Tow Professional Podcast
Tow Professional Podcast
From Mud Puddles To Rotators: Service, Faith, And Leadership In Towing
A tow operator flagged down on I‑10. A man trapped under a semi. A rotator lifts, the team coordinates with fire and EMS, and a life is moved toward safety. That’s where our conversation with Hall of Famer Kevin Goodyear begins—not with chrome and horsepower, but with service, training, and calm decisions when seconds matter.
We trace Kevin’s journey from riding in tow trucks as a kid to leading a multi-faceted operation built on faith, grit, and community. He shares the mechanics and mindset behind a 500,000‑pound dragline recovery that ran through the night: deadman anchors, D8 bulldozers, thirty-eight lines, and five heavy wreckers working in sync. It’s applied physics under floodlights, where load transfer and line angles decide whether a plan succeeds. Along the way, Kevin explains how cross-training with fire departments, understanding PTSD, and building a culture of purpose keep teams ready for the hardest calls.
Beyond the roadside, we dig into the policies that shape daily work. Kevin makes a compelling case for state towing associations as the thin line protecting lien laws, rotation fairness, lighting standards, and move-over enforcement. He’s raising the next generation inside his own company—operations, marketing, and legislative advocacy—and tapping national 20 groups to avoid tunnel vision. We also talk vendor partnerships and why reliable support after the sale matters as much as a spec sheet. The through line is unity: compete in business, collaborate in the halls of advocacy, and present towing as the professional emergency service it is.
If you care about safety, professionalism, and the future of the towing and recovery industry, this conversation will give you tools, stories, and a clear direction. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—what’s one standard we should all raise next?
Welcome, one and all. Darren Weaver with Toad Professional On the Go Podcast. We are here, you are there, and this is the Toad Professional Podcast. Remember, this is your podcast for the pros that are on the go with the need to know. It's truly the voice of the towing and recovery industry. And uh let me tell you, listeners, this is going to be a great one. We've got uh one of our uh industry greats in here, I'll say, uh Kevin Goodyear of Goodyear Towing. He's a Hall of Fame member from Dothan, Alabama, runs a tremendous outfit. And uh let me tell you, just a guy I've known since I've been in the industry that's always been there. I've always seen him putting a handout to help others up. And uh so uh a man's man, as we must say. So uh Kevin, glad to have you here today, sir. Welcome.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_05:Man, uh look when we start this out, I wanted uh I know a little bit of the background, but I'd I'd love for our listeners to know more. So I want wanted you to give them a little bit of your background, how um, a little bit about yourself, how you got into the industry and got started in towing.
SPEAKER_03:Oh well, I mean, I just I basically grew up in it, Darren. Um it's kind of hard for me to uh to uh tell somebody, you know, how much experience do you got? I've been in it my whole life. But uh I uh I was riding around in in tow trucks with my dad back, you know, when I was two or three years old. You know, been in and around tow trucks my entire life. Um, you know, and so uh got just basically a lifetime of history with the with the with the tow business, you know.
SPEAKER_05:That that stuff gets in your veins, man. It's the it's the stuff that fuels you. And when you, as they say, when you do what you love, you don't work a day in your life. That's right. Yeah. Um, well, let me ask you this. I I like I said, I've I've known you for 15 years since I've been in the market. Um, you were one of the the first advertisers that that jumped in with me to help me get my start and said I'll help you in any way I can. And uh you've always had a uh I've always thought a very humble uh spirit, but uh excitement about you about getting out there and telling other folks about what you do and and helping them with solutions. And you've always had that heart to help others in the trenches. So tell us, Kim, where does that come from uh and and how's your how's your disposition in business um benefited you in the long run?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I believe that a lot of that comes from honestly from seeing you know, seeing my dad serve the public in the manner that he served them when he when he worked at the Ford Dealership driving the river. And um it was always a public service thing. I mean, back then in a rural part of the country, you know, he uh he was many times the jaws of life, you know. The the uh the state troopers would call and say, hey Wesh, you know, we got we got this person trapped in a vehicle, we need some hell, can you get out here real quick? And that stuff, you know, that stuff went on on a weekly basis. So I was raised in that. And um so I just grew to love serving the public. And um, you know, later on, you know, when when things kind of changed a little bit, and then I wound up having to kind of get into the business by myself, then that was a whole nother struggle because I'm you know, really just started with nothing. I mean nothing. And um I rem you know remember laying out the mud bubble behind my trailer house back in the day, putting a transmission in an old 60-something model recorder where I could work the next day. And you know, I can just go on stories like that all day long. But when you ask about the humble part of it, I I try my best to be to downplay success. But you know, because at the end of the day, I gotta tell you, brother, it ain't my success anyway. It's God's moving in my in my life me to use what he's given me to serve him, and that's really what it is. And so so I don't I don't own nothing. I you know, I I've I've I've got stuff that's put in my put in my possession to serve God with, and that's that's just the truth. Uh that's the only way I don't describe it, Aaron.
