American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
A Reminder of What a Great Company Cardinal Towing Is
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In case you missed it.......A bold merger sets a new standard for towing safety, training, and career growth. We bring together Cardinal Legacy Towing Group and the American Towing and Recovery Institute to create the American Towing and Recovery Training Division, headquartered in St. Louis with a permanent training facility on the way. From light-duty recoveries to EV incidents and fire and rescue coordination, we map out a practical plan to raise skills while protecting the people who step onto the shoulder every day.
Curtis Barks joins us to share how consolidation can empower small operators without erasing local identity. We dig into real numbers—pay bumps around 18 to 21 percent, life and health insurance, dental and vision coverage, and 401(k) matches—and why scale helps beat soaring insurance costs. The conversation spans St. Louis, South Florida, and Kansas City, showing how shared dispatch, group buying, and open training days create a network where you can call for help, trade knowledge, and go home safe.
Safety is the throughline. We talk about the move over mission, first-responder realities, and partnerships with Backstoppers and Guns & Hoses that support families and address trauma. Then we look ahead: a 10-acre campus designed for water scenarios, advanced recoveries, and comprehensive pathways for new entrants, veterans, and experienced hands who want to lead. With mentors like JT Reeser and Wes Wilburn, we’re building a pipeline that treats towing as a skilled trade—respected, well paid, and ready for the next decade’s challenges.
If you care about professional training, fair pay, and getting every operator home at the end of the shift, this conversation is your roadmap. Subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review with the one scenario you want our training facility to simulate next. Your ideas will shape the curriculum we build together.
Big Merger Announcement
SPEAKER_01We appreciate the warm welcome as always and appreciate all your efforts for the podcast. Today's a very special podcast episode today, because of the announcement that we're going to make. We've kind of made it already, but this is the official announcement. April, I'm going to ask you to go ahead and make it for us, please.
SPEAKER_03We are very exciting here at Towing News Now to announce that Carnot Legacy Towing Group and the American Town Recovery Institute have merged together to create an industry leader and training towing companies. The Carnel Legacy Group and ATRI have announced a merger. We actually did this in Florida and it's been a work in progress and everything poured together. We are partnering with JP Reeser of AA Towing, who has taken significantly in the classroom and hands-on, along with Wes and the ATRI training team for the past two years, and lead the charge with Wes Wilburn, continuing to lend his expertise to guide the next generation.
Curtis Barks’ Origin Story
SPEAKER_01The combined entity will remain the American Towing and Recovery Training Division and will be headquartered in St. Louis, where there will also be a permanent training facility established. The ATR training division will leverage the strength of both companies, expand training in the towing industry, including fire and rescue, accelerated and innovative techniques, and offer a larger market span for the towing industry across the globe. With that being said, I'm super excited about this. Well, I guess present himself to some and introduce himself to others. Curtis Bark, would you give a brief introduction of yourself to our listeners, please?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, absolutely. Good uh good day, and hope everyone's having a great day out there and all the listeners. It's uh awesome to be a part of something so great and so amazing, and it comes from uh great people like you listening to this podcast that promote it and make things happen. So uh first off, thank you to everyone for your time. And we all have busy schedules, and it takes a lot to slow down, focus, and be a part of something great. But when you do, uh you can make something amazing, and that's kind of what started with uh with my companies uh just over two decades ago, um, back in 2000, uh getting started, it uh was difficult. Starting to make a difference in the industry was something that was uh a pipe dream, and now it's something that's reality. So I'm really looking forward to making a difference in the uh industry and um making it safer and better for everyone involved and also for uh my kids and their kids.
SPEAKER_01It's great that you have that vision. Tell us how you originally got into the automotive repair industry.
SPEAKER_05Well, I started back in high school, started working for Sears Automotive, which uh dates me a little bit because they're no longer around. Right. Um but uh it was just a sales type job, and uh I realized I could probably do this stuff on my own. So I went into business for myself. It was unsuccessful, um, so I had to restart and um restarted again in 2001 uh with the help of my father, and uh we kind of went out of full steam. We hit the automotive collision and automotive repair side for about a decade and then got into towing about 2012, 2013, and uh never looked back.
