driver. The law firm and I won't mention their name, it's in the public record identified. The man is, and I won't. His name is in public record as well.
Speaker 4:The law firm filed a lawsuit against and again, the towing company's name is in the recordtruck which was towing another semi after the one had become disabled on Loop 375. Old local person, for reasons still not known to investigators, was not able to brake as the semi approached the intersection of Loop 375 and so-and-so Boulevard. As a result, the trailer smashed into several cars that were stopped at the red light. According to the law firm, the deceased was burned alive in the cab of the truck.
Speaker 4:The law firm said the petition is filed on behalf of the grieving son. The lawsuit alleges that the death of Jenkins was caused by the driver's negligent and careless disregard for his duties as a safe driver for profit and they refer to that a couple times, that safe driver for profit. So I'm sure that's some kind of legal term that's been established as case law down, there is my guess Right. Been established as case law down there is my guess Right. The lawsuit states the driver was speeding, failing to keep a safe distance from other vehicles and distracted by electronic device, disregarding the extreme risk of harm.
Speaker 2:It was consciously tapered.
Speaker 4:Thank you. The document states that the selling service is being held responsible for failing to develop, implement and force additional adequate safety policies regarding the operation of the tow truck and the driver distraction from electronic devices. A second lawsuit filed by another person injured in the cast is also suing the towing company. His attorneys claim he was permanently injured and is seeking more than a million dollars for damages in medical care, loss of income and physical and mental suffering. Both lawsuits accused the towing company, the driver, of negligence and violating federal safety standards. The states no criminal charges have been filed but the investigation continues. That's a possibility. So there's also the lawsuit itself. This was all found online and several of the towing groups are talking about it on Facebook etc. And the lawsuit document names the individual, names the towing company and they're all named in this lawsuit, all being sued in a civil situation and again, there's still possible criminal charges.
Speaker 4:I've heard a lot of conversation about what the cause of the accident was. I don't want to speculate about it. Hopefully the investigation will ferret out what exactly the truth is. But several of the things that were discussed are shortcuts I see commonly taken by heavy-duty operators, and I always say in classes we tell ourselves that lie, that lie that it will be okay this time. We have to stop telling ourselves that lie, especially in this situation. This was a mountainous situation, so telling it from what I understand, it's a very mountainous area and telling a tractor-trailer on flat ground can be a dangerous proposition. So I'm just asking all the operators out here to keep in mind to be safe and don't tell yourself that lie and don't take that shortcut.
Speaker 2:Can I add a couple things to it? There's a second lawsuit out. One of the individuals that was injured is also suing. Why it happened doesn't change what happened. Why it happened gives us the resolution, gives us the closure, if there's such a thing, for it, why it happened. Training is our mission in life. That's what we do. Education is our mission in life. Safety is our mission in life. I don't know how you can train somebody not to look at their devices when they're going down the road. You could tell them not to do that. That is what happened and there wasn't some kind of equipment failure. That's a possibility. That report is a report, but we don't know what happened. We were not in that truck and I don't know how they would know he was looking at his device.
Speaker 4:Oh, they know, they know absolutely. But then it was on, but you don't know if they were looking at it Well, yeah, but they've got several ways they can detect if you're using it or not.
Speaker 2:I don't know how you train that out of somebody.
Speaker 4:I don't know that. It's training, it's convincing them, it's important and not to take the shortcut.
Speaker 4:Yes, I've always said that, especially years ago, when we started training in this industry 30 years ago. Most of the time we were preaching to the choir the room full of people that would come, especially back then, and they knew what the right thing was. They knew they should be using safety chains. Every time, but again we go back to that lie. We tell ourselves it will be okay this time. So that's part of what I've been my mission over the 30 some years I've been involved in training. Yes, I'm sharing information with them, but I'm also trying to convince them why that information is important and why they should do it every single time yeah, because one shortcut.
Speaker 2:We were talking to a friend of ours at a tower and he owns a company and he was talking about doing being out on a on a call with one of his guys and he's seen this guy take a shortcut and he stopped it. He said because one shortcut leads to another, shortcut it. It is a slippery slope, you get by with it, it's easy, you take, you take the shortcuts and it's going to be fine. 200 times maybe, and then it's not, it's some, something's going to happen.