SPEAKER_05:Man, I I love that. And I I knew that about you, and I I wanted our listeners to hear that because uh man, I tell you, you see it in many cases. It's uh when you see somebody that's successful, a lot of times that's the man they got in the in the passenger seat that's helping them along the way, that's helping carry the chains. Um and uh it it it it is that being humble that I think that makes you so uh reachable in the industry and and accessible for others to reach out to you and and be able to ask those questions and and not feel like they're uh they're they're putting you out of place. So, man, I love that. Well, look, let's do this real quick. We're gonna take a quick commercial break. And listeners, when we come back and viewers, we'll have more from Kevin Goodyear of Goodyear Towing. Uh stay there, we'll be right back.
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SPEAKER_04:VRAA is the national association representing the U.S. towing and recovery industry. We act as the voice of America's towing industry by offering representation, education, and leadership at the federal level. Much of our focus is on representing the interest of the towing and recovery industry on Capitol Hill, including promoting positive legislation and opposing potentially negative legislation. TRAA is the industry's watchdog on Capitol Hill. There are so many compelling reasons to be a TRAA member that besides being the right thing to do, membership gives you exclusive member benefits worth thousands of dollars a year, including exclusive TRAA member discounts from our featured partners, such as Coast of Fuel Cards, TV Clever App, Toba, Recmaster, Towser, Hobbs Alert, Z We Buy Key Fobs, Auto Data Direct, and Fleet Compliance Solutions. Free advertising in our national membership directory and online directory, email updates, invitations to exclusive events and scholarship access. But best of all, you are pouring back into the industry to assure we together make it stronger for generations to come. A special thank you to our partner, Gay Rochester of INA Toey, for her continued ongoing support service to TRAA and her commitment to safety for our industry with one over, lose none. Become a National Association member today at TRAAOnline.com.
SPEAKER_05:Welcome back. You're listening to Tow Professional Podcast. Every week we do our best to bring you a great guest like Kevin Goodyear of Goodyear Towing to the industry and industry information. We want to make sure that you download and listen. So we're available on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcast. So coming back, Kevin, um, I wanted to ask this um for our listeners. The the other week, your tow professionals uh weren't on rotation. Uh they were out on I-10 and came up uh on a uh a very bad incident and were flagged down uh by one of the the road rangers there to ex to uh assist in a major extraction. Um they performed the the uh assist with a heavy lift rescue and went about their way and allowed the uh rotation record company to to finish the cleanup. But would you tell man it was an unbelievable assist they did? So would you tell us about uh those men and women uh that that were on that wreck and the uh everyday heroes that worked for you?
SPEAKER_03:That was an incident on I-10 where um one of our operators was out out working out working on a call and he finished up and as long as we're back in the yard, and a road ranger flagged him down and told him they had a man trapped under a semi and the fire department needed assistance. So um they uh he he backed up the ramp, got set up, they took the rotator and raised the back of the trailer where they could get the man out and uh flew him off to a to area hospital.
unknown:So that one's not open.
SPEAKER_05:Man, that's that's unbelievable. And I mean that's that's something that your your men and women have towing there are are running into on a what monthly, yearly basis.
SPEAKER_03:We encounter situations like that a few times a year. Um, where um we had one in Troy that was featured in another publication, yeah. Where uh it's been about a year ago where fire department and paramedics have worked for several hours trying to treat a man from the semi-cab, and and we assisted them and and and and and they got him out and got him flown to the hospital. He survived.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, praise God. That is that's something else. Well, I mean, that that brings us around to our next question. I mean, a lot of people in the general public don't understand it, but in this market we do. I mean, we you you gentlemen are you men and women in the industry are first responders. Um, you're a lot of times you're there right as the accident goes off, a lot of times from patrolling the highways and seeing it, or you're there only minutes after it's happened. So uh I know that puts your your team in front of some heartbreak from times to times, like you said, but how does a a toe on, or how do you recommend that a toe on her address the things that a lot of men don't want to talk about, which is is mental health on that side of tow?
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, and that's an area of where you know we don't really have necessarily a professional solution, but you know, we we do our best to make sure our people are trained properly, that they understand what's going on, they understand what they're dealing with, and that they understand, you know, the the impact of post-traumatic stress syndrome, that kind of stuff, and and and you know, we we try to cross-train with fire departments and and that kind of stuff to where we you know we all feel like a team and a unit, and where they feel like they're out there, you know, whatever they're doing, they're doing good for the community. You know, sometimes we can't control the outcome, right? And that that there's nothing we can do about that, but we can be there helping, you know, to promote a positive outcome if possible.
