Speaker 1: This is America's trucking network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2: Welcome aboard, thanks for tuning in. The Rush Enterprises twentieth
Speaker 2: Anniversary Tech Skills Rodeo at the Gaylord Opperland Resort and
Speaker 2: Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee is in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 2: The cost of this competition was three million dollars to
Speaker 2: put this on, paid for by four hundred and forty sponsors.
Speaker 2: In addition to all of that, it was a trade show,
Speaker 2: so all of these sponsors brought their equipment, brought their trucks.
Speaker 2: Peterbilt had three of their tractors there to display the
Speaker 2: different cabs and so on. International brought two of theirs.
Speaker 2: There was Commons that brought their engines, a trailer that
Speaker 2: had engines in it. Allison Transmissions had a big van
Speaker 2: there that had their different transmissions in there. It was
Speaker 2: basically all of their wares, all these different boosts, displaying
Speaker 2: all the merchandise that they had from Valvelene to Lucas.
Speaker 3: Oil and so on. It was an amazing event.
Speaker 2: Now as far as the war, talk about a whirlwind
Speaker 2: of activity.
Speaker 3: My goodness.
Speaker 2: We arrived here in Nashville on Saturday, after escaping Snowmageddon
Speaker 2: and Cincinnati. The event started on Sunday morning with out
Speaker 2: of the Collision Center in Smyrna, Tennessee, at.
Speaker 3: Their body shop out there.
Speaker 2: That started at nine am, and then around noonish there,
Speaker 2: about one o'clock or so, I had to rush over
Speaker 2: onto the Convention Center and figure out a way of
Speaker 2: getting in there in order to get the booth set
Speaker 2: up so that we could broadcast from there on Monday.
Speaker 2: So we got that taken care of, and then at
Speaker 2: seven o'clock we all met and went on the General
Speaker 2: Jackson boat, the river boat to tour the Tennessee River
Speaker 2: and see the Nashville skyline. Unfortunately, it was not the
Speaker 2: warmest thing. I think it was. Might have set a
Speaker 2: record in Nashville that it started off at eighteen degrees
Speaker 2: and then by the time the cruise was over, the
Speaker 2: temperature was down around five degrees with about negative numbers
Speaker 2: as far as windshchill factor. That Monday morning started off
Speaker 2: at eight am conducting interviews, show closed at three pm.
Speaker 2: Seven pm, we had a media dinner with the people
Speaker 2: from Rush and talking about the event and met some
Speaker 2: of the folks that were part of the media crew.
Speaker 2: That Tuesday morning, we started off at six thirty am,
Speaker 2: back to the booth, show shut down at three pm,
Speaker 2: got all packed up, got everything down, went to a
Speaker 2: four o'clock press conference with Rusty Rush, the CEO of
Speaker 2: Rush Truck Centers, and then at five forty five, and
Speaker 2: he had some interesting comments and probably in a later
Speaker 2: show we'll talk about some of his comments on the
Speaker 2: state of the industry, how Rush Enterprises is doing. And
Speaker 2: so on five forty five we had a cocktail hour
Speaker 2: and a six thirty the dinner, an award ceremony which
Speaker 2: didn't end until ten thirty. So it was basically every
Speaker 2: day from Sunday morning until Tuesday morning.
Speaker 3: Actually Tuesday night.
Speaker 2: Everything started around from about six o'clock in the morning
Speaker 2: till well after midnight. So it was a very interesting time.
Speaker 4: Now at this.
Speaker 2: Rodeo, over three thousand technicians tested to qualify the top
Speaker 2: performers made it to Nashville well over two hundred participants.
Speaker 2: So Rush Enterprises brought all these people and their spouses
Speaker 2: to this convention and the convention center at opry Land
Speaker 2: Resort and Convention Center. Three days of competitions. The awards
Speaker 2: ceremony was I got to tell you it was beyond expectations.
Speaker 2: The food was great. Over eight hundred people attended, the spouses, executives, participants,
Speaker 2: Over nearly three hundred thousand dollars in checks were awarded,
Speaker 2: and just mind boggling as far as that they were
Speaker 2: issuing prizes in different divisions the parts leasing, Rising Star,
Speaker 2: body Shop, Medium Duty, heavy duty truck sales, and then
Speaker 2: they had the Reserve Champion, the Grand Champion, and then
Speaker 2: they awarded the All Around Grand Rodeo Champion. I'll get
Speaker 2: to him in a moment, but the sheer size of
Speaker 2: the number of people that participated in this, and the
Speaker 2: actual checks that were issued, and the awards ceremony, naming
Speaker 2: every one of the people, having them come up on stage,
Speaker 2: getting their picture taken, and so on. The All Round
Speaker 2: Grand Champion Rodeo Champion Dom McConnell of Rush Truck Centers
Speaker 2: in Orlando, South took away the top prize eighteen thousand
Speaker 2: and five hundred dollars. Now, talk about an interesting story.