Speaker 4:And of course we hope it doesn't, and we do pray for all the families involved in this situation.
Speaker 2:As promised, we have a great guest, Pat Weiner with the Landau Corporation. Pat, we are so lucky to have you on the podcast today.
Speaker 4:I've known Pat for decades. He's always been just the nicest of people and he's really been involved in a lot of the groundbreaking events in our industry. Pat, go ahead and introduce yourself, please.
Speaker 6:Well, thank you very much. I sure appreciate the kind words and I'm very honored to be here. My name is Pat Weiner. I'm from Landau Corporation. I'm the District Sales Manager for the Illinois, wisconsin, minnesota, iowa, south Dakota, north Dakota, wyoming, eastern Montana and east of 65 in Missouri, and I'm very happy to be here.
Speaker 4:That's quite a territory and we'll talk about that later. But tell us how you first got involved in the industry.
Speaker 6:Yes, certainly. So I've gotten involved in the industry. Back in the 80s I lived in Elkhart, indiana, and graduated from Elkhart Central High School, and a few of my friends were working at a place called Challenger Wrecker Manufacturer. They were working in the paint department and I was looking for a job and my buddy said hey, why don't you come over here and apply I know we're hiring and see if you can get a job with us. And at that time Challenger was a union shop. And so I applied and got accepted and I think you had I think it was maybe 90 days, I think something like that. You had to work and to get into the union. And so I did that and got a job with Challenger and started on the line at Challenger Record Manufacturer.
Speaker 6:I originally started in the paint department, priming parts, and then went into the shipping department and then ended up co-managing the shipping department with Lisa Bottoms, which was Bill Bottoms' daughter, and then ended up. Jeff Badgley was the sales manager back in that day, back in that time, and I had asked Jeff if I had a chance at getting a sales job selling records and Jeff said let me think about it, I'll get back to you. And he got back to me and he said you know what? We've got an inside sales position. We'd like to put you in and see how you do, and so that's kind of how I got started in the industry.
Speaker 4:Wow, in the very beginning, working with a lot of players that were here for decades. What year are? We talking ballpark.
Speaker 6:Oh gosh, that was in the 80s, early 80s, so I think I started there. It was 83, 84, somewhere right around there, 85. Okay.
Speaker 2:It also probably did help you going into sales when you were doing the, the painting and the shipping that you actually got to know the trucks very well.
Speaker 6:So when you oh, yes, when you were talking to potential customers, you could really speak to the insides and outs of those trucks yes, yes, no, it was great starting at the bottom there and and uh, and learning how to, how to, you know, build the trucks. I also worked on the line sometimes and they would switch us to different positions and I'd work on the line assembling records and, uh, you know, back in the day, uh, bill had the state of the art uh facility. Uh, throughout the whole facility he had a chain link system that was up above the ceiling and the parts they would build the record parts of our stations and the guys would build the parts. And then this, this continuous chain, would go around the whole entire factory and they would go to each station and they would have hooks on there and so the, the guy making his parts would put his part on that hook and it would go to the next station. That guy would take it off and he would do his part to it.
Speaker 6:Then he'd put, put it back on the line and then it would go to the next station and then, after everything, all the steel was all built and everything it would go up into a blaster. It would be blasted and then it would get a phosphate wash and then a chemical wash and then the parts would get primed and then they would get put on skids to go to the paint shop to either be painted or to be assembled. And it was really really a neat factory and you know at the time it was definitely state of the art. You know, bill really was a genius at designing things and you know designing the floor of the factory and how it worked.
Speaker 4:It was just great to see and great to be a part of. That's interesting. I've heard a lot of people talk about him and definitely we can credit him with the modern hydraulic tow truck. I've never heard that discussed in detail like that how organized he was.
Speaker 6:Oh yeah, it was amazing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's interesting, that's very interesting. So middle 80s, this is going on. We're at the height of you've got to have a wheel lift to tow a car, basically. Well, you got to have a wheel lift to tow a car, basically, at least from my memory, you know middle 80s, you're a pretty strong point that you're probably selling as many wheel lift little wreckers as you are sling trucks. Is my memory serving me right?
