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Speaker 1: This is America's trucking network with Kevin Gordon.

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Speaker 2: Welcome aboard, thanks for tuning in. The Rush Enterprises twentieth

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Speaker 2: Anniversary Tech Skills Rodeo at the Gaylord Opperland Resort and

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Speaker 2: Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee is in the rearview mirror.

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Speaker 2: The cost of this competition was three million dollars to

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Speaker 2: put this on, paid for by four hundred and forty sponsors.

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Speaker 2: In addition to all of that, it was a trade show,

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Speaker 2: so all of these sponsors brought their equipment, brought their trucks.

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Speaker 2: Peterbilt had three of their tractors there to display the

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Speaker 2: different cabs and so on. International brought two of theirs.

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Speaker 2: There was Commons that brought their engines, a trailer that

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Speaker 2: had engines in it. Allison Transmissions had a big van

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Speaker 2: there that had their different transmissions in there. It was

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Speaker 2: basically all of their wares, all these different boosts, displaying

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Speaker 2: all the merchandise that they had from Valvelene to Lucas.

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Speaker 3: Oil and so on. It was an amazing event.

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Speaker 2: Now as far as the war, talk about a whirlwind

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Speaker 2: of activity.

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Speaker 3: My goodness.

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Speaker 2: We arrived here in Nashville on Saturday, after escaping Snowmageddon

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Speaker 2: and Cincinnati. The event started on Sunday morning with out

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Speaker 2: of the Collision Center in Smyrna, Tennessee, at.

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Speaker 3: Their body shop out there.

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Speaker 2: That started at nine am, and then around noonish there,

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Speaker 2: about one o'clock or so, I had to rush over

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Speaker 2: onto the Convention Center and figure out a way of

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Speaker 2: getting in there in order to get the booth set

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Speaker 2: up so that we could broadcast from there on Monday.

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Speaker 2: So we got that taken care of, and then at

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Speaker 2: seven o'clock we all met and went on the General

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Speaker 2: Jackson boat, the river boat to tour the Tennessee River

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Speaker 2: and see the Nashville skyline. Unfortunately, it was not the

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Speaker 2: warmest thing. I think it was. Might have set a

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Speaker 2: record in Nashville that it started off at eighteen degrees

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Speaker 2: and then by the time the cruise was over, the

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Speaker 2: temperature was down around five degrees with about negative numbers

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Speaker 2: as far as windshchill factor. That Monday morning started off

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Speaker 2: at eight am conducting interviews, show closed at three pm.

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Speaker 2: Seven pm, we had a media dinner with the people

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Speaker 2: from Rush and talking about the event and met some

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Speaker 2: of the folks that were part of the media crew.

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Speaker 2: That Tuesday morning, we started off at six thirty am,

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Speaker 2: back to the booth, show shut down at three pm,

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Speaker 2: got all packed up, got everything down, went to a

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Speaker 2: four o'clock press conference with Rusty Rush, the CEO of

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Speaker 2: Rush Truck Centers, and then at five forty five, and

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Speaker 2: he had some interesting comments and probably in a later

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Speaker 2: show we'll talk about some of his comments on the

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Speaker 2: state of the industry, how Rush Enterprises is doing. And

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Speaker 2: so on five forty five we had a cocktail hour

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Speaker 2: and a six thirty the dinner, an award ceremony which

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Speaker 2: didn't end until ten thirty. So it was basically every

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Speaker 2: day from Sunday morning until Tuesday morning.

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Speaker 3: Actually Tuesday night.

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Speaker 2: Everything started around from about six o'clock in the morning

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Speaker 2: till well after midnight. So it was a very interesting time.

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Speaker 4: Now at this.

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Speaker 2: Rodeo, over three thousand technicians tested to qualify the top

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Speaker 2: performers made it to Nashville well over two hundred participants.

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Speaker 2: So Rush Enterprises brought all these people and their spouses

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Speaker 2: to this convention and the convention center at opry Land

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Speaker 2: Resort and Convention Center. Three days of competitions. The awards

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Speaker 2: ceremony was I got to tell you it was beyond expectations.

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Speaker 2: The food was great. Over eight hundred people attended, the spouses, executives, participants,

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Speaker 2: Over nearly three hundred thousand dollars in checks were awarded,

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Speaker 2: and just mind boggling as far as that they were

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Speaker 2: issuing prizes in different divisions the parts leasing, Rising Star,

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Speaker 2: body Shop, Medium Duty, heavy duty truck sales, and then

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Speaker 2: they had the Reserve Champion, the Grand Champion, and then

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Speaker 2: they awarded the All Around Grand Rodeo Champion. I'll get

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Speaker 2: to him in a moment, but the sheer size of

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Speaker 2: the number of people that participated in this, and the

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Speaker 2: actual checks that were issued, and the awards ceremony, naming

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Speaker 2: every one of the people, having them come up on stage,

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Speaker 2: getting their picture taken, and so on. The All Round

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Speaker 2: Grand Champion Rodeo Champion Dom McConnell of Rush Truck Centers

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Speaker 2: in Orlando, South took away the top prize eighteen thousand

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Speaker 2: and five hundred dollars. Now, talk about an interesting story.

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Speaker 2: This was his third attempt at the rodeo. In the

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Speaker 2: two previous he had not even made the finals, and

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Speaker 2: this time around, not only did he win, but he

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Speaker 2: became the Grand champion last year at the convention and

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Speaker 2: the awards ceremony, it was down in San Antonio, so

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Speaker 2: along the river walk down there. He and his fiance

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Speaker 2: or and his girlfriend got engaged down there. And so

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Speaker 2: at the last Truck Rodeo Awards ceremony or that period,

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Speaker 2: he got engaged. And he's as of well, the awards ceremony,

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Speaker 2: about seventeen days from now, he and his wife and

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Speaker 2: his fiance are going to get married. So talk about

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Speaker 2: a whirlwind for him. And it was interesting talking to

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Speaker 2: him after the ceremony. We had an opportunity to interview

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Speaker 2: him directly a couple of people from the media, and

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Speaker 2: it was interesting to listen to him talk about how

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Speaker 2: his approach to the show was or to the competition.

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Speaker 2: He said in the past he tried to like go

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Speaker 2: buy the book. But when you're a technician and you

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Speaker 2: know what you're doing and you have the experience, you

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Speaker 2: generally have an idea.

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Speaker 3: It's not like you know, a.