Speaker 2: This was his third attempt at the rodeo. In the
Speaker 2: two previous he had not even made the finals, and
Speaker 2: this time around, not only did he win, but he
Speaker 2: became the Grand champion last year at the convention and
Speaker 2: the awards ceremony, it was down in San Antonio, so
Speaker 2: along the river walk down there. He and his fiance
Speaker 2: or and his girlfriend got engaged down there. And so
Speaker 2: at the last Truck Rodeo Awards ceremony or that period,
Speaker 2: he got engaged. And he's as of well, the awards ceremony,
Speaker 2: about seventeen days from now, he and his wife and
Speaker 2: his fiance are going to get married. So talk about
Speaker 2: a whirlwind for him. And it was interesting talking to
Speaker 2: him after the ceremony. We had an opportunity to interview
Speaker 2: him directly a couple of people from the media, and
Speaker 2: it was interesting to listen to him talk about how
Speaker 2: his approach to the show was or to the competition.
Speaker 2: He said in the past he tried to like go
Speaker 2: buy the book. But when you're a technician and you
Speaker 2: know what you're doing and you have the experience, you
Speaker 2: generally have an idea.
Speaker 3: It's not like you know, a.
Speaker 2: Cookbook where you have to start off at step one,
Speaker 2: step two, and you know, just follow those right down
Speaker 2: the line. A lot of the initial things are in
Speaker 2: your head and you just go and do it. And
Speaker 2: then based on a little bit of intuition and because
Speaker 2: you've studied and he talks about he talked about how
Speaker 2: he actually takes the stuff home with him, studies the manuals,
Speaker 2: reads about him over the week, weekend, does stuff in
Speaker 2: terms of basically continuing education in his spare time. So
Speaker 2: this kid, twenty six years old, third competition, this has
Speaker 2: won the overall championship. But here is this guy at
Speaker 2: twenty six years old, a student of what he's his craft,
Speaker 2: and he's just so dedicated to that. And it was
Speaker 2: great to see him win that award and to talk
Speaker 2: to him afterwards. But it was an amazing situation, and
Speaker 2: we had a great conversation with him, and the fact
Speaker 2: that I can't emphasize enough here he is twenty six
Speaker 2: years old, competed three previously, this was his third competition,
Speaker 2: had never placed into the finals, and comes up the
Speaker 2: grand champion. And as he talked about it, was he
Speaker 2: kind of I asked him about it because he said
Speaker 2: the way he put it was I just kind of
Speaker 2: let my instincts take over and based on what my
Speaker 2: knowledge was, I just went into that. And along the way,
Speaker 2: as the judges were coming along, he was explaining to
Speaker 2: them what he was doing, which I asked him if
Speaker 2: that was kind of a new technique. He said, I
Speaker 2: don't know. He said, I've heard other people may have
Speaker 2: done that, but he said, I made an effort to
Speaker 2: make sure that they knew what steps I was doing,
Speaker 2: because part of the competition is they look at how
Speaker 2: your approach to that is as opposed to not only
Speaker 2: diagnosing the problem and so on. So explaining everything that
Speaker 2: he was doing all along the way probably was the
Speaker 2: thing that got him the highest score. And then of
Speaker 2: course winning or eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars.
Speaker 3: That's going to be a nice present.
Speaker 2: Now at the banquet, they always every year Rusty Rush
Speaker 2: and Rush Enterprises has a surprise guest. This year it
Speaker 2: was Clint Boyer, who was car driver and commentator for
Speaker 2: Fox and Nascar on Fox, and he got up and
Speaker 2: had a few words to say, and it was very interesting.
Speaker 2: And then he's standing up there talked with Rusty and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden he says, and oh, by the way,
Speaker 2: there's somebody else here you might know, and he introduces
Speaker 2: Jeff Gordon, a stock car racing legend and chairman and
Speaker 2: vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody was like what they
Speaker 2: were all of a sudden all that you can see
Speaker 2: all the people at the banquet tables all of a
Speaker 2: sudden turning their heads to where Jeff Gordon was sitting.