Speaker 6:That's correct. We were building a lot of add-on wheel lifts at the time also. Oh yeah, because back then there was a lot of wreckers didn't have wheel lifts and so a lot of the manufacturers were building add-on wheel lifts and you couldn't keep them in stock. I mean, you know, guys were, were waiting in line to get them and uh, you know they were, uh, they would uh bolt on underneath the truck and and uh, you know it's kind of neat back then because the wheel lift came out, the, the rollback was just starting to come out, you know, and uh, it was really really a neat time in the industry yeah, it sounds like you're on the forefront of a lot of the new innovation um that was coming out yeah, with that add-on wheel.
Speaker 4:If that made every service station in america a potential customer, didn't it?
Speaker 6:it, did it it so from Challenger.
Speaker 4:Uh, how long did you stay there? What was the next move from Challenger?
Speaker 6:yeah, so Challenger, uh, so Challenger was owned by Bill Bottoms and uh, then, uh, of course, bill brought a partner in to, uh, um, to, I guess the banks had required Bill to bring a partner in, which was the Grable Corporation. And the Grable Corporation ended up was a company that I think they bought Western Plow, and they bought a whole bunch of other companies and they ended up, I guess you know, doing some things that weren't you know, I don't know how to say it, especially things that they shouldn't have done, and it put Challenger into bankruptcy at that time. And then, of course, bill Bottoms and Bill Miller went to court and both of them went to buy Challenger and, you know, bill Miller ended up buying Challenger and Bill Bottoms ended up starting All Pro Toywing equipment in Elkhart, indiana, which was another wrecker manufacturer before he started B&B.
Speaker 4:Right, allpro made that monster wrecker for Ernie on that Oshkosh, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 6:If I'm not mistaken, they did, they did and again, the facility he built. He built that facility brand new and that was the first time I ever saw the sealed floors where his floors were like a light-colored blue and the whole building was just beautiful. Again he had the state-of-the-art facility. He had a whole glass front where you could park a wrecker in the front and it was just really, really neat. Building Bill, like I said, was really good at designing factories and buildings and equipment.
Speaker 4:Yeah, portable bars as well.
Speaker 6:Yes, he did. They're still in use today at Budweiser. Matter of fact, I still in use today at Budweiser. As a matter of fact, I was on a tour at Budweiser just recently and they are still using his porta-parties.
Speaker 4:Oh wow, what at their St Louis location.
Speaker 6:Yes, correct.
Speaker 4:Wow, I'll have to see that. I'll have to take a look for that. So you're with Bill through All. Pro, where's Pat through all this.
Speaker 6:So Miller Industries, of course, was in Elkhart, indiana when they bought Challenger.
Speaker 6:That was the first place they bought and they moved it to Ottawa, Tennessee, and they offered everybody that worked there to go to Ottawa.
Speaker 6:At that point I had never really been to Tennessee and lived in Elkhart my whole life, and Randy Olson, which was one of the sales guys back in the day at Challenger and then became the sales manager at Miller Industries, had asked me if I'd be interested in going to work for them in Chicago. And so then I went to work for them in Chicago selling records and towing equipment and that's kind of how I ended up in Chicago and then that turned into B&B industry and worked for B&B and then Jordan had approached me. We are also a Jordan dealer at B&B, so they approached me about going to work for them as a manufacturer's rep, and so I took that position with Jordan. Jordan asked me if I'd be interested in owning my own dealership in Chicagoland. They were looking to get more of the market share in Chicago. They asked me if I'd be interested in opening a dealership in Chicago. I opened a dealership in Chicago called Worldwide Equipment Sales.
Speaker 4:All right. So what year were you at at this point? Just to put a little perspective.
Speaker 6:That would be probably about 2003,. I imagine is when I opened up Worldwide Equipment.
Speaker 4:Let me get you to clarify one more thing. Going backwards, you mentioned B&B a second time. Yes, that was B&B, a dealership, not the record manufacturer.
Speaker 6:That point am I correct on that? Correct? Yes, yes, I'm sorry. Yes, that was the dealership in Chicago.