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Speaker 2: Cookbook where you have to start off at step one,

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Speaker 2: step two, and you know, just follow those right down

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Speaker 2: the line. A lot of the initial things are in

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Speaker 2: your head and you just go and do it. And

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Speaker 2: then based on a little bit of intuition and because

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Speaker 2: you've studied and he talks about he talked about how

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Speaker 2: he actually takes the stuff home with him, studies the manuals,

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Speaker 2: reads about him over the week, weekend, does stuff in

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Speaker 2: terms of basically continuing education in his spare time. So

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Speaker 2: this kid, twenty six years old, third competition, this has

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Speaker 2: won the overall championship. But here is this guy at

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Speaker 2: twenty six years old, a student of what he's his craft,

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Speaker 2: and he's just so dedicated to that. And it was

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Speaker 2: great to see him win that award and to talk

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Speaker 2: to him afterwards. But it was an amazing situation, and

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Speaker 2: we had a great conversation with him, and the fact

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Speaker 2: that I can't emphasize enough here he is twenty six

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Speaker 2: years old, competed three previously, this was his third competition,

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Speaker 2: had never placed into the finals, and comes up the

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Speaker 2: grand champion. And as he talked about it, was he

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Speaker 2: kind of I asked him about it because he said

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Speaker 2: the way he put it was I just kind of

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Speaker 2: let my instincts take over and based on what my

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Speaker 2: knowledge was, I just went into that. And along the way,

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Speaker 2: as the judges were coming along, he was explaining to

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Speaker 2: them what he was doing, which I asked him if

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Speaker 2: that was kind of a new technique. He said, I

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Speaker 2: don't know. He said, I've heard other people may have

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Speaker 2: done that, but he said, I made an effort to

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Speaker 2: make sure that they knew what steps I was doing,

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Speaker 2: because part of the competition is they look at how

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Speaker 2: your approach to that is as opposed to not only

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Speaker 2: diagnosing the problem and so on. So explaining everything that

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Speaker 2: he was doing all along the way probably was the

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Speaker 2: thing that got him the highest score. And then of

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Speaker 2: course winning or eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars.

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Speaker 3: That's going to be a nice present.

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Speaker 2: Now at the banquet, they always every year Rusty Rush

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Speaker 2: and Rush Enterprises has a surprise guest. This year it

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Speaker 2: was Clint Boyer, who was car driver and commentator for

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Speaker 2: Fox and Nascar on Fox, and he got up and

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Speaker 2: had a few words to say, and it was very interesting.

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Speaker 2: And then he's standing up there talked with Rusty and

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Speaker 2: all of a sudden he says, and oh, by the way,

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Speaker 2: there's somebody else here you might know, and he introduces

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Speaker 2: Jeff Gordon, a stock car racing legend and chairman and

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Speaker 2: vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody was like what they

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Speaker 2: were all of a sudden all that you can see

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Speaker 2: all the people at the banquet tables all of a

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Speaker 2: sudden turning their heads to where Jeff Gordon was sitting.

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Speaker 2: And then of course after the bank, once it was over,

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Speaker 2: everybody was just flocking to him. Fortunately they were at

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Speaker 2: the table right in front of us. So I went

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Speaker 2: over and finally got to meet my younger brother Jeff.

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Speaker 3: So it was interesting.

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Speaker 2: I mentioned to him, how many people are asking me,

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Speaker 2: are you related to Jeff Gordon. So anyway, it was

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Speaker 2: a lot of fun. The Gaylord opery Land Hotel and

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Speaker 2: Resort is just if you've never been been there, you've

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Speaker 2: got to go. It is just the a trims, the walkways,

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Speaker 2: the sheer volume of what is there and everything.

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Speaker 3: I've talked about that over the last couple of days.

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Speaker 2: And by the way, if you missed any of that

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Speaker 2: stuff that we talked about over the last few days,

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Speaker 2: check out a podcast brought to you by Rush Truck Centers. Well, folks,

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Speaker 2: well I'll tell you it was just absolutely a fantastic day.

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Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 1: I need this is the briefing report on America's Trucking

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Speaker 1: Network on seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 5: One of the aspects of the lawsuit between twenty three

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Speaker 5: eleven in Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR and their trial

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Speaker 5: was NASCAR was concerned about the racing series SRX over

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Speaker 5: the last few years. Daylernhard Junior and his sister Kelly

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Speaker 5: on Dirty Moe Radio podcast says NASCAR's concerns were out

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Speaker 5: of this world.

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Speaker 6: To hear that they were even remostly the least bitten

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Speaker 6: threatened is so wow, surprising to me because they're this

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Speaker 6: giant that's NASCAR and SRX is just this little thing.

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Speaker 4: You know, It's take years to recreate what NASCAR is.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, and they were like, there's twelve cars, right, they're

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Speaker 6: just barely getting by financially. They're tearing up so much.

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Speaker 4: They had no idea.

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Speaker 6: It's gonna tear up all that. Yeah, and you know,

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Speaker 6: in the end, they couldn't make the money work. SRX

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Speaker 6: went away because it's expensive to operate and the money

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Speaker 6: that you know, the network, the viewership numbers didn't justify

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Speaker 6: the TV contract and the KIV contract couldn't afford the series,

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Speaker 6: and so it just financially didn't really work. You know,

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Speaker 6: I am surprised by some of the comments that I

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Speaker 6: read from Phelps, I mean sorry, from O'Donnell and a

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Speaker 6: couple of other people about man, we gotta go, we

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Speaker 6: got to put an end to this, or we gotta

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Speaker 6: you know, we gotta go take a look at this.

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Speaker 7: And again to me, yeah, why are we worried?

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Speaker 5: JR Motorsports also revealed a mouth watering new sponsor on Tuesday,

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Speaker 5: Dale Earnhardt Junior announced a multi year, multifaceted partnership between

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Speaker 5: JR Motorsports and restaurant Arby's. The fast food chain will

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Speaker 5: be the primary sponsor for eight NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts

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Speaker 5: Series events in twenty twenty six, and will also hold

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Speaker 5: a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.

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Speaker 1: This is the reasing report on America's drugging network on

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Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison.

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Speaker 4: For a t N.

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Speaker 8: Kids, they are just different than us, They have no inhibitions.

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Speaker 5: Will also hold a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.

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Speaker 1: This is the wreathing report on America's trucking network on

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Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison for a t N.

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Speaker 8: Kids. They are just different than us. They have no inhibitions,

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Speaker 8: consider silverware optional, and can find fun anywhere. When kids

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Speaker 8: get really sick, they're different than us too. That's why

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Speaker 8: the Leukemia and Nomphoma Society is introducing the Deer to

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Speaker 8: Dream Project, with the largest global clinical trial for kids

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Speaker 8: with plumbings.

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Speaker 2: He is vice president of Servicing for Rush Truck Centers

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Speaker 2: and one of the very important components of this is

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Speaker 2: the tech skills and the servicing end of that. So

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Speaker 2: kind of give us a little description of that.