SPEAKER_05:Amen. Yeah, and I think that's the key. Well said, well said, Kevin. Well, let me ask you this. You I I know of I know of one that we covered in the magazine that was a challenging recovery. Um, would you tell our listeners about one of your most challenging recoveries that you guys have done since you've been in?
SPEAKER_03:I would, you know, I would say, you know, your your average mundane tractor trailer wreck, and I don't mean to make light of that, there are some complicated ones, but that's just an everyday thing that happens here.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, they've already worked a couple this morning, you know. I just noticed a call came in for another one a few minutes ago. And but the one you're speaking of was 500,000 pound drag line that fell off of a loading shelf down in Florida. And I don't mean the panhandle, it was down in north central area.
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And um we were contacted by Dennis's garage, which is a good friend of mine out of Jasper, Florida, and he said, brother, I need some help here. Just you know, I I this is this is gonna be a problem. I gotta have some help. So we looked it over, loaded up what we felt we needed, and went down to assist him. Um, had a couple of D8 bulldozers brought in out of Tampa and delivered to the job. And we might have having 38 lines on that job. And I Darren, I don't, I believe it was five heavy wreckers. Then we used like a 25-ton for something over there, you know, and then two skid steers, two winch boxes. And and uh wound up being a long, long job, and we started it about the middle of the day and finished it up the next morning, and I mean literally never stopped. But we but we but we got it recovered and it it it uh you know it cranked and went under its own power the next day.
SPEAKER_05:Man, that's fantastic. And uh man, I'm gonna tell you, if if you think you don't have to have a lot of sense to do this typework, all you had to do was just look at uh one of those pictures, man. There was more math in those pictures from all those cables running.
SPEAKER_03:Um so you you really needed to have a good grasp of uh of your math class in the in the third grade because when they talk about about bullies and physics and that kind of stuff, you know, that's all that is.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:A lot of it. A lot of it. I I'm not downplaying it, it's it's an advanced operation. But um, but uh, you know, in a situation like that, we're transferring most of the pool over to the dead men, you know, which is dead anchors, which would be the bulldozers, and and trying to transfer that weight where we can where we can where we can get the most out of those lines and pull the thing back to where it needs to be.
SPEAKER_07:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:If you're looking at picture, if you're looking at in your magazine, there's a picture in there, I believe, where you can you can see them, you can see a man with a pressure washer standing under that machine. That's how big that machine was.
SPEAKER_06:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:I thought people all over the country carried out jobs like that, but that was a big one.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, that was a tremendous job, and it wasn't a small shelf that it fell off. It had got itself in a bit of a predicament.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that that water there was 40 to 60 feet deep.
SPEAKER_05:So you knew you was gonna have to pack your lunch on that one, but uh it was it was it was a risky deal. Yeah, but that you know that separates that's a difference between people that get jobs done and and uh that don't is just going in there with expectations that we are gonna get it done. Uh it just might take us longer than we expected.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, a passion, man. I tell you, that's that's one thing, you know, having a passion for the work is is huge. If you don't, if you don't love this industry, you can't stay in it. It'll kill you. It will kill you, it will wipe you out. But if you love it, you'll feel like you never worked a day in your life.
SPEAKER_05:That's right. That's right. Well, you know, I I talked with somebody else and I said, you know, it's it's funny. Um, and I'm sure you've had it, the folks that pull up and they say, Man, must be nice. When they see the new truck roll in, they smile at you and say, must be nice. But they didn't see those nights when, like you said, you're laying in a mud puddle out by the trailer putting a transmission in a truck to make sure that you can fulfill all the promises you make.
SPEAKER_03:That's right. That's right. So I so I I live on that struggle. People ask me all the time, you know, I was I was out there last night working on a project that my son's working on out there on a 5,000 P Star International four-wheel drive to build an off-road record for him.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And I'm out there, you know, way after dark working on it with floodlights shining out there in the middle of the yard. And they're like, man, why are you putting that in the shop? And I'm like, dude, I'm used to working out in the out in the elements, I didn't think nothing about it, you know.
SPEAKER_05:That's right. Well, man, I you know, I built I built a classic car. My wife was talking about it the other night. She said, I remember when you used to leave work at lunch and you'd go over there and you'd spend 45 minutes laying on the shop floor that wasn't sealed right, that the water was leaching through just to work on the suspension on that car to get it tuned in on your lunch hour. Yeah. So yeah, people don't they don't they don't know about those long nights you make it takes to get there to the point.
SPEAKER_03:That's the thing that gets goes missing. That people don't, you know, when when you've worked hard and you have built over years, now Darren, I want to make sure I clarify this. How many times that I would apply for credit or do this or do that and get slapped in the face, get told no. Remember, I want one time I was I was very, very close to letting a guy become a partner with me, you know, and and I'm so glad I didn't do that from the start. And this was way back. And you know, I just decided the struggle was better, so I kept on struggling. And um I mean, we go when I when I'm talking about this, I'm talking about going back to the days of slings, yeah, toe slings and j hooks, you know, little four by four blunt to pick up the cars. I mean, it was it was a lot of a lot of work and a lot of effort, and it was a struggle. I mean, the money was tight. You know, I mean you hear these people running around all over the industry coming, I pay cash for this, I pay cash for that. Well, we didn't owe nobody a dime, but we didn't have nothing either.