Speaker 2: And then of course after the bank, once it was over,
Speaker 2: everybody was just flocking to him. Fortunately they were at
Speaker 2: the table right in front of us. So I went
Speaker 2: over and finally got to meet my younger brother Jeff.
Speaker 3: So it was interesting.
Speaker 2: I mentioned to him, how many people are asking me,
Speaker 2: are you related to Jeff Gordon. So anyway, it was
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. The Gaylord opery Land Hotel and
Speaker 2: Resort is just if you've never been been there, you've
Speaker 2: got to go. It is just the a trims, the walkways,
Speaker 2: the sheer volume of what is there and everything.
Speaker 3: I've talked about that over the last couple of days.
Speaker 2: And by the way, if you missed any of that
Speaker 2: stuff that we talked about over the last few days,
Speaker 2: check out a podcast brought to you by Rush Truck Centers. Well, folks,
Speaker 2: well I'll tell you it was just absolutely a fantastic day.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: I need this is the briefing report on America's Trucking
Speaker 1: Network on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 5: One of the aspects of the lawsuit between twenty three
Speaker 5: eleven in Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR and their trial
Speaker 5: was NASCAR was concerned about the racing series SRX over
Speaker 5: the last few years. Daylernhard Junior and his sister Kelly
Speaker 5: on Dirty Moe Radio podcast says NASCAR's concerns were out
Speaker 5: of this world.
Speaker 6: To hear that they were even remostly the least bitten
Speaker 6: threatened is so wow, surprising to me because they're this
Speaker 6: giant that's NASCAR and SRX is just this little thing.
Speaker 4: You know, It's take years to recreate what NASCAR is.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and they were like, there's twelve cars, right, they're
Speaker 6: just barely getting by financially. They're tearing up so much.
Speaker 4: They had no idea.
Speaker 6: It's gonna tear up all that. Yeah, and you know,
Speaker 6: in the end, they couldn't make the money work. SRX
Speaker 6: went away because it's expensive to operate and the money
Speaker 6: that you know, the network, the viewership numbers didn't justify
Speaker 6: the TV contract and the KIV contract couldn't afford the series,
Speaker 6: and so it just financially didn't really work. You know,
Speaker 6: I am surprised by some of the comments that I
Speaker 6: read from Phelps, I mean sorry, from O'Donnell and a
Speaker 6: couple of other people about man, we gotta go, we
Speaker 6: got to put an end to this, or we gotta
Speaker 6: you know, we gotta go take a look at this.
Speaker 7: And again to me, yeah, why are we worried?
Speaker 5: JR Motorsports also revealed a mouth watering new sponsor on Tuesday,
Speaker 5: Dale Earnhardt Junior announced a multi year, multifaceted partnership between
Speaker 5: JR Motorsports and restaurant Arby's. The fast food chain will
Speaker 5: be the primary sponsor for eight NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts
Speaker 5: Series events in twenty twenty six, and will also hold
Speaker 5: a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.
Speaker 1: This is the reasing report on America's drugging network on
Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison.
Speaker 4: For a t N.
Speaker 8: Kids, they are just different than us, They have no inhibitions.
Speaker 5: Will also hold a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.
Speaker 1: This is the wreathing report on America's trucking network on
Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison for a t N.
Speaker 8: Kids. They are just different than us. They have no inhibitions,
Speaker 8: consider silverware optional, and can find fun anywhere. When kids
Speaker 8: get really sick, they're different than us too. That's why
Speaker 8: the Leukemia and Nomphoma Society is introducing the Deer to
Speaker 8: Dream Project, with the largest global clinical trial for kids
Speaker 8: with plumbings.
Speaker 2: He is vice president of Servicing for Rush Truck Centers
Speaker 2: and one of the very important components of this is
Speaker 2: the tech skills and the servicing end of that. So
Speaker 2: kind of give us a little description of that.
Speaker 9: Well, we we start the whole process with online testing,
Speaker 9: so that we we test each technician for their their
Speaker 9: technical skills, you know, via an online test, and the
Speaker 9: top qualifiers come to this event and compete for you know,
Speaker 9: cash and prizes if you will.
Speaker 2: So there is a qualifying event just even guest here
Speaker 2: in the first place.
Speaker 9: We start the testing process July August, you know, months
Speaker 9: ahead of time. It's quite an under taking if you
Speaker 9: think about it. We have close to three thousand technicians.
Speaker 9: Most of them do enroll or enlist for the uh
Speaker 9: for the testing, and it's it's quite.