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Speaker 9: Well, we we start the whole process with online testing,

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Speaker 9: so that we we test each technician for their their

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Speaker 9: technical skills, you know, via an online test, and the

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Speaker 9: top qualifiers come to this event and compete for you know,

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Speaker 9: cash and prizes if you will.

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Speaker 2: So there is a qualifying event just even guest here

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Speaker 2: in the first place.

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Speaker 9: We start the testing process July August, you know, months

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Speaker 9: ahead of time. It's quite an under taking if you

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Speaker 9: think about it. We have close to three thousand technicians.

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Speaker 9: Most of them do enroll or enlist for the uh

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Speaker 9: for the testing, and it's it's quite.

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Speaker 4: An effort to get through all of that uh huh.

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Speaker 2: So do you, I guess you guys, encourage them to compete.

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Speaker 9: Absolutely absolutely, and and you know, we'll hold calls and

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Speaker 9: we'll send out e blast communication and we'll work through

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Speaker 9: the managers as well.

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Speaker 4: There are you know, a number.

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Speaker 9: Of individuals in any given year, especially some of the

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Speaker 9: new hires that are apprehensive, nervous. One fear is or

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Speaker 9: concern is that if they don't don't do well on

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Speaker 9: the test, it'll be posted for everybody to see.

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Speaker 4: Test results are anonymous. We do not post that.

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Speaker 9: We just post basically who are the top qualifiers in

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Speaker 9: order of scoring in the testing. But we we don't

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Speaker 9: do anything to shame or embarrass anybody. And so it

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Speaker 9: takes a little coaching to talk through that. And I

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Speaker 9: will say that U past competitors that talk with the

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Speaker 9: tax at the shop or what have you, they are

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Speaker 9: no doubt they're the most are they They're the biggest

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Speaker 9: contributor to eliciting excitement around the rodeo and participation.

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Speaker 2: Rodeo ambassadors, so to speak. Yeah, get everybody interested. And

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Speaker 2: I guess and I guess you know, in any environment

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Speaker 2: there's always a certain competition within the group itself. And

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Speaker 2: so to encourage that and and to promote that is amazing.

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Speaker 9: It is amazing, it really is. And you'll find the

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Speaker 9: competitors here are all very you know, they're they're celebrating

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Speaker 9: for their peers that win, you know, they're most of

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Speaker 9: the folks that come are very humble and and they're

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Speaker 9: happy for their their peers when they win.

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Speaker 4: And it's it's just an exciting event all the way around.

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Speaker 2: It is now describe because this is this is a

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Speaker 2: great opportunity or great thing about as far as Russia

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Speaker 2: is concerned about employee retention, the fact that you guys

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Speaker 2: reward people for competing, the amount of prizes involved, and

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Speaker 2: the fact that you care about the employees and their success.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, we absolutely do and this this event is a

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Speaker 9: testament to our commitment to our employees. And I don't

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Speaker 9: know how how and depth you've discussed us with others.

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Speaker 9: I mean, this started as an event for technicians and

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Speaker 9: there were approximately forty competitors twenty years ago, and the

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Speaker 9: whole event has evolved to go well beyond that to

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Speaker 9: include our revenue generators within the dealership group. So that's

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Speaker 9: that's parts people, it's after market sales, truck sales, et cetera.

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Speaker 2: So there's a lot of energy, a lot of discussion

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Speaker 2: in almost every level of the corporation. Yes, which is

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Speaker 2: great because now you've got the rev new generation side,

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Speaker 2: the parts people, the start of saying, the collision people,

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Speaker 2: all those involved in terms of the competition, so every

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Speaker 2: level of the company people are competing.

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Speaker 3: For these various prizes. We're speaking with.

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Speaker 2: Victor Cummings, vice president Operations for Rush Truck Centers, and

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Speaker 2: I am blown away by this. This is the first

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Speaker 2: time I've been here, and I've read about it. I've

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Speaker 2: read about it in the trade magazines and thought what

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Speaker 2: a great program this is, but to actually see it

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Speaker 2: live is beyond words.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm honestly, I'm blown away too.

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Speaker 9: I'm humbled to work with such a very high caliber

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Speaker 9: how excuse me, high caliber level of people and you know,

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Speaker 9: just humble folks that really care genuinely for our employees,

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Speaker 9: and the the amount of effort and collaboration it takes

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Speaker 9: to put this together is really something else. When we

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Speaker 9: back up at the end of this event and head home,

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Speaker 9: our first rodeo meeting is the first week of every month.

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Speaker 9: We start very next month planning for the following year.

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Speaker 9: So this is a year round project. It's quite a

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Speaker 9: wind up coming out here to Nashville. This is our

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Speaker 9: twenty year anniversary. That's why we're here. This is where

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Speaker 9: it started. And we were actually quite nervous about it,

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Speaker 9: just just the logistics and the number of people, what

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Speaker 9: it takes to put this together. And the venue is

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Speaker 9: a place we've never been for the rodeo. Right, So

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Speaker 9: I'll tell you it's been the smoothest so far, and

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Speaker 9: it's exciting. And the competitors I've talked to, the suppliers

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Speaker 9: I've talked to, are thrilled about the venue, just the

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Speaker 9: energy behind it, and you know, the scope of the

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Speaker 9: event itself.

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Speaker 3: It corrects me proud.

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Speaker 2: And what's interesting too is the fact that because of

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Speaker 2: the logistics, you got to make sure that you bring

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Speaker 2: everything with you. It's not like, Okay, we're in San Antonio.

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Speaker 2: It's close to home and if I forget something, I

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Speaker 2: just go, yeah, call somebody and say, hey, can you

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Speaker 2: bring this over? I mean everything is that whole checklist

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Speaker 2: and everything along those lines is very important. Now, we

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Speaker 2: had talked about talked briefly off air about how you

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Speaker 2: came into this and how this works in terms of

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Speaker 2: bringing people up through the ranks and the programs that

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Speaker 2: you have. I mean, not only are you dealing with

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Speaker 2: people that are that are been in the business for

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Speaker 2: years in terms of technicians and hiring them, because are

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Speaker 2: also in the process or during the process of developing

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Speaker 2: people to come into the trade.

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Speaker 4: That is correct.

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Speaker 9: You know, we have one group that competes and they're

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Speaker 9: called the Rising Star. Uh those are level one, level

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Speaker 9: two techs that are new with Rush, and we want

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Speaker 9: to be all inclusive. We want the new hires and

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Speaker 9: the lower level techs to have that rodeo experience as well,

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Speaker 9: and we want it to be fair in terms of competition.

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Speaker 9: So it is a separate course or competition if you will,

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Speaker 9: from you know, the rest of the technicians and they

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Speaker 9: can only compete and Rising Star once. So once you've

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Speaker 9: done that, then you have to step up to the

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Speaker 9: big leagues.