SPEAKER_05:That's right.
unknown:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, yeah, I can beat my chest and we don't owe nobody nothing, buddy. It was a struggle. I mean, it was it was tough.
SPEAKER_05:Yep. Yeah. I've talked with vendors that said, you know, hey, it's it's funny. I've woke up before, crawled out of the car, went into the hotel, brushed my teeth, walked past somebody, and they said, You have a good night. And they've said, Oh yeah, Mena's beds sleep great. No, da. And they said, we've slapped the car in the parking lot to make it work. That's right. That's right. And people don't realize that's that's some of the things that small business owner trying to grow. And people see the new equipment and they think, oh, he's got a pocket full of money, he's got it made. Uh, but they don't realize it takes money to make money. And you gotta like down.
SPEAKER_03:I was down at that move over rally thing in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago. It's so funny because the you know, I hated even bringing that M100 over there, but the problem was West Passmore wanted me to bring it over there, and I wasn't gonna tell him no.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And and I took, you know, I made the 400-mile journey there and back to to take it. And uh, you know, but but but uh so there was a couple of comments, you know, I heard made about that, and he was all you know this and that. I said, he said, this is the man with the money over here. I said, No, that's the man with the credit. I don't know about the money now. We we got fairly good credit right now, but I'm not sure about the money.
SPEAKER_05:That's right. Oh, you uh you know, all it is is uh what what people think is is somebody trying to beat their chest is just a heart for service. It's just somebody with a heart for service wanting to be out there and and uh look good so that they can um make their customers look good while they're doing business for them.
SPEAKER_03:And if well I knew, man, I knew when when my parents closed that little garage up years ago, you know, that I either had to go up to the the Ford dealership and start turning ranches as a line mechanic, figure out a way I could go to college, which that wasn't gonna work out, or go over and start dumping fries at McDonald's. But something was gonna have to happen. And so I wound up just literally selling my personal car over a couple over, well, this happened on a Thursday and over the weekend by by Monday I had a wrecker and was back at work. And so I just started doing wrecker stuff because I really didn't care that much about the garage anyway. So so I just I enjoyed doing the record stuff. So that's just everybody told me, oh, you can't make it with that, there's no way because really in our area it was just a sideline anyway. Every gas station, every car dealership, everywhere you look, there was a record. Yeah, so it was more difficult back then. It was.
SPEAKER_05:Yep. Well, look, let's do this, Kevin. Let's take one more break for our uh for our sponsors. Uh, listeners and viewers, you hang in there one minute, and we'll be right back with more great information from Kevin Goodyear of Goodyear Towing. Hang in there.
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SPEAKER_05:All right, listeners, we are back with So Professional On the Go podcast. We again appreciate you listening. You have helped make us the number one podcast in the industry with over 23,000 listeners worldwide. And because of all of your uh emails and text and everything else, yes, we've decided to put My Face That's Made for Radio on a video and make this available to you as well. So you'll see us in the future out there with Tok Professional with this podcast where you can view it on YouTube. So it'll be coming up next week. Uh so welcome back. Uh Kevin, uh, we we were talking about some of your most challenging recoveries and and uh also about the the struggle it is to get to this level and and to uh to make your way through the business. Uh but my next question for you was I know you've been a part, as long as I know, I know you've been a part of the association, and I know you've been just very passionate about that. I mean, not only an active supporter, but uh at a lot of the community events, and it's as long as I can remember, and I know you drive two and sometimes as you say, four hours, you know, round trip, making sure you're at these meetings.
SPEAKER_03:So if you don't mind a three-hour trip for me to Birmingham, three hours one way.
SPEAKER_05:All right. So yeah, you're you're talking about guys, this that's a six-hour day that some of y'all work um just just in the car to get to an event that you might be there two more. So it's a it's a full eight hours after you've already been at work all day. Um, so tell tell our listeners and viewers why you feel it's so important to to participate in the association and for you to be there.