Speaker 4: An effort to get through all of that uh huh.
Speaker 2: So do you, I guess you guys, encourage them to compete.
Speaker 9: Absolutely absolutely, and and you know, we'll hold calls and
Speaker 9: we'll send out e blast communication and we'll work through
Speaker 9: the managers as well.
Speaker 4: There are you know, a number.
Speaker 9: Of individuals in any given year, especially some of the
Speaker 9: new hires that are apprehensive, nervous. One fear is or
Speaker 9: concern is that if they don't don't do well on
Speaker 9: the test, it'll be posted for everybody to see.
Speaker 4: Test results are anonymous. We do not post that.
Speaker 9: We just post basically who are the top qualifiers in
Speaker 9: order of scoring in the testing. But we we don't
Speaker 9: do anything to shame or embarrass anybody. And so it
Speaker 9: takes a little coaching to talk through that. And I
Speaker 9: will say that U past competitors that talk with the
Speaker 9: tax at the shop or what have you, they are
Speaker 9: no doubt they're the most are they They're the biggest
Speaker 9: contributor to eliciting excitement around the rodeo and participation.
Speaker 2: Rodeo ambassadors, so to speak. Yeah, get everybody interested. And
Speaker 2: I guess and I guess you know, in any environment
Speaker 2: there's always a certain competition within the group itself. And
Speaker 2: so to encourage that and and to promote that is amazing.
Speaker 9: It is amazing, it really is. And you'll find the
Speaker 9: competitors here are all very you know, they're they're celebrating
Speaker 9: for their peers that win, you know, they're most of
Speaker 9: the folks that come are very humble and and they're
Speaker 9: happy for their their peers when they win.
Speaker 4: And it's it's just an exciting event all the way around.
Speaker 2: It is now describe because this is this is a
Speaker 2: great opportunity or great thing about as far as Russia
Speaker 2: is concerned about employee retention, the fact that you guys
Speaker 2: reward people for competing, the amount of prizes involved, and
Speaker 2: the fact that you care about the employees and their success.
Speaker 9: Yeah, we absolutely do and this this event is a
Speaker 9: testament to our commitment to our employees. And I don't
Speaker 9: know how how and depth you've discussed us with others.
Speaker 9: I mean, this started as an event for technicians and
Speaker 9: there were approximately forty competitors twenty years ago, and the
Speaker 9: whole event has evolved to go well beyond that to
Speaker 9: include our revenue generators within the dealership group. So that's
Speaker 9: that's parts people, it's after market sales, truck sales, et cetera.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of energy, a lot of discussion
Speaker 2: in almost every level of the corporation. Yes, which is
Speaker 2: great because now you've got the rev new generation side,
Speaker 2: the parts people, the start of saying, the collision people,
Speaker 2: all those involved in terms of the competition, so every
Speaker 2: level of the company people are competing.
Speaker 3: For these various prizes. We're speaking with.
Speaker 2: Victor Cummings, vice president Operations for Rush Truck Centers, and
Speaker 2: I am blown away by this. This is the first
Speaker 2: time I've been here, and I've read about it. I've
Speaker 2: read about it in the trade magazines and thought what
Speaker 2: a great program this is, but to actually see it
Speaker 2: live is beyond words.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm honestly, I'm blown away too.
Speaker 9: I'm humbled to work with such a very high caliber
Speaker 9: how excuse me, high caliber level of people and you know,
Speaker 9: just humble folks that really care genuinely for our employees,
Speaker 9: and the the amount of effort and collaboration it takes
Speaker 9: to put this together is really something else. When we
Speaker 9: back up at the end of this event and head home,
Speaker 9: our first rodeo meeting is the first week of every month.
Speaker 9: We start very next month planning for the following year.
Speaker 9: So this is a year round project. It's quite a
Speaker 9: wind up coming out here to Nashville. This is our
Speaker 9: twenty year anniversary. That's why we're here. This is where
Speaker 9: it started. And we were actually quite nervous about it,
Speaker 9: just just the logistics and the number of people, what
Speaker 9: it takes to put this together. And the venue is
Speaker 9: a place we've never been for the rodeo. Right, So
Speaker 9: I'll tell you it's been the smoothest so far, and
Speaker 9: it's exciting. And the competitors I've talked to, the suppliers
Speaker 9: I've talked to, are thrilled about the venue, just the
Speaker 9: energy behind it, and you know, the scope of the
Speaker 9: event itself.
Speaker 3: It corrects me proud.