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Speaker 2: So you get through the Triple A ball team and

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Speaker 2: now you're into the big lit up to the show,

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Speaker 2: so to speak. Well, that's cool, that's that's very interesting. Again,

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Speaker 2: we're speaking with Victor Cummings. He is vice president of

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Speaker 2: Servicing for Rush Truck Centers and one of the things

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Speaker 2: we talked about too, was how in developing people even

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Speaker 2: at the at this trade school level. And you had

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Speaker 2: a very interesting story that we were talking about as

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Speaker 2: far as what your experience was coming out of that

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Speaker 2: and the environment into the actual dealership.

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Speaker 9: Yes, sometimes I have to hit the pause button, kind

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Speaker 9: of rewind and think back to what I experienced, what

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Speaker 9: I felt when I came out of trade school hired

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Speaker 9: on with a cat dealership. The first especially the first

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Speaker 9: couple of weeks on the job was very stressful, is intimidating.

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Speaker 9: You know, I really had no idea what I was stept

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Speaker 9: and into. I know I wanted to pursue the trade,

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Speaker 9: but was just a beginner, a rookie if you will.

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Speaker 9: And so we've developed a internship program to work with

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Speaker 9: the trade schools to give them that opportunity to get exposure,

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Speaker 9: to get their foot in the door prior to actually

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Speaker 9: coming on you know, on board. Full time internship program

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Speaker 9: is really something like being a part time Level one

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Speaker 9: tech and uh, if you like, I can kind of

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Speaker 9: give you a quick overview of how it's structured and

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Speaker 9: or what you know, why we do what we do.

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Speaker 9: So we we partner with a sc accredited trade schools

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Speaker 9: and we have a set like fundamentals training if you will.

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Speaker 9: And and OIES have given us permission to allow the

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Speaker 9: trade school students to take the online training. So we

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Speaker 9: define here are here basically the fundamentals to kind of

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Speaker 9: get your head around, you know, just the basics of

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Speaker 9: what we do at our dealership and the product, et cetera.

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Speaker 4: They need to do that on their own time.

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Speaker 9: It's part of their curriculum, and then once they complete

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Speaker 9: that training, we bring them into the dealership for approximately

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Speaker 9: twenty hours of shadowing.

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Speaker 4: So we really want.

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Speaker 9: Them to experience and see from cradle to grave the

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Speaker 9: whole repair process, meaning from when the truck pulls into

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Speaker 9: the gate to when the truck leaves the gate. So

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Speaker 9: there's the write up process, there's the dispatch to the technician,

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Speaker 9: the parts ordering process, working with the back counter, pulling

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Speaker 9: the parts out of the warehouse, and anything involved in

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Speaker 9: supporting the tech to get that truck back on the road.

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Speaker 9: And we find that that really does a lot to

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Speaker 9: kind of give them a perspective and a better understanding,

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Speaker 9: and it empowers.

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Speaker 4: Them to speak up when something doesn't make sense.

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Speaker 9: We allow anywhere from six months to a year to

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Speaker 9: complete the program. So they do this while they're going

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Speaker 9: to school, and we're very flexible around the hours that

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Speaker 9: they work.

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Speaker 4: If it's a couple hours of night Monday.

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Speaker 9: Through Friday, all day Saturday, whatever works best or accommodates

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Speaker 9: their schedule is what we do to work with them

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Speaker 9: to allow them, you know, the flexibility to complete the program.

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Speaker 4: Very good.

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Speaker 2: Now, are you finding the younger people that it's it's

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Speaker 2: the recruiting process itself easier or is it even more difficult.

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Speaker 4: It's far more challenging than it's been.

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Speaker 2: Tell you what, let's take a quick break and we

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Speaker 2: can pick this up on the other start. All right, thanks,

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Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, america'struck A Network seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 7: News Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.

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Speaker 7: A primetime speech from the White House, and President Trump

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Speaker 7: is making his case to the country with the twelve

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Speaker 7: thirty report. I'm Bretdy Hopkins. Breaking Now. Trump highlighted in

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Speaker 7: his first eleven month in office in his speech last night,

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Speaker 7: saying prices are coming down while blaming President Joe Biden

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Speaker 7: for inflation and immigration. He also announced a Warrior dividend

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Speaker 7: for military members ahead of Christmas.

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Speaker 10: President just there said that prices are coming down and fast,

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Speaker 10: but the latest government data actually shows that consumer prices

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Speaker 10: are up three percent compared to a year ago, and

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Speaker 10: that trend isn't going in the right direction. That same

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Speaker 10: data showing that prices have been ticking up for the

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Speaker 10: past five months.

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Speaker 7: ABC's Mary Bruce now the latest forecast from the Train

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Speaker 7: Heating and Cooling Weather Center on US Radio seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 11: As we start your Thursday, the wind begins to pick

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Speaker 11: up with temperatures in the upper thirties and low forties.

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Speaker 11: Likely try to start things, but in the afternoon scattered

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Speaker 11: rain of rives, maybe even a few rumbles of thunder.

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Speaker 11: Late in the day. It will also be windy with

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Speaker 11: a high near fifty three. Cold air push us in

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Speaker 11: at night, dropping US to twenty three by Friday morning,

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Speaker 11: with a few snowflakes possible overnight. From your severe Weather station,

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Speaker 11: I'm nine first Warning meter REBLOGUS Mark Stitz News Radio

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Speaker 11: seven hundred WLW.

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Speaker 7: Thirty eight degrees Right now in the Tri State, Duke

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Speaker 7: Energy is saying new technology is sharply reducing power outages

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Speaker 7: across the states of Ohio and Kentucky. The utility says

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Speaker 7: it's smart grid and self healing technology prevented nearly four

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Speaker 7: hundred thousand outages this year, saving about one point four

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Speaker 7: million hours of lost power. The system automatically reroots electricity

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Speaker 7: when lines are damaged, often limiting outages to brief flickers.

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Speaker 7: Duke says more than three quarters of customers in the

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Speaker 7: region now benefit from the upgraded grid. I'm Travis Laird

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Speaker 7: News Radio seven hundred WLW. In the meantime, security is

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Speaker 7: being increased up at Ryle High School this week out

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Speaker 7: of abundance of caution after a threatening message was found

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Speaker 7: scribbled on a wall, and police have not yet been

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Speaker 7: able to determine the message credibility at this time. Our

437
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,440
Speaker 7: next update at one o'clock in breaking news anytime, I'm

438
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 7: Bretty Hopkins's News Radio seven hundred WLW.

439
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 12: Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder

440
00:25:57,880 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 12: with dozens of apps that don't talk to each other.

441
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 12: One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting.