SPEAKER_03:Well, like, you know, last week I drove, I drove, I drove all the way to Clearwater for an event, you know, PWF. And uh, you know, to me, the state associations have very low participation. Uh you know, people don't understand the benefits of them. They don't, you know, they don't they don't realize what it does for them. And the state associations are our are our little are our little thin line between you know us really having issues with government regulation and everything and and us not, you know, and and so we need a strong body that lobbies, and I say lobbies, you know, we we gotta have somebody lobbying for us in Montgomery or Tallahassee, we have to have that. Right. And our our state associations are the kind of the basis for that. Where you know, where we we get together and we push things for the good of all. And uh ironically enough, even the guys that don't participate benefit. Yes, you know, and in a way it's kind of at our expense. I guess we should have a little heartburn of that in a way, but I don't. I just wish they would participate, pay their dues, you know, and promote the state association. Um uh do I, you know, am I always in agreement with everything? Are we always kosher? No, we're not, we're not gonna be, because we're people and we have a lot of different ideas. But at the end of the day, we have a common goal, a common vision. You know, we come from different parts of the state, so we're gonna have different ideas, different philosophies. And so if I don't go to those meetings and I don't engage, then my part of the state, you know, doesn't get represented.
SPEAKER_06:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:So I feel very, very, of course, I'm on the board at both associations there, and I I've got to be there, I feel like. But even if I were not on boards, I feel like I need to be there and I need to know what's going on in my in my business. Uh need to know what's coming down the pipe, know what we got going on in Tallahassee or Montgomery, and know what's up. And so many towers are just reactive.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:And you know, we need to become proactive. If we become proactive, we can get ahead of things before they become a problem. Because the whole time I've been in this, we've just had a big fire hose putting out problems.
SPEAKER_05:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:Instead of jumping ahead of them and and solving them before they become problems, you know.
SPEAKER_05:That's that's right. I I tell you, you know, one thing about the association, I'll mention some of the benefits, Kevin. You know, I've uh since I've been a publisher, I've carried my own insurance, and uh that insurance is very expensive. Um almost uh, I want to say it was twenty-six thousand dollars a year for my health insurance. Yeah, because of ATRA, they save me twelve thousand dollars on my health insurance. So that just that benefit alone, yeah, I mean, pays your fees a hundred, what's that, a thousand times more.
SPEAKER_03:Well, it does all the member benefits now, all that is worth loss of being in the in the association. But what I'm saying is that if we understand the big picture, yeah, if we understand it here in Alabama, if it wasn't for that state association, my goodness, you wouldn't even be able to sell an abandoned car.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That that's just the truth. And that's from where Glenn Hurst and them did years ago to make sure that you know we even had a lien law prior to Glenn Hurst and them getting in there and taking care of that. We didn't even have a lien law.
SPEAKER_06:That's correct.
SPEAKER_03:And so the association is huge when it comes to that. You know, it it it's it's um it's just a must. I mean, I I can't imagine if you know you want to be involved in your industry's you know, you want to be on the front line of your industry, you know. And I don't understand people not wanting to be on the front line of their industry. If you're not involved in those associations, you're just not on the front line of your industry. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, would wouldn't you say there's many times that you have either worked a job with another company or or been assisted by another company just by those relationships made at the association meetings?
SPEAKER_03:Brother, we we all, and I think they'll all agree with me, we swap work back and forth. We go do jobs for them, they go do jobs for us. Having that network of friends is is priceless. Yes, absolutely priceless. You know, I'm not going just name names, but I can call people up in the Birmingham area, right? And and and get assistance from them just in a blink of an eye without a question, they can do the same for me. And you know, uh we we help a lot of these guys out down along the beaches and all that kind of stuff. They need stuff. You know, we help each other. And uh, you know, we just have a unity when we're all in an association with each other and we all feel we're equal professionals.
SPEAKER_05:With it without a doubt, it's like the the one of the most challenging jobs you did. I mean, that was somebody else that was able to call you, and they still benefited from that job.
SPEAKER_03:We brought others in, you know, you know, I I I want to make it clear. Dennis Garage, Parkway Record out of Tallahassee, us uh Tri County Tri-County out of uh Chieflin over there. And and I hope I'm not missing anybody, you know, rain power had to bring it in the machines. We brought we brought several people in to support and and and and get that effort effort accomplished. Uh so it's not just I don't even want to make it sound like it's me. I was just a little smoke in the wheel.
SPEAKER_07:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:Now, now somebody's gonna organize it.
SPEAKER_06:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:So so so that's where I fell into that, that's where that job became. You know, that's where I fell into that job was in doing the calculations, organizing it, and getting the stuff together.
SPEAKER_06:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, for right for Bryce. And uh me and Bryce are tight friends, we're very close friends, and and you know, uh uh he depends on me and I depend on him. And I mean we're we're we're we're 200 or something miles away, but good Lord, we work, we we work stuff together. Yeah, and uh we share a huge, huge, you know, gosh, between he and I both, we've got a couple hundred miles of of interstate, you know, under the risk program, you know.