Consolidation Strategy And Markets
SPEAKER_01Boy, that's a fact. Um, when you got involved with towing, you got very serious with the St. Louis, Missouri market.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we really wanted to make a difference. You know, it was just uh there's a lot of tow companies out there that are small that need to be able to be heard, and I feel like that uh we could possibly make that happen by growing and giving them the right training and doing the right structure and discipline. Everything takes training and discipline to be successful, and I think that we can provide that, and and I'm looking forward to it for many years.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. The things that attracted me to this uh this opportunity was the fact that you're gonna keep the ATRI training available to people, whether they're part of your network or not. You're what they call a consolidator, and you consolidate many companies in that St. Louis market and beyond that. Let's talk about that a little bit. You have A to B towing. And then A to B towing, Bowling Services, A towing, uh Cardinal, Crash Towing, Crash City, uh, Bald Eagle, Lasers, which are which the Bald Eagle and A lasers are steps in the different markets, correct?
SPEAKER_05They are. So Bald Eagle is in the South Florida market in Naples, and then Lasers is one of our first of many uh acquisitions in the Kansas City market. Uh we are actively pursuing that market very heavily, and we are still pursuing the St. Louis market with uh with 13 companies together as one, uh, we believe that we could make a collective difference, and that's what we're working to do.
SPEAKER_01And it and it and it shows from the results you already achieved. One of the things that it it appears to me is you're really concerned about different employees at different levels in the operation. Talk about that a little bit now. What things that by working together you're doing to make folks' lives better.
People-First Culture And Safety
SPEAKER_05The biggest thing is we we bonus every level of the company. So it doesn't matter if you're sweeping floors, cleaning urinals, or you're flipping heavy-duty trucks over, tractors and trailers, or you're hauling equipment, um, whatever you're doing in the industry and you work for us, we're gonna bonus you based off success, based off of how you did it right. And it it's this is not all about the bottom line in our industry. It's about making the bottom line better by having successful people and safe jobs. And safety is key, and we've got to make a difference in this industry. The move over movement is huge, and we've just got to push it. Our guys are first responders just like the policemen and firemen, and I support them. I serve on the board of backstoppers and the board of guns and hoses and uh a number of smaller boards that all they do is protect first responders. And there's no reason why we can't do that for our local tow drivers. Um even across the Midwest, it's being a big push and um something that we're really proud of. Just alone, the backstoppers takes care of 96 families. Everything from the smallest bills to all the education and and the medical bills and the housing, all that is paid for for eternity for folks that die in the line of duty. Um we we want to do more. We want to do more for the folks that are in the line of duty that are struggling to make the bills, make the men's eat, ends meet. Sorry. Um so it's really important that whatever we do, we push training and safety. And in by doing that and collectively taking a small company and merging with a big company, we we're not a big corporation, but we're a collaboration of great people.
SPEAKER_01And this consolidation has worked very successfully in many different industries, and it's definitely taking hold in the towing industry. Personally, I see it as the future of the industry, and I've made that very clear to many people that have to ask me about that. One of the things is efficiency of scales. Night dispatching, buying tires and insurance together. There aren't there many opportunities to save m save money and be more efficient?
SPEAKER_05Yes, especially with the cost of insurance going through the roof. I mean, you've got competitors, insurance companies, I don't want to mention their names, that are charging tens of thousands of dollars for one truck. You know, when when you can go in and you can do these consolidated efforts um where you become part of a captive, you can then create the own the insurance you need if we can be insured properly and be able to afford it. The idea that insurance is putting small companies out of business is horrible. And we've got to fight that and we combat that. And by offering benefits to our team members, life insurance, health insurance, dental, vision, 401ks, uh matches at 6%, things that are unheard of in some southern states, we are gonna make a huge impact in this industry, and people are gonna respect the tow driver for the way that they deserve to be respected.
Insurance, Benefits, And Scale
SPEAKER_01You know, that's always been my uh goal is to get the tow driver on the street the respect they deserve. And one of the things that you touch on there is a and a lot of times the one and two truck operation and the small family operation really hasn't created a business that's good for the family. What they've created is a job and not a very good one that causes sleep deprivation and whatnot as they try to do it all themselves. And I think that's one of the great things about what you folks are doing and bringing people together. We got to take a quick break, but after the break, can we talk about some of the joint efforts like that as well?