442
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,160
Speaker 12: That's software overload. ODU is the all in one platform

443
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 12: that replaces them all CRM, accounting, inventory e commerce HR

444
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 12: fully integrated and easy to use, and built to grow

445
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,359
Speaker 12: with your business. Thousands have already made the switch. Why

446
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 12: not you try ODO for free at odoo dot com.

447
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 12: That's od dot com.

448
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:27,119
Speaker 2: The free iHeartRadio app is the number one app for

449
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 2: the holiday.

450
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,879
Speaker 13: Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the

451
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 13: rest of the country.

452
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 14: And the Try State.

453
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,480
Speaker 13: Overnight partly cloudy the low down to thirty two, afternoon

454
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:41,919
Speaker 13: rain Thursday, high fifty six. Friday mostly claudy early than

455
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:45,440
Speaker 13: gradually becoming sunny and colder. Highs only the lower thirties.

456
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,439
Speaker 13: Partly sunny Saturday, in a bit of a warm up,

457
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 13: a high of forty eight Nationally from the northwest of

458
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 13: the north central US dangerous winds and heavy snow scene.

459
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,480
Speaker 13: Heavy rain is likely over parts of the Pacific Northwest

460
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 13: starting Thursday, while heavy mountain snow continues in the Pacific

461
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 13: Northwest and northern Rockies. Most of the country expected to

462
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 13: see about average temperatures. There's the potential for record tying

463
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,399
Speaker 13: or record breaking highs out west and in the New

464
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:08,159
Speaker 13: England States.

465
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 2: Kevin Gordon America struck In Network seven hundred WLW continue

466
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 2: our conversation with Victor Cummings. He is the vice president

467
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,439
Speaker 2: of Servicing for Rush Enterprises.

468
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,360
Speaker 3: Rush truck centers, which.

469
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:26,919
Speaker 2: Really, I guess in and of itself is one of

470
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 2: the has got to be an extremely challenging job. With

471
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 2: over one hundred and forty service centers around the country,

472
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 2: that has got to really be a huge undertaking for

473
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 2: it is.

474
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 4: It is. It's a lot of fun.

475
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:47,720
Speaker 9: It is challenging, It can be stressful at times depending

476
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 9: on what's going on in any given day, but it's

477
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:55,200
Speaker 9: also very rewarding. Uh huh, it's I think the most

478
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:58,959
Speaker 9: rewarding aspect of my job is being able to provide

479
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 9: an opportunity for others.

480
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:01,560
Speaker 4: You know, similar.

481
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 9: Opportunities are provided for me younger in my career. But yeah,

482
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,040
Speaker 9: it is. It is a very challenging job. There's the

483
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,160
Speaker 9: there's the employee component, and then there's the customer.

484
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,119
Speaker 3: Component and the corporate component.

485
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:18,719
Speaker 4: Yeah, that is true, That is true, you know, that's right.

486
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's it is important with the being a

487
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 2: tune with the customer making sure they're happy, and then

488
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,639
Speaker 2: of course the employees and make sure they're happy. We

489
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 2: talked about previously about another challenging aspect of the business

490
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 2: is bringing people in, like younger people.

491
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 3: What that's like. You mentioned that that's a lot more

492
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 3: challenging today.

493
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 9: Far more challenging for for a number of reasons you

494
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,160
Speaker 9: don't have. It's not as common for younger folks to

495
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 9: work with you know, say their dad on a hot

496
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 9: rod in the garage or grow up on a farm.

497
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:52,479
Speaker 4: It's just it's just not as common.

498
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,920
Speaker 9: And the younger, uh, you know, trades people today are

499
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 9: starting out at somewhat of a disadvantage because of that

500
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 9: lack of experience. On top of that, you know, the

501
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,040
Speaker 9: vehicles are are far more complex and the emission systems

502
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 9: are ever changing. So it's it's it's just ongoing learning

503
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 9: and education, and it's tough. It takes a different level

504
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,560
Speaker 9: of expertise to diagnose the truck today than it did, say,

505
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,560
Speaker 9: twenty thirty years ago. And when we were talking about

506
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 9: the internship program, you know, the main focus there is

507
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:33,920
Speaker 9: really easing that transition from the student school environment to

508
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,800
Speaker 9: the dealership environment and you know, giving them a good

509
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 9: smooth transition over time to get used to that environment,

510
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,120
Speaker 9: to the people, et cetera, versus just diving into the

511
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 9: cold wall.

512
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,280
Speaker 2: Well you mentioned, you know, before diving into the cold water,

513
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,479
Speaker 2: you said, coming out of trade school, he was thinking, oh,

514
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 2: going in a dealership here.

515
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 3: How hard could it be?

516
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 2: Right, all of a sudden reality hits you in the

517
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 2: face of the nervous and all that sort of thing.

518
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 2: But now, as far as the younger pe are you

519
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,719
Speaker 2: finding more? I guess, I guess maybe I'm just in

520
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 2: the circle of where I'm hearing more and more about

521
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 2: younger people that are turning towards the trades that some

522
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 2: of the other schooling, some of the other stuff just

523
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 2: isn't there or it doesn't peak their attention, and so

524
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 2: that they're turning more towards the trades as a way

525
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 2: of getting into the business world or getting into the workforce.

526
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 2: And I think surprising themselves as to what it's like.

527
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 9: Well, trades are becoming cool again, eat and it's great

528
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 9: to see. And really that's what you know, keeps this

529
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 9: country going, uh huh, And yeah, it is.

530
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 4: It's exciting.

531
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 9: It's exciting to see the enthusiasm from various companies to

532
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:54,640
Speaker 9: really focus in on the importance of trades, you know,

533
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 9: skilled trades.

534
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 2: And well, as you mentioned about the diagnostics in terms

535
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 2: of the computers involved.

536
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,800
Speaker 3: In the in the.

537
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 2: Systems, and then the operations and the engine emissions control

538
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 2: and that sort of thing that is well beyond what

539
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:13,600
Speaker 2: the you know, turning the wrenches were years ago. This

540
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,240
Speaker 2: requires a level of you know, if you're if you're

541
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 2: into the tech end of it or in terms of

542
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 2: computers and so on, there's that for you, if there's

543
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:26,400
Speaker 2: you discover along those lines that you're interested in working

544
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 2: with your hands to a certain extent. And I think

545
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 2: a lot of people realize that when they do that,

546
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 2: there is that sense of accomplishment.

547
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 9: Absolutely yes, it's and and the technician world has become

548
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 9: uh far more specialized.

549
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 4: Uh huh and uh.