SPEAKER_05:So well that I mean, like you said, that's the key. When you work through the associations and you're active and you meet others and you have that humble spirit and you know that there's enough work for everyone, then just like you said, um rising water raises all boats, doesn't just raises them all. Well, let me ask you this. Um, you know, one of the big pushes, I obviously uh, you know, Top Professional Magazine was brought on to be the independent contractor for TRAA for Hill Day, uh, February the 24th and 25th of next year. And our big push is the next generation because we we do understand that unless the next generation understands how to communicate with their municipalities, the the state laws and regulations and even federal regulations that could hurt their business, then um then they'll be ill-equipped if they're not educated on these things. So what advice do you have for the next generation? And won't you tell us about your next generation and how you've started uh uh bringing everybody up to speed? Because your son's involved, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, my son is, and uh my son-in-law, my daughter.
SPEAKER_05:Your daughter?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, that and matter of fact, uh my son-in-law will be at Hill Day, just like he was last year.
SPEAKER_06:Awesome.
SPEAKER_03:And um uh my son-in-law is actually, he's he's he is spearheading the legislative side of what we do here, and um and and getting himself positioned to take care of a lot of problems that the industry needs taken care of. Um and so he's working on all that. He does all of the the uh municipal stuff, all the state stuff, all the government stuff. And um then my son, he works here, he's worked himself into assistant operations manager under Mike McKnight, and they they he runs the operations. Um then, of course, my daughter, she's a uh Sanford University graduate with a marketing degree, and you know, naturally enough, she's over on marketing.
SPEAKER_06:He's doing I love it.
SPEAKER_03:So uh now now tell that story and think, oh man, that guy just figured it out. No, no, no. I sent them off to college. Gosh, it's been 15 years ago, and they they they left the business. They they I never I never pushed them to be a part of it, I never even insinuated for them to be a part of it. I'm gonna tell you, Narry, be honest with you, I was a little scared for them to be a part of it.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Because I brought a side of it, I never brought home to my wife and children, and I never would.
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_03:My kids were as oblivious to what goes on here when they were an adult as they were when they were children.
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_03:They had no idea. Matter of fact, my son-in-law coming into this thing, he thought he was coming into uh, you know, another air conditioning business or commercial properties business, and he's found out real quick that the the sharks that were in them waters were nothing.
SPEAKER_05:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:He's come to the real Gulf now.
SPEAKER_05:Yes. Well, I mean, you find in this business there there's no times that you can you can slack any because if you don't take that toe, then somebody else has got it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you gotta get that phone right then. You don't call back with an estimate, you gotta get it. But I'm glad they're here and they are, you know, they are learning. Um did right off the bat, uh, my son-in-law said, Pop, I want to come there and I want you to teach me everything about this. I said, you know what? I don't think that's the greatest idea. Huh? I said, you know, I've got this 20 group that I'm a part of. And you are gonna phase yourself into my role in that 20 group. So so now he's in the 20 group, and so the 20 group has helped him where because I don't want him just to know how I do things, I want to know how the whole country does it.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:And so he's learning how the whole country does it, and he's learning things that I can't teach him. I'm teaching him some things, you know, some things he can only learn from me. But but he's getting a lot of information. He just went yesterday to uh over to Mississippi to sit in on where the new legislation was being put in over there. That you know, a lot of people kind of criticized it, but I've read it over and I've got to be honest with you, it's pretty good legislation. Looks pretty nice. Um you know if um, you know, it it it not hurting the toys at all, it's helping them. You know, so uh I think the beauty of that thing is that the uh trucking associations in the trucking industry you know actually felt that it was a benefit to them, and it is in a way, but it's a benefit to the towers. And uh it's one of the things where I've seen very few things where it's a win-win all the way around for everybody involved. But if a man, if the if a man's in this business, right, and when I say this, I mean he's in the heavy recovery business. He owns rotators, he owns dump trucks and stuff of that nature, or roll-offs and things of that nature, skidster tractors, that kind of stuff. He's he's set up to work wrecks, then that legislation in Mississippi will be a benefit to him.
SPEAKER_05:Fantastic. Fantastic. That's great. That's great. Well, well, this brings us down to my my last question. Um, and what I know everybody wants to know is tell us about this good-looking equipment you have and and your choice in equipment. Um and and I know you've you've got something you uh a special way you paint your trucks as well to to that symbolizes something as well. So tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_03:There's there's there's stories behind everything, you know. We have been with Miller Industries since 2020.
SPEAKER_06:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Um, now, Darren, I have had only a handful of distributors in my career ever. I've always bought from one company and that was it. I've never been one that, you know, you've seen these people, you just buy whatever's out there, you're dealing with all kinds of people. I've always dealt with one distributorship. So in my early days, that was Norman Horton, Storm and Norman. I don't know if you ever remember him, but but he was the NRC distributor and we bought NRC equipment. And um he got out of it around somewhere early 2000s, and we we kind of became our own distributor.