Speaker 4:Just making sure for listeners at home. All the steps are clear Very, very fascinating career and you haven't even got started yet with some of the big things you've achieved. We've got to get you to hang around. We're going to take a quick break and after the break I want to hear about Worldwide and some of the great things that you achieved there. So we'll be right back listeners.
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Speaker 4:We also offer the National Tow Operator Certification an independently sourced virtual testing program covering light duty, heavy duty, electric and alternative fuel vehicle.
Speaker 5:TRAA, the Injured Drivers Fund and legislation that makes all of us safer are what makes this industry special. Ina Towing supports all of this and more. When there is a need, gay Rochester is always one of the first to come forward and ask how can I help? The American Towing and Recovery Institute is honored to have the support of the INA Towing Network. Together, we all make a difference. Ina Towing Network simplified solutions, superior service.
Speaker 2:All right, everybody, welcome back from the break here at Towing News. Now we have Pat Weiner from Landall Equipment and he's going to tell us about his experience at Worldwide.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so Worldwide. We started in 2003. We started out, of course course, selling Jordan products and Landall trailers and kind of grew it. We also started selling Cottrell car haulers, which were the big 13 car haulers. We grew that till 2015 and in 2015 Joe Pritchard from Pritchard Auto Group, which is the supplier of chassis to Jordan for their Ford, dodge and Chevy chassis, came to us and we agreed on an agreement to sell the company to him. And Pritchard Auto Group is a great family business. Their great-grandfather started it in 1913, I believe, and they dealt directly with Henry Ford back in the day. And that's how old their dealership is One of the oldest dealerships in the country, if not the oldest, wow.
Speaker 4:Well, and we'll talk more about Pritchard in a second, but tell us a little bit about Worldwide and some of the things you achieved. I recognize the different brands that you carried, but there's a whole lot more to Worldwide than that, wasn't there?
Speaker 6:Yes, yes, so we also.
Speaker 6:We started Tow Trucks for Tots back in 2007.
Speaker 6:I was at a funeral for a tower and, of course, they always have a tow truck procession there at the funeral, and you know, everybody is very somber and I thought, boy, it'd be be nice to be able to have a parade where everybody was happy and more, uh, festive and uh.
Speaker 6:So I, I came back that day and I sat down with all my employees at worldwide and I said, hey, you know, I would like to have a parade, a tow truck parade where it can be festive. And and if we're going to do that, we got to do something good with it. You know, what can we do? And we came up with the idea to have a tow truck parade and collect toys for children in need at Christmas time, and then also to go for the Guinness Book of World Records and then show the towing companies in a better light, you know, showing that they're good, family run businesses. The towing companies in a better light, you know, showing that they're good, family-run businesses. And so we came up with this idea for Tow Trucks for Tots in 2007. Of course, it's still going, and this year will be 2025.
Speaker 4:So it'll be 18 years we've been collecting toys for children, which is an outstanding job you folks do.
Speaker 6:Well, thank you. We've helped out a lot of places. You know, back in the early years Elkhart, indiana, had the highest unemployment rate in the country. As a matter of fact, I don't remember the president at the time there he went there to console the people there and tell them that they were going to try to bring jobs back to Elkhart. So we went to Elkhart at Christmastime and gave out toys.
Speaker 6:And we went to Elkhart at Christmas time and gave out toys and we went to Hurricane Sandy in New York, we did the wildfires in Tennessee, we did the tornadoes in Southern Illinois, we did the GM plant, which was the Top Kick plant that they closed in Janesville, wisconsin. We took toys to them and then we also give out to hospitals and food pantries and anybody in need. So it's been a great thing, it's been a lot of fun and it's a great event to do.
Speaker 2:So you're saying who else is in this with you, who else is doing this with you?
Speaker 6:I've got a whole group of people that help out, but especially there's a gentleman by the name of Jim Bresnahan here in Chicago that helps out Ed Forsythe, myla Howell, mike Irwin, john Journal, joe Scalavara, and my wife Kathy, and of course, my children help out with it, and numerous other people I mean we have it's huge, you know, and it's just not one person person, it's a whole giant group of people and we have firefighters to help out with the police officers. Unfortunately, with the cutbacks, you know, in the government, um, before the state police would let us go from joliet all the way downtown chicago to uh to uh back then it was called toyota park and, uh, they would close off the expressway which is?