550
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 9: I can see where you know, you see some of

551
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:52,720
Speaker 9: the younger, uh skilled technicians coming into the business and

552
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 9: and really gravitating towards the computer side of the truck,

553
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 9: the diagnostics and and you know, it's exciting to see

554
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 9: some of the older texts are not as interested in

555
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 9: that part of it. They'd rather work on the mechanical bonus. Well, yeah,

556
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,880
Speaker 9: change is always always difficulty. We're speaking again with Victor Cummings.

557
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 9: He is the vice president of vice president of Service Operations.

558
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 9: Now getting back to the show here itself, the twentieth

559
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 9: anniversary and the amount of prizes involved, the amount of

560
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,000
Speaker 9: bragging rates. The amount of trophies that we look across

561
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,480
Speaker 9: the way and see those, it is absolutely impressive. And

562
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:35,200
Speaker 9: from a recruitment standpoint, this is a recruiting tool that

563
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:37,800
Speaker 9: people say, you know, coming into Rush truck centers, you

564
00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 9: have the opportunity to do this, But then once you're there,

565
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,120
Speaker 9: here's the opportunity. And then people see how much the

566
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 9: company cares about them competing and putting them in a

567
00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:52,360
Speaker 9: position where they can compete for these prizes. Yeah, I

568
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 9: really believe it's a testament to you know, what Rush

569
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,640
Speaker 9: is as a company and the value that we have

570
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 9: for our employees.

571
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:02,720
Speaker 4: And it makes me proud to be a part of

572
00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 4: all this.

573
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:07,000
Speaker 9: And my first participation or engagement in this event was

574
00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 9: as a supplier, you know, providing equipment and judges for

575
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 9: this event. And I'll never forget the first time it

576
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,760
Speaker 9: came and just myself, you know, as a visitor to

577
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 9: see the whole event take place, it was just incredible.

578
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 9: It's quite an event. I've never seen another company put

579
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 9: on anything quite like this. And I don't mean to

580
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 9: brag when I say that I'm bragging about my company,

581
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 9: my employer, you know.

582
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 2: I'm bragging about seeing it because again, I'm this my

583
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,640
Speaker 2: first time and I don't hear about this and a

584
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 2: lot of other companies, which piques my attention to begin with,

585
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,360
Speaker 2: and then to actually be here and witness it as

586
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:44,960
Speaker 2: something else.

587
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'd like to make a plug for our CEO,

588
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:48,480
Speaker 9: Rusty Rush.

589
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:49,960
Speaker 4: He's an amazing individual.

590
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,719
Speaker 9: I've worked for a few other publicly traded companies and

591
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,680
Speaker 9: similar in size prior to coming to Rush fourteen years ago,

592
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 9: and I have never encountered anybody in leadership, any leadership role,

593
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 9: and especially at the CEO level that is as engaged

594
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,319
Speaker 9: is Rusty. And when you see them on stage and

595
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,839
Speaker 9: they're handing out the wards, that's Rusty Rush. And it's

596
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,440
Speaker 9: quite an event you're going to You're really going to

597
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:16,880
Speaker 9: enjoy it.

598
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:18,719
Speaker 3: I'm really looking forward to it, Yes.

599
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:22,800
Speaker 9: And so he he's you know, fully supportive of this event.

600
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,680
Speaker 9: And our suppliers are amazing. We couldn't do without them.

601
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,280
Speaker 9: It's just the synergy that brings it all together is amazing.

602
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,160
Speaker 2: But and the excitement around the room in terms of

603
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 2: looking at the various suppliers, I mean, it is just

604
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 2: you know, it's one thing to see it on paper,

605
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 2: it's one thing to see pictures. But then it's another

606
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 2: thing to witness it all together and just the sheer

607
00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 2: volume of the And it's a testament I don't mean

608
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,840
Speaker 2: to when I am bragging about Rush Truck Centers because

609
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:55,960
Speaker 2: the fact that these companies want to support this company

610
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 2: as much as they do to actually show up and

611
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 2: display what they have to various suppliers of Rush truck centers.

612
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:05,799
Speaker 4: It's incredible.

613
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 9: It really is the amount of energy in this auditorium

614
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 9: or what have you, convention hall is amazing. And it's

615
00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,440
Speaker 9: like you say, it's it's it's the company, it's the suppliers,

616
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,880
Speaker 9: the competitors and you know, everybody working together for the

617
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:21,560
Speaker 9: same cause.

618
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 2: And uh, it's quite an event. Or I wish you

619
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:26,600
Speaker 2: all the best. Thank you, it is great talking to you.

620
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 2: Thanks for stopping by a talker. Appreciate it, and uh

621
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,680
Speaker 2: all the best. And I'll be curious to see later

622
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 2: on tonight at the awards banquet. What is going to

623
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,040
Speaker 2: all be about and everything that we.

624
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:42,319
Speaker 9: Here announce the finalists, uh tonight and then uh the

625
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 9: following evening is actually the wards ceremony.

626
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,200
Speaker 2: Actually, as far as what we're doing right now, I

627
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 2: see we will be broadcasting this tonight hopefully, and so

628
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:51,400
Speaker 2: let's actually.

629
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:51,919
Speaker 3: Be Tuesday morning.

630
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:52,320
Speaker 4: Excellent.

631
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:54,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, so all of this will be history by this

632
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:57,719
Speaker 2: but again, thanks for stopping by.

633
00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:58,839
Speaker 3: I certainly appreciate it.

634
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:03,960
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America Trucking Network seven hundred WLW.

635
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 1: News Radio seven hundred WLW, and iHeartRadio Station Guarantee Human

636
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW.

637
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:14,840
Speaker 4: HI Hard Radio.

638
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 10: Run a business and not think Networks seven hundred WLW.

639
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,239
Speaker 2: I have the pleasure of speaking with Robert Lavali. He

640
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 2: is a heavy duty technician from Flagstaff, Arizona. This year

641
00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:30,759
Speaker 2: marks the twentieth and competition at not only the competition

642
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,360
Speaker 2: at twentieth anniversary of the Textkills Rodeo, but your twentieth

643
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,839
Speaker 2: year of competing everyone. Yeah, and prior to this, every

644
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,440
Speaker 2: year a finalist and unfortunately not this year. But again,

645
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:48,799
Speaker 2: as you mentioned off air, you never know what the

646
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 2: competition is going to be coming in. You don't know

647
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 2: what the items are going to be and what things

648
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:56,319
Speaker 2: you're going to have to look for.

649
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 15: Yes, yes, because you might think you're going to be

650
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,719
Speaker 15: doing electronic shooting or transmission and you show up and

651
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,799
Speaker 15: they have you assembling a ship bar housing for an

652
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:06,839
Speaker 15: emetric transmission.

653
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 3: So all the cramming that you think, yes.