SPEAKER_06:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:So we we sold we sold the records. We started using ATEC and Dynamic. Yeah, and and and and we did really good with that up until we lost a manufacturer. Didn't have the big records for sale. So I wound up going to Danny Ward at that point out in Arkansas. Danny Ward sold me Jerdam for a good many years. But then when he got out of the Jordam business, there was a salesman. I'll tell you a story very quick. There was a salesman named Steve Ferry that worked for Crouchers. And Steve had checked on me for five or six years. Every month or two, Steve would call and say, Hey, can I do anything for you? No, I'm happy where I'm at, buddy. Have a good day. Buddy, can I do anything for you? No, I'm happy where I'm at. Have a good day. So then when Danny got out of the business, one morning I called Steve and I like to cause him to have a heart attack. I called him, I said, Steve, I need to order some records. He said, okay. He said, what is it you want? And I told him I needed to roll back on the side part. And I think it was a 75-ton twin steer rotator. And it was just silence on the phone, you know. He came back and he said, I'll be there in the morning. So he drove he drove over here from Lake City the next morning, and we ordered the two trucks and getting a deposit, and that's that's why we're there now. But we we've been getting Miller equipment now for some while. And um, you know, I don't I don't get out and share my business on the internet or anything like that as it pertains to my dealings or my vendors, but you know, I gotta be honest with you. Miller was here yesterday. Michael Marshall was here uh fixing one of our rotators, and and and you know, there's gonna be problems. That's life. But when when the company will when the company will step up and come take care of it, you know, that that means a lot to me. And uh and and they and they did, it was just some lighting issues, but they they come down here from Chattanooga and fixed it. And uh, you know, I don't know that they want people to know that. I don't have a clue. But you know, you pay them$1.8 million for a piece of equipment, you expect it to be right. And and and you know, we're we're we're we're very happy with our equipment.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah. You know, I I tell you that that's the the old thing is they tell the salesman the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And just because you don't get the order today, don't mean you might not get it two, three, four, five years down the road. It's hey, it's been 14, 15 years in some of the cases with me, but you keep calling, you keep checking.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron, I had people, man, I I'm pretty I I'm pretty good about getting out doing sales now. I I am. I I joke joke to say I knock on doors like a Jehovah's Witness, but that's that's the truth. You know, so I've had customers, you know, I go into a place and they would just flat out be rude, man. I'm using so-and-so. Well, if you ever need me, I ain't gonna need you. Get out of here. And then that's been 10, 12 years ago with some of them customers, the biggest customers we got on the books up there now.
unknown:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, and it just it just one one dark night when they needed me, I was there and the other guy wouldn't.
SPEAKER_05:That's simple that you know that's that's how it works, man. And when you love what you do, and you're always around the corner when they need you, just you walk into the customer and he's like that.
SPEAKER_03:If you ever get that customer, if you ever get that customer, you've got a loyal customer.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, it'll be yours for life. Yeah, I've found that as well, man. That is that is something. Well, uh, with this, uh, Kevin, any anything else um you want to want to tell our listeners uh and our viewers before we leave here?
SPEAKER_03:Well, we've talked about all this, you know, and the next generation. What I want to see in the next generation, I've worked very hard to do this myself, and I feel I've had some traction, but I want our business to become as professional as the fire and rescue people. And I want it to be looked at like that. I want it to no longer be looked at as a as a trashy pirate type of deal. And I I listen, that's what it looks like, and you know it. We become very good at polishing trucks, but we've not polish ourselves too much. I I want to see the ethics brought to a higher standard. I I I want to see less of this business of people buying up government agencies and that kind of stuff. I don't want that to exist. I want it to be a level playing field and be fair for everybody, and I want it to be professional. I want to see us move into an arena where we are recognized as some sort of emergency responder. Not necessarily first responders, but some sort of emergency responders where where we have the recognition we need and the support we need to get out there and do the job we need to do. I want to see a situation where we are allowed to use different color lighting and that kind of stuff as professionals.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, now it has to be strictly regulated, but where we're able to use different types of lighting and whatnot on the side of the road, it will help lower our risk of somebody getting hit or hurt.
SPEAKER_05:I agree a hundred a hundred percent, Kevin, a hundred percent. It's uh that that is the biggest thing is education in the industry, safety, and you know, I've got a I've got an article in this upcoming issue in the top products of the year issue on Unity from John Borowski, and it talks about this very same thing you just said is we're we're told on the level that the associations need to get along, the towers need to get along, but then sometimes we've got top levels of vendors, manufacturers, publications, so on that can't get along.
SPEAKER_03:And I realize, I realize, I understand that that competition thing is difficult.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:We have and we have to be competition.
SPEAKER_06:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:We can't get into situations where we're in collusion together, that can't work.
SPEAKER_06:Nope.
SPEAKER_03:We have to be competition, but we have to realize that when we when we walk into an association event, we leave the competition at the door.
SPEAKER_05:Amen.