Speaker 4:which is how many miles just?
Speaker 6:for about 40, 42 miles 42 miles of a parade route big interstates too and they would close the interstate off for us and the people would go, the trucks would go right down the interstate and it was huge and, uh, matter of fact, the the first, one of the first parades we had going down the interstate. We got a letter from a lady and she says I go to church every Sunday, never missed. And she says last Sunday I was going to church and she said I seen all these tow trucks going down I-55 with their lights on. And she thought, oh my gosh, something must have happened in downtown Chicago. So she stopped, she watched and pretty soon she saw that the trucks were all decorated for Christmas and she realized that we were doing a toy run and she said that was the neatest thing she's ever seen. And she said you know she doesn't want to miss church, but she said I'm going to miss church every year, this time just to watch that parade. She thought that was that cool that we were doing that. Pretty humbling.
Speaker 2:Very humbling and you could be in church in your car. You know God is everywhere. So how for the cuts and impacting your guys' route? How long ago did that impact happen and what are you doing now instead?
Speaker 6:Yeah, so, gosh, it's been probably three to four years now that the impacts have impacted our route. So now our parade route is much smaller. We go from Hollywood Casino in Joliet to the Joliet Speedway, and so we just keep the trucks local. And so we just keep the trucks local. Without having the state police protection on the expressways it would be, you know, just way too hard to get the trucks down down to the expressway. You know, when we did that, it involved the state police, county police, city police, and then we had several cities like the village of Bridgeview, the gosh, the Justice Police Department, rockdale Police Department, joliet Police Department, and there's many, many more Gosh, I think, burbank Police Department, and they all helped, and plus IDOT, which also has their own tow trucks, they would help out also. So it was a huge amount of people and amount of government agencies that helped us go down that expressway safely.
Speaker 4:It almost sounds like the same efforts they'd make if the president was coming to town.
Speaker 6:It's just like that.
Speaker 2:I'd say it probably even more extent because I'm sure there was a lot developed um between the government entities and the towing industry with this endeavor that you do over here, because you don't, you don't plan.
Speaker 6:You don't plan this a week beforehand, you plan this a month beforehand oh yes, we, when we end it in, uh, in, uh, you know it's always the second sunday in nove, and so that second Sunday in November after the parade, there's a group of us, we all meet, we have lunch or dinner, I guess, you'd say and we go over what happened at that one and we start planning for the next year. So we start planning right after the other one ends.
Speaker 4:So tell us a little bit about the Guinness World Book of Records.
Speaker 6:You know, we had three things that we wanted to go after is to help children to show the towing industry in a better light and then also go for the Guinness Book of World Records. We did break the Guinness Book of World Records. The first year that we did the parade, the Guinness Book of World Records was held by a towing association in Washington and I believe it was 83 or 84 trucks, um, and in the first year we had um gosh, I don't remember the exact numbers but it was, you know, close to 200. I think it was 203 trucks, you know. So we we had a great showing, um, our best year we had 324 trucks and that was our best year. And we continued to have the Guinness Book of World's records for many years.
Speaker 6:Until about a few years back, tow Times Magazine did an article about tow trucks for tots and over in Europe there's a towing magazine called LDM and that goes all over the Europe area, and the French Towing Association saw what we were doing so they said, hey, we want to jump in on that. So they started having their own parade. Now, at this time we didn't know that they were having a parade and they had their parade for two or three years, and the third year they got 491 trucks to show up and beat our record. And so I was at home one day and I got this message through Facebook and it said the French beat the Americans, you know. And it says tow trucks for tots, for 491 trucks. So I thought I got to find out who this guy is and if this was real or not, you know.
Speaker 6:And so, anyways, we ended up making contact with them and Luke is the president of the French Towing Association and he's the one that headed that up, and a super nice guy. Matter of fact, he was inducted into the Towing Hall of Fame a couple years back for the French Towing Parade, and at that time they had a registration fee and all the money that they collected went to fight childhood cancer. And they've had their parade every year and they keep waiting for the Americans to give them a run for their money and break the record, and every year, of course, we try, but right now it seems like we're only getting close to 300 trucks a year, and in order to beat them we have to beat them at. We have to be more than 491 trucks and so, which is a hard number to hit. They did a good job of organizing that and getting that many trucks, because that's a lot of trucks.