654
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 15: I mean, all you do is give yourself a headache,

655
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 15: you know, you know, because I mean, like I said,

656
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:17,880
Speaker 15: one year, you'll think you're going to be doing.

657
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 14: Working on an autoshift component's X Y shift and everything.

658
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:22,520
Speaker 15: You go there and they're going to have you build

659
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 15: a rear section of transmission or sometimes you get you

660
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,799
Speaker 15: focus your skills on the electronic part of it and

661
00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 15: you're assembling gears for an onder on eighteen speed transmission.

662
00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,360
Speaker 14: Well if you and you've never even seen one before.

663
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:41,520
Speaker 2: And what that speaks to is the fact that the

664
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:46,320
Speaker 2: level of competition just to get here is so top

665
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:50,279
Speaker 2: notch that all of these things that they throw at

666
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:56,880
Speaker 2: you you're able to diagnose, treat basically at the physician

667
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 2: at fix. So the actual is overall you don't necessarily

668
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:07,120
Speaker 2: cram for one particular thing, but basically because.

669
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:10,160
Speaker 15: If your knowledge you have to be pretty much very

670
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 15: well rounded in your knowledge of what you are testing in,

671
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:17,319
Speaker 15: you know, because you never know, you never know what

672
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 15: it's going to be.

673
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so it's a surprise. Sometimes it's not

674
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 2: a pleasant surprise exactly.

675
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 15: Well, it's it's like it's like the they bug the trucks. Also,

676
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 15: they'll bug the trucks, you know, and that's their job,

677
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:31,800
Speaker 15: is a bugget, and our job is to try to

678
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:33,439
Speaker 15: figure out what do they do?

679
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:33,919
Speaker 3: All right?

680
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:35,160
Speaker 14: Now there's one year.

681
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,239
Speaker 15: Competition where you try to hook up to a truck

682
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,799
Speaker 15: and you couldn't communicate to it or a thing. And

683
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,640
Speaker 15: you're like, all right, so is it on my end?

684
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 15: Is it a computer? Is a translator? Is it the truck?

685
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:48,759
Speaker 15: Is it a power issue? And then then after so

686
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 15: you're checking all the fuses and stuff, but what they've

687
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,239
Speaker 15: done is you have power on both sides of the fuse.

688
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,359
Speaker 4: Well, what they did, those sneaky guys, they pull.

689
00:38:57,320 --> 00:38:58,919
Speaker 15: The fuse out and they cut the leg off one

690
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 15: side and they put it back.

691
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:02,360
Speaker 3: You have power.

692
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,960
Speaker 14: So now you're completely thrown off the track, you know,

693
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:06,880
Speaker 14: So you don't know.

694
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:10,279
Speaker 15: And then then the judges said, did you physically checked

695
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:11,239
Speaker 15: the FUSEE?

696
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 4: I have power?

697
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:14,840
Speaker 14: Did you physically checked diffuse? No?

698
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:18,319
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.

699
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,720
Speaker 15: Yeah, And did you hear the judges snicker and stuff?

700
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:24,440
Speaker 2: You know, They're like, I got you an that It's

701
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,240
Speaker 2: one of those things where they dream up these things.

702
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:28,920
Speaker 3: They say, Oh, well, I guess.

703
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,359
Speaker 2: We figured that the degree of difficulty last year wasn't

704
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,120
Speaker 2: so much, so we're really gonna get up this year.

705
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 4: Oh, they were sneaky.

706
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,160
Speaker 15: There was one year I competed in pack car and

707
00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 15: they actually welded a fuel line shut because the engine

708
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 15: had a miss. They welded a fuel line shut, so

709
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:47,479
Speaker 15: the line wasn't pulsing, so it.

710
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 4: Wasn't getting fueled to that injector.

711
00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:52,399
Speaker 15: But so you so you had to troubleshoot that by

712
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:52,919
Speaker 15: putting your.

713
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 4: Fingers on the line.

714
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,120
Speaker 15: On every line, you could feel like a little heartbeat

715
00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:00,120
Speaker 15: on every line except for one had no heartbeat. So

716
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:02,160
Speaker 15: then you pull the line off and they welded it shut.

717
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 2: Well, okay, which leads me to ask the question, in

718
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:11,680
Speaker 2: the real world, when would you actually encounter that you

719
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,279
Speaker 2: wouldn't Okay, you would you know it?

720
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 4: Really it's their way.

721
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,680
Speaker 15: Of being creative, okay, and thinking about this stuff. I

722
00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:20,640
Speaker 15: think they wait, they lie awake at night and thinking

723
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:25,520
Speaker 15: about this fan because I mean, they're they're really good

724
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,080
Speaker 15: at what they do. Yeah, and so apparently so they

725
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 15: make us really good at what we do. Okay, we're

726
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:33,560
Speaker 15: speaking with Robert Lavalley. He has a heavy duty technician

727
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,520
Speaker 15: out of flag Staff, Arizona. This is his twentieth year

728
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 15: of competition. And going over some of the things that

729
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 15: some of the weird stuff and the odd stuff that

730
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:44,320
Speaker 15: they have thrown at you over the years.

731
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 2: And I'm sure you've seen a lot of it. You've

732
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 2: seen it all and as far as your career, you've

733
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,479
Speaker 2: probably seen a lot of it. And and I can't

734
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 2: emphasize enough just getting here, as you mentioned, is a

735
00:40:58,000 --> 00:40:58,919
Speaker 2: significant goal.

736
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,759
Speaker 15: You've already won. Yeah, yeah, you've already won. I mean,

737
00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 15: just went in the cash is just is a bonus. Yeah,

738
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,319
Speaker 15: we're just getting getting here is a proud is proud

739
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:09,799
Speaker 15: to be here.

740
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 2: Okay, So let's go back wind back through your career.

741
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:18,080
Speaker 2: What got you involved in this line of work to

742
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:18,640
Speaker 2: begin with?

743
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:22,400
Speaker 15: I didn't have a choice, okay, because I was I

744
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,839
Speaker 15: was a teenager, uh huh. And my father had two

745
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:29,400
Speaker 15: trucking companies okay, and so he had me work on

746
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:32,239
Speaker 15: on trucks. He also raced flat track. He also raced

747
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:36,279
Speaker 15: dirt race cars in northern California. Okay, so I had

748
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,799
Speaker 15: to work on his race car. Also, I was his

749
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:40,799
Speaker 15: pit crew okay, And I had to work on the

750
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 15: trucks because that's well speaking, I.

751
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,000
Speaker 2: Have a sneaky individual. He figured it had some free

752
00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:47,560
Speaker 2: labor there.

753
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:50,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, yes, yes.