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. Now I appreciate the time.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. We'll be right back, listeners.
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Small Operators’ Challenges
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Plans To Collaborate Post-Break
SPEAKER_03Welcome back to Towing News Now with our great guest, Kurt Barks, with the Cardinal Legacy Group. Um, we just announced at the top of the show that we uh merged together. We're one team now and we're happy to be on this team. In the last segment, Kurt, you talked about a group called Backstoppers, and I think that you said this this um entity supports 96 families. I would love to hear some more about that.
Return And Community Support
SPEAKER_05Sure, absolutely. So the the best thing about backstoppers is it's a group that was designed, it's been around for 50 plus years, and it is it's designed for helping our first responders' families. So if you are killed in line of duty, a backstopper steps in in the St. Louis area and takes care of all of the family's bills, housing bills, medical bills, uh, schooling for eternity.
SPEAKER_03That's amazing. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so if you're in if you die in a line of duty, your spouse is taken care of and your kids forever.
SPEAKER_03And how is and how is this supported? What um what what undertakings do you do to support this?
Break And Sponsor Messages
Backstoppers And Guns & Hoses
SPEAKER_05So obviously a lot of charity events. We do a lot of charity golf tournaments. We have one that just was happening last week on Monday. Um, we have a lot of events that are going on throughout the year. It just takes a huge community effort to push. We I serve on the board of what they call guns and hoses, and we donate one million dollars and have donated one million dollars every Thanksgiving for the past four years, and we'll continue to do so for many years to come just off of the events that we put on. And it's tremendous to see the support. St. Louis is so behind it. It's something that's incredible for the future of law enforcement and first responders, and it's something I want to do for the towing industry, and it's one of the reasons why we're doing what we're doing with the safety. It's our first step into making a backstopper's unit for the drivers that protect us, also.
SPEAKER_01Wow, that's awesome. That really is awesome.
SPEAKER_05It's just to tell you we team up with a team called Responder Rescue, and that takes care of the hero network, the the folks that maybe have PTSD from dealing with burn fire victims and crashes and and things like that, and that is so important also. And and those are the kind of things that I would love to be a part of. And you know, Pat Burns, the founder of Responder Rescue, is a dear friend of mine. I golf with them on a regular basis just to catch up, and we raise money and we raise awareness, and we're gonna make a difference.
SPEAKER_03That kind of just goes and that kind of just goes to show you Kara was gonna say that the most people leave their job, they clock out, they go home, and then they have their home life. But sometimes you can't leave your job if you've done something like that, if you've dealt with a burn victim, or let's say you're a police officer and it's a homicide, you don't just get to go home from that. That that comes home with you.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and what people don't remember is when you're a police officer, you could go from a three-car crash, then our tow truck drivers are there, and we're dealing with pulling bodies out and different things, extractions, to where the next thing is a domestic violence call.
SPEAKER_03Yes, which is the most which is one of the most dangerous situations a police officer can get into.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and then you go from there to a parking ticket. So all that happens in one hour.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And imagine taking your emotions and your cortisone levels are flying, and you've got this going and that going, and you're supposed to be the mediator, you know, being a law enforcement or first responder, you've got to deal with the people in their worst of worst times. Yeah. And that's a lot sometimes, and people just don't remember that, and they just don't give people grace. They don't. You've got to give people grace sometimes. You're correct.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome with your community involvement there at St. Louis, but your organization is way bigger than St. Louis. Now you've gone west to Kansas and south to South Florida. Tell us a little bit about those operations.
Trauma, Grace, And First Responders
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so the goal is to expand across Midwest and then go south. Um the direction of South, we'll talk about that. Bald Eagle is a great addition. Smaller company only had six trucks. Uh now we're at 11 trucks. Uh we remodeled the office, remodeled the staff by giving them things that they didn't have before, such as benefits and health benefits, and dental and vision, and and life insurance. They didn't have life insurance, and so we we went in and bought them all that. We gave them all the tool belt they need to be successful in life. And that's what I love about what we can do. So we're doing that at Bald Eagle. We are looking for more acquisition in South Florida as we grow. But in the meantime, we've grown to Kansas City. And by taking on the Lasers Group, uh, was a sister company to Bolin Services. Very phenomenal company, both phenomenal people that were in charge, and they're they're dear friends of mine. And they said, Look, Kurt, we can't do what you're doing. Please take our company to the next level. And we did, and we are.