Speaker 2:And out of this competition, only the children have benefited in so many different ways. Oh, yes, so this is a very good competition.
Speaker 6:Yes, no, it is, it is and it's very exciting and they really want us to try to break their record, you know, because they would like to do more. Also, and hopefully, you know, in the next couple of years we can get enough towers to break that record, you know, and it would be nice to see it all over the United States. I'd love to see it in other cities. You know, the same day, always, you know, second Sunday in November at 9 am, and have it in many cities, you know.
Speaker 4:It would be great to see other towers do it and other associations do it. Well, we tried to do some of that and we never did link up with you guys. I didn't really realize at first that y'all were doing it, but that's a great idea and maybe we can help promote that as we move forward.
Speaker 4:We also we've got to take a quick break, but before we do, I want to say there's a lot of tellers in the Midwest that listen to this podcast, so let's hopefully give this Toys for Tots parade a little bump and we'll definitely have you back on at that point to talk about it. But can you hang around for a break and we want to talk about what you're doing nowadays.
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Speaker 2:Welcome back to Tony News, Now with Pat Weiner and I'm going to hand it over to Wes.
Speaker 4:Pat, you talked about quite a bit about your history, which I find fascinating. You also mentioned the Hall of Fame. You're also a Hall of Fame member. Talk to us a little bit about that. You also mentioned the Hall of Fame. You're also a Hall of Fame member.
Speaker 6:Talk to us a little bit about that, would you please? Sure, well, I'm very, very humbled to be in the Hall of Fame. But you know, as I said when I accepted it, it's really not me, it's the Tow Trucks for Tots group, it's all of us, because without them I couldn't have done any of it. You know, it would have been very hard to put together and I've got a lot of people that put a lot into Tow Trucks for Tots and made it as successful as it is, and that's why I was put into the Hall of Famous for Tow Trucks for Tots. But, like I said, it's not just me, it's my whole entire group, you know.
Speaker 4:They're all great people and they help out immensely. That's very humble. You recognize everybody else, but it was your vision that made it happen. This happens you say the second Sunday in November every year in Joliet, yes, which is near the worldwide headquarters, still correct.
Speaker 6:Yes, correct.
Speaker 4:Okay, so talk to us a little bit about what's going on nowadays with Landau.
Speaker 6:Yeah, certainly, of course. After I sold worldwide, I stayed on for several years to work with Joe Pritchard and his group and a couple of years back I guess it's been three years ago now Gary Dwell Cotty from Landau which he ran the sales department at Landau and then was an outside salesperson at Landau called me and told me he was going to retire and asked me if I'd be interested in going to work for Landau. And I told him no, I've always sold tow trucks. My plan is to retire here at Worldwide. You know, I wasn't ready when I sold the business to retire, because I enjoy working, I enjoy the towing industry, I love being out there and working with trucks and trailers, and I just wasn't ready to retire. And so Gary asked me if I'd be interested in coming to work for them and I said no, I sell tow trucks, that's what I do. I said I sell trailers too, but you know, my main business is tow trucks. And I said I sell tow trucks, that's what I do. I said I sell trailers too, but you know, my main business is tow trucks. And I said I sell tow trucks. And he said well, you know, I'm not ready to tire yet, but he says you need to start thinking about it. And he said it would be a good move for you to do if you, if to let worldwide you know the new owners take over and you would kind of move in a sideways position and still be able to help them. You would still be their rep for Worldwide's rep for Landau Trailers, and so you'd still be involved with Worldwide.
Speaker 6:The more I thought about that, I thought wow, that is a great move. It's an opportunity to let the new owners of Worldwide run Worldwide and it's a great opportunity for me to move sideways. I'm not in competition with them because I wouldn't want to do that. You know, they had bought my company and I feel that it wouldn't be fair for me to go into competition with them, and so I ended up.