754
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:52,279
Speaker 15: And there would be times when I'd be working on

755
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:56,040
Speaker 15: a race car and if I had a question by something,

756
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,840
Speaker 15: you know, I'm fifteen years old, and he'd be sitting

757
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 15: inside the house he said, get back out there and

758
00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:02,120
Speaker 15: figure it out.

759
00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 3: Well, which is kind of to a certain extent, good training.

760
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:08,560
Speaker 15: Because that's how that's how you become self taught. Yeah,

761
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:10,720
Speaker 15: you know, sometimes you have to think through the situation.

762
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:11,719
Speaker 3: You can't.

763
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:14,720
Speaker 15: You can't just run to somebody and ask somebody. Sometimes

764
00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:15,839
Speaker 15: you guys sit back and just.

765
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,680
Speaker 2: You know, skills are applicable to other areas. I mean

766
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,000
Speaker 2: throughout your life. You have certain things. You have a

767
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,040
Speaker 2: plan A, you have a plan B, and you say, okay,

768
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:27,920
Speaker 2: well Plan B isn't working, So then you move to C, A, D,

769
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:29,680
Speaker 2: and some instance, as.

770
00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 15: You get all the way to G, you're still thinking

771
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:33,480
Speaker 15: outside the box.

772
00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:34,000
Speaker 3: Yeah.

773
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hate that term. It's one of those things

774
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:40,000
Speaker 2: that it's used way too much.

775
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:41,160
Speaker 3: With robbery.

776
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:46,520
Speaker 15: There are situations, you know, where you it's something completely

777
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,200
Speaker 15: different than what that what you think is, and so

778
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 15: to keep a job from going all, you know, way

779
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,880
Speaker 15: out and left field, and you kind of have to

780
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,799
Speaker 15: try to narrow it down and focus on what it

781
00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:59,600
Speaker 15: is that you're that you're trying to accomplish exactly.

782
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:03,160
Speaker 2: Speaking with Robert Lavalley, he is the heavy duty technician

783
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:07,279
Speaker 2: for flag Staff, Arizona. Again, twentieth year of competition and

784
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:09,160
Speaker 2: what have you have you seen?

785
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:09,320
Speaker 4: What?

786
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 3: What? What about the.

787
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,399
Speaker 2: Level of competition, the younger people that you're that you're

788
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,520
Speaker 2: seeing coming up through the right, It's tough.

789
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:19,560
Speaker 15: The reason being why it's tough is because in flag

790
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,680
Speaker 15: Staff we have nine technicians uh huh, so we are

791
00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:25,319
Speaker 15: most of us. We are bumper to bumper, uh huh.

792
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:27,799
Speaker 15: One day we'll be working on an engine. Next day

793
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,799
Speaker 15: we'll be doing a transmission or a differential, or suspension

794
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,759
Speaker 15: or or after treatment. Because there is never We do

795
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 15: not specialize. We do not have one specialty. Even though

796
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 15: I'm certified in everything, but I never know what whatever

797
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,160
Speaker 15: the next work order is, That's what I'm doing, okay,

798
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:46,720
Speaker 15: because they don't they don't.

799
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,320
Speaker 4: Say, okay, well, okay, well.

800
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:51,799
Speaker 15: Let's see you just do transmission. So you just hold

801
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:54,680
Speaker 15: off until we get you a transmission job. It's whatever

802
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:58,440
Speaker 15: comes out next. And the people here that I compete against,

803
00:43:58,600 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 15: these are the bigger shop guys.

804
00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:02,439
Speaker 14: That's all they do. This is the bread and butter.

805
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:03,400
Speaker 14: That's their niche.

806
00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:05,960
Speaker 2: And for you to be competitive with that and and

807
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 2: be on the finals year after year after year as

808
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 2: a testament to you and your quality and the fact

809
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:15,359
Speaker 2: of your overall knowledge, so that you know being I

810
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 2: hate to say jack of all trades, but you have

811
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:20,000
Speaker 2: to know a lot of things and have a wealth

812
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:21,560
Speaker 2: of knowledge in order to accomplish that.

813
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:23,440
Speaker 15: That's the reason why I've competed in Pathhart and I've

814
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 15: also qualified for Alison along with it, and also and

815
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:30,200
Speaker 15: and I've also I also do Caterpillar too well.

816
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:32,279
Speaker 2: Talk about a job that every day you don't know

817
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:34,840
Speaker 2: what you're going to encounter. It's every day is a surprise.

818
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,240
Speaker 2: It's like, well, let's get let's get into the shop

819
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,919
Speaker 2: today and find out what's behind door number three.

820
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:41,600
Speaker 15: Yes, it's always nice when you get a big job

821
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:43,680
Speaker 15: because when you call it back to work in the morning,

822
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,839
Speaker 15: you know that you're doing an inframe. But when you're

823
00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 15: doing you know, like after treatment stuff, you go back

824
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 15: in the morning, you're like well, wonder what today is

825
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:54,279
Speaker 15: going to bring. Yeah, but it's also it takes away

826
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,080
Speaker 15: the monotony of the job also because every day is

827
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,919
Speaker 15: a challenge every day every day.

828
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,960
Speaker 2: That's fantastic. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you.

829
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:06,399
Speaker 2: Any words of encouragement to people that are thinking about

830
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:10,320
Speaker 2: getting into the business, how somebody would we.

831
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 15: Really need more technicians to come into this field. We

832
00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:16,200
Speaker 15: have more or less old people retiring than we have

833
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:18,120
Speaker 15: young bucks coming into the business.

834
00:45:18,640 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 2: And it is a good career for people that may

835
00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 2: not necessarily think in terms of that area.

836
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:27,680
Speaker 15: It's something for them to think about. Well, this business

837
00:45:27,719 --> 00:45:30,880
Speaker 15: is becoming so challenging now. So just like a new

838
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:35,000
Speaker 15: Peterbilt has fourteen computers on it, uh huh okay, and you.

839
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:37,400
Speaker 2: Never thought you were going to be a computer specialist.

840
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,480
Speaker 15: No, I started on mechanicals on there. I guess this

841
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,399
Speaker 15: entire transition all right, Robert, has been a pleasure talking

842
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:46,000
Speaker 15: to you. All the best to you and keep at

843
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:49,960
Speaker 15: it again. My guest, Robert Lavalley, heavy duty Technician, flag

844
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:52,399
Speaker 15: Staff Arizona twentieth Competition.

845
00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:55,040
Speaker 3: Been here from the beginning, from day one.

846
00:45:55,200 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm Kevin Gordon, America's struck a network seven hundred WLW.

847
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:08,040
Speaker 7: News, Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.

848
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,400
Speaker 7: We are hearing from the other children of Rob and

849
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,480
Speaker 7: Michelle Reiner following their deaths, with the top of the

850
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:15,080
Speaker 7: hour report