SPEAKER_03:And we do what's best for the whole industry. You know, if if it benefits John down the road today, it's not gonna benefit me as much today, but I know long term it's gonna benefit us all, then I'm all for it. Let's do it.
SPEAKER_06:That's the key.
SPEAKER_03:And let's help, let's help, let's help John kick the ball on down the road. That's being a generic name, you know. But but you know, the the the business has evolved. You know, things have got better in a lot of ways, but I'm sad to say in some ways they have not. And so we have to keep working forward to get to get better at what we do.
SPEAKER_05:Amen. Well said, well said. Well, Kevin, as always, again, I want to just thank you so much for for coming on, for for sharing some time with us and for uh for encouraging the uh the next generation of towers that are coming through and uh and and giving insight about uh about your growth in the industry.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, I mean people coming in, I know it's different now than it was, but buddy, if anybody can do, if anybody can build a business level out, I mean, you know, if if I can build a business level I build it, anybody can. Because I mean I started with nothing, young man. I mean nothing. And uh I I I don't, you know, I mean financially it was just nothing. I mean, it you know, and and and I have I have spent 40 years picking crumbs up off the floor and doing something with it.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:You know, that's just what I want to encourage anybody to don't be scared to pick them crumbs up. Pick them up and get on about your business. You can uh down the road, you know. If you gotta use the truck that's 30 years old to get started, use it. People laugh at you, let them laugh. Don't worry about it. You know, go to work.
SPEAKER_07:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, so that would be my word to the young people.
SPEAKER_05:Amen.
SPEAKER_03:You don't have to have a brand new tow truck, just get started.
SPEAKER_05:That's right. All you need is desire and a heart and a passion to do it.
SPEAKER_03:And we just get started, man. All the problems are gonna be there anyway. You know, perfect conditions are never gonna exist.
SPEAKER_05:Amen. You know, you know, Kevin, I started I started this publication right after the collapse of the housing market, and everybody said, Man, you are crazy. What are you doing?
SPEAKER_03:Well, we are crazy, that's why we're in business.
SPEAKER_05:That's right. And I said, you know what? I said, I said, there's two types of people. There's people that are waiting for the sky to fall, and there's people that are uh that are um tree shakers. And I said, Listen, I'm a tree shaker, man. I'm going out there and going to work, baby. I gotta pay the money.
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna shake the tree till nothing else falls out. I promise that. And you know, uh and man, I want to say one more thing about it. You know, it's not it's not a money issue to me, right? People always promote the money, and that just chills go up my spine because I had I quit working for money a long time ago, Darren.
SPEAKER_06:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:I I I am here for a purpose, and that's the purpose that I'm here for, and it ain't money, brother. I can promise you that. Matter of fact, it's so bad my son-in-law almost gets aggravated with me because he's like, We got bills to pay, you know, and I'm over here, you know, giving away the house, but you know, but but you know, we're gonna do the right thing, we're gonna do it every time. The other side may not think that we did, but we're gonna do what we believe was the right thing.
SPEAKER_05:Amen. Amen. I tell you, out of every industry I've been in, I've been in publishing since I was 24, and I'm 52 now. And this has been my favorite industry. I mean, I was in the helicopter industry, fabricating, machine tool, you name it. And this one, I'm like, hey, the the same guy that'll polish a truck for for six hours to get a two-foot-tall trophy. Um, it's just like me, the nut that'll polish on a car all day to go to a car show just to drink coffee and say hey to somebody and hang out. With the same people, I love it. It's it's a passion and a love for industry.
SPEAKER_06:It is, it is.
SPEAKER_05:So with that, uh, if you don't mind, I'm gonna I'm gonna end this like I always do in prayer. Yes, sir. Bow your head. Dear Heavenly Father, I just uh thank you for the opportunity to uh to have Kevin on. I thank you for his team and his service to this industry. Uh, we do uh pray a special prayer of covering uh over him, over his family and all his team members there, that they be protected, uh going and coming. Uh dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for our vendors. We uh ask that you bless them with more knowledge to increase uh their ability to bring safety to the market and bring products that protect our tow men and women. And dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for our servants of industry, our men and women of Towing. I just ask, Father, that you protect their steps, go before them and prepare the way and bring them home safely, keep their family safe and calm while they're out serving uh what their servants are. With all this, we thank you in your precious name, Jesus. Amen. We uh we thank every one of you for helping make Tow Professional Podcast, number one in the industry. Tune in next time for our next episode, and we'll have more great guests on. Just like uh, excuse me, just like Kevin Goodyear of Goodyear Towing. Kevin, thank you so much, man. God bless, and Merry Christmas to you and your entire family there, brother.
SPEAKER_03:Same to you, Darius. Happy New Year, and I'll see you at the next event.
SPEAKER_05:Yes, sir. We'll see you. Thank you, sir.