Speaker 6:I talked to the Pritchard family and told them what had happened, that Landau had offered me this position, and I said you know I don't want to leave without their blessing. And so they said we'd like to keep you, but if you'd like to do that, that that would be fine, you know. And so I took the position with Landau and love it. You know I have several states that I, that I represent and you know I work with a lot of towing distributors. You know of course Zips and Purpose and Worldwide and and then a lot of trailer dealers like Midwest Diesel and MidState Utility and also a new one, the Jackson Group out in Wyoming and Montana, which is a Peterbilt dealer. So I get to go to some neat places and visit some great people and I'm still involved with the towing industry. So it works out good.
Speaker 4:Well, boy, that's good to hear and I'm very thankful for it. That's so well for you. So you plan on staying on with them for a while.
Speaker 6:Yes, I'll plan on retiring. I'm 63. So I'm planning on staying there for at least seven years, you know. And then you know I'll retire from Landahl. And Landahl does have some new products that they came out with on their 400 series, which is their slide axle.
Speaker 6:It's only available on the 50-foot CA trailer now and this fall will be available on the 53-foot 440, but they have a 10-1 spread axle. It's kind of neat because it's a sliding axle trailer tandem and then you can use it as a tandem and slide the axles together as a tandem, or you can separate them apart and they're 10 foot 1 inch. So on your tandems, of course you know when it's a tandem that you're allowed 34 on the rears. When you spread that apart, it has to be than more than 10 foot. So it's 10 foot one inch and you can put 40,000 pounds on the rears, and so you can use it as a 10-1 spread or as a tandem, your choice, which is, which is kind of nice and that will be available on a 53 footer this fall wow, that is nice.
Speaker 4:What else is new?
Speaker 6:yep, they've got. So they came out with an expandable trailer too, and the expandable trailer is a 53-foot trailer and it expands 8 foot, so it goes to 61 foot. And the nice thing about a Landau trailer well, all our Landau trailers you can get hot-dip galvanized so they don't rust in the rust belt areas. But our expandable trailer, where it expands, it's a box beam, so you can load our box beam. A lot of our other manufacturers out there they use a ramp to get to what they call the back porch, which is the back part of the trailer. So they use a ramp to get to that back porch, and that ramp is only to be driven across, it's not to be loaded.
Speaker 6:Where our extension can be loaded, Matter of fact, we even put D-rings on our extension to tie down on. And so the nice thing about that being able to load that area is that if you've got to get something closer to the front of the trailer to put more weight on the tractor, you can do that. With our competitors you can't do that, and then, of course, most of their extensions are only 5 foot. Ours is 61 foot, Ours is 8 foot and so it's 3 foot longer, so it makes it a lot better.
Speaker 4:Wow, landau's always on the move to make things better, aren't they?
Speaker 6:They are, they are, and I always compare Don Landau and Bill Bottoms. They're both just amazing engineers at laying out factories and, you know, building new buildings. They're both two peas in a pod. And you know, anybody ever wants to get out there to Landau Factory for a tour? You know, please let me know. We'll organize a tour for them and get them out there and let them see what we're doing. And if you guys would like to come out, we'd love to have you. We'll maybe do a podcast from there.
Speaker 4:For sure. Yeah, we definitely like that. Maybe we need to plan that. How can folks get in touch with you?
Speaker 6:They can email me at pat P-A-T period Weiner W-I-N-E-R at landolcom, l-a-n-d-o-l-lcom, or they can call me on my cell at 630-878-9837.
Speaker 4:So if our listeners need more information from Pat, who is a wealth of knowledge, as he's proved through this podcast, don't hesitate to reach out to him. I've known him for decades, a great, humble gentleman, one of the many in this industry, but definitely stands amongst himself. So don't forget to reach out to him with questions. Tell him you got his information on the podcast and, pat, I definitely appreciate all the information today. Anything you'd like to say in closing?
Speaker 6:Yeah, I'd like to tell you guys, wes and April, thank you very much for having me. This has been great. I sure appreciate it and I'm very humbled that you asked me to be here. So thank you very much, and thank you very much to your listeners.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you, pat, we'll look forward to having you back on. There you have it folks.
Speaker 1:Another great episode from the American Toeing Recovery Institute podcast. See you next time.