SPEAKER_03You said in the last segment also that it's not about the bottom line, it's about safety, which I I agree with that. But you have considered the bottom line for any of these companies that you've taken over, you've increased the bottom line of almost every employee that um is under that umbrella. And that's a that that is something to think about also.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you think about what people were making before and what they're making now with us, and they they make about 18% more. So they all got 18 to 21% pay increases by us coming on board.
SPEAKER_03And if you consider the insurance and what maybe they may have had insurance before, but it might not have covered everything, but now it's better insurance, less less less out-of-pocket money, too.
Expanding In Florida And Kansas City
SPEAKER_05Oh, it's a ton of money savings for these folks. You know, offering the HSAs and the FSAs and and just the options that small companies can't do, that us being 300 plus team members, we we get great buying power, great buying rates. So we don't have to charge more, we don't have to take advantage of people to win because we just simply own it. We we do the right thing from the beginning, and it gives us all these open windows and new doors that there can be opened up just to show people how great we can be by by doing what they normally did. So it's really cool. It's just imagine doing your job every day, and all of a sudden somebody walks in and goes, Don't change a thing, but here's a nice pay increase. And by the way, you're doing a phenomenal job. Here's people that work underneath you now, and here's people that work with you. And here's a sister company that if you get stuck in a ditch and you don't know who to call, you can call them for help. You call them for advice, and you can get pulled out of that situation by your own team members instead of a competitor, which which in our industry a lot of times competitors do help each other, but more than likely they won't. So we bridge that gap. Get rid of that gap of communication.
Pay Raises And Real Benefits
SPEAKER_01Which I want to say that one of the things that attracted me to Cardinal Legacy Towing Group was their camaraderie and willing to work with other companies. You know, examples of training that I was doing before we we merged. They've been host you guys have been hosting and done an excellent job welcoming in the towing community, you know, giving me a place to produce a great class. So that's one of the things I liked how you guys have always been willing to work with other tow companies. And we love it. And it shows, it's just not words. One other comment I want to say about Cardinal, if I could, is it's giving me other opportunities as well. We're gonna I'm gonna stay involved with training with JT and some other instructors we're bringing on board. But I'm also gonna be involved in uh acquisitions and helping with that, and that's a an opportunity of growth for me, so I'm extremely ex uh thankful. I think it's an example of you you folks got a lot going on, and there's a lot of places people can work within your system. I know for me it's super exciting at this age in my life to be involved in something new like this, so I'm just thankful to be on board with this opportunity.
SPEAKER_05Well, and I think what you'll see, Wass, is is the opportunity has always been there. You just didn't have the right group of people together to make it happen. So now that we've got that great group of people, we're it's business as usual, but we got to do it together, you know, and so it's not harder, it's just smarter. So when we work smarter and not harder, we become more efficient, more collaborated as a team, and then consolidation acquisitions, they make sense. And we can go in and we we we're looking for those companies that maybe don't have the the next step set up, they don't have the uh passing the torch to a child because maybe they don't have a family. Um, so now we can carry their legacy on because we keep all the names, keep them solid in place, and we just make them better.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you got proven track record of that. You absolutely do. I know the group of talent you attract in St. Louis is awesome. I want to take give a moment a moment, talk about JT Rezner for a second. He's been an uh involved in your organization very heavily, but also been excellent with the training. I'm very excited he's gonna help take things over as we work towards this goal of a permanent training facility.
Camaraderie And Shared Know-How
SPEAKER_05Yeah, JT is amazing, and he is by far one of the best tow drivers, tow tow gentlemen I've ever met in my life. And I learn from him on a daily basis. You know, I I'll never be the one that says I know it all. I just want to say I want to be in a room with smarter people than me, and we are. And um that's one of the things with this podcast. If we can get people to interact with us and call in or make make notes or send Messages, let's answer their questions, let's help do things that could be collaboratively great for all of us. Um, I would encourage people if you are listening to this and you want to get involved, message us. You know, let's go, let's get to the next level, let's make something amazing happen. And it takes great people like JT Reeser to make that happen. And he's he's a voice that if you haven't met him or you haven't talked to him, heard him train, you you should, because he he is by far the best.
SPEAKER_01He is, yeah, absolutely, and he's he's the future of training in this industry in my eyes.
SPEAKER_03And also I want to say about JT Reeser, he's to me he's he's excellent in his field, but he's just one of the people when he's there. He he is the leader, he's the leader, but he's also the one that's in the team, not just the one that's the head of it.
SPEAKER_01He ain't the superstar. He's he's the leader of the team, but he ain't the superstar.
SPEAKER_03But he still leads it, and people have a tendency to want to follow him. And that's just that's a natural thing. That's not something that you can really learn how to do. It's sort of something that you have that you just kind of nurture it in yourself. And he just seems to have those tendencies.
SPEAKER_01So the permanent training facility, we're working on something west of St. Louis.
SPEAKER_05It's working on a 10-acre facility to be able to do water extractions, do everything we can do in in in the need of towing, you know, getting it set up. So we're we need input. You know, what what what are some instances where our tow drivers were stuck in a ditch that they needed help where they needed advice or something like that? You know, what can we do to promote then training so we could train for the right stuff because our facility is gonna be second to none. And we will have the best training in the entire United States.
Training Leadership And Roles
SPEAKER_01And we're not only gonna do the kind of training that we offer now, which is really more continuing education, we're gonna do bona fide training where we can bring somebody in, maybe just out of the army, maybe just out of whatever, trade school, whatever, but looking for a career, be able to bring them in and offer them what the truck driving industry offers is comprehensive training from A to Z, so they can get themselves a j a job either in our network or some another network.
SPEAKER_05You know, and that Wesley, you hit it right on the head, is is the jobs and the training of the skilled labor is the future. Those those are the traits of the future. Those jobs have to exist for us to win as a society.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_05You know, it doesn't, we don't need any more guys and gals behind the computer sitting at a desk. We we need guys and gals out there, and I say gals, so important to know that I have a lot of lady tow drivers, and it's it's something that, you know, it this is not a uh a man's game. This is a this is a boys girls game world. Let's go to work, guys and gals. Let's all do it together, you know. Call to action, let's get everyone off our butts. Show me the talent that you got and let's put it to work.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and absolutely it's a male-female environment I've noticed at your companies. And one of the things I've always appreciated is you had proper uniforms for everybody. Because that can be a challenge sometimes, but everybody has a proper uniform where they look professional and can look neat.
SPEAKER_05Right. So I that's you gotta have that. Everything it starts with your appearance.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
Building A 10-Acre Training Facility
SPEAKER_05You know, how you do something is how you do everything. You know, and if you show up on time, you show up looking the part, then you got the talent to back it up, everybody's safe. Everybody wins.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_05And we all get off the road safe that night or that day.
SPEAKER_01And at the end of the day, that's what really matters, isn't it?
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. We all want to get home to our families.
SPEAKER_01Get home to the ones that love us. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, Curtis, I want to I thank you for giving us some time for some interview this interview. We definitely want to have you back. What closing comments can you share with us?
SPEAKER_05Well, I think the biggest thing to close on is moving forward. What can you do to help? What can you do to be a part of things in the future? What what do you want to do? Do you want to sit back and listen to this podcast and take it in and do nothing? Or do you want to be a part of it? And I challenge everyone to be a part of it. I challenge everyone to get off our butts, put our talents to work, let's put the right skill in the right places, let's make sure we're safe, and let's make a difference in this industry. Let's make a difference in this world. And dang it, every single day we wake up, it's the next opportunity to win. So pull it together. Let's work hard, let's work good together, and let's stay safe and let's make towing great again.
SPEAKER_01God bless America. I wish I could play the Star Spangled Banner right now.
SPEAKER_03Or at least a little bit of lead green greenwood in the background. Something.
SPEAKER_01I love that. Thank you, Curtis. Excellent interview. We'll have we'll have you back soon, okay? Sounds good, guys. Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you.