Speaker 2: And what's interesting too is the fact that because of
Speaker 2: the logistics, you got to make sure that you bring
Speaker 2: everything with you. It's not like, Okay, we're in San Antonio.
Speaker 2: It's close to home and if I forget something, I
Speaker 2: just go, yeah, call somebody and say, hey, can you
Speaker 2: bring this over? I mean everything is that whole checklist
Speaker 2: and everything along those lines is very important. Now, we
Speaker 2: had talked about talked briefly off air about how you
Speaker 2: came into this and how this works in terms of
Speaker 2: bringing people up through the ranks and the programs that
Speaker 2: you have. I mean, not only are you dealing with
Speaker 2: people that are that are been in the business for
Speaker 2: years in terms of technicians and hiring them, because are
Speaker 2: also in the process or during the process of developing
Speaker 2: people to come into the trade.
Speaker 4: That is correct.
Speaker 9: You know, we have one group that competes and they're
Speaker 9: called the Rising Star. Uh those are level one, level
Speaker 9: two techs that are new with Rush, and we want
Speaker 9: to be all inclusive. We want the new hires and
Speaker 9: the lower level techs to have that rodeo experience as well,
Speaker 9: and we want it to be fair in terms of competition.
Speaker 9: So it is a separate course or competition if you will,
Speaker 9: from you know, the rest of the technicians and they
Speaker 9: can only compete and Rising Star once. So once you've
Speaker 9: done that, then you have to step up to the
Speaker 9: big leagues.
Speaker 2: So you get through the Triple A ball team and
Speaker 2: now you're into the big lit up to the show,
Speaker 2: so to speak. Well, that's cool, that's that's very interesting. Again,
Speaker 2: we're speaking with Victor Cummings. He is vice president of
Speaker 2: Servicing for Rush Truck Centers and one of the things
Speaker 2: we talked about too, was how in developing people even
Speaker 2: at the at this trade school level. And you had
Speaker 2: a very interesting story that we were talking about as
Speaker 2: far as what your experience was coming out of that
Speaker 2: and the environment into the actual dealership.
Speaker 9: Yes, sometimes I have to hit the pause button, kind
Speaker 9: of rewind and think back to what I experienced, what
Speaker 9: I felt when I came out of trade school hired
Speaker 9: on with a cat dealership. The first especially the first
Speaker 9: couple of weeks on the job was very stressful, is intimidating.
Speaker 9: You know, I really had no idea what I was stept
Speaker 9: and into. I know I wanted to pursue the trade,
Speaker 9: but was just a beginner, a rookie if you will.
Speaker 9: And so we've developed a internship program to work with
Speaker 9: the trade schools to give them that opportunity to get exposure,
Speaker 9: to get their foot in the door prior to actually
Speaker 9: coming on you know, on board. Full time internship program
Speaker 9: is really something like being a part time Level one
Speaker 9: tech and uh, if you like, I can kind of
Speaker 9: give you a quick overview of how it's structured and
Speaker 9: or what you know, why we do what we do.
Speaker 9: So we we partner with a sc accredited trade schools
Speaker 9: and we have a set like fundamentals training if you will.
Speaker 9: And and OIES have given us permission to allow the
Speaker 9: trade school students to take the online training. So we
Speaker 9: define here are here basically the fundamentals to kind of
Speaker 9: get your head around, you know, just the basics of
Speaker 9: what we do at our dealership and the product, et cetera.
Speaker 4: They need to do that on their own time.
Speaker 9: It's part of their curriculum, and then once they complete
Speaker 9: that training, we bring them into the dealership for approximately
Speaker 9: twenty hours of shadowing.
Speaker 4: So we really want.
Speaker 9: Them to experience and see from cradle to grave the
Speaker 9: whole repair process, meaning from when the truck pulls into
Speaker 9: the gate to when the truck leaves the gate. So
Speaker 9: there's the write up process, there's the dispatch to the technician,
Speaker 9: the parts ordering process, working with the back counter, pulling
Speaker 9: the parts out of the warehouse, and anything involved in
Speaker 9: supporting the tech to get that truck back on the road.
Speaker 9: And we find that that really does a lot to
Speaker 9: kind of give them a perspective and a better understanding,
Speaker 9: and it empowers.
Speaker 4: Them to speak up when something doesn't make sense.
Speaker 9: We allow anywhere from six months to a year to
Speaker 9: complete the program. So they do this while they're going
Speaker 9: to school, and we're very flexible around the hours that
Speaker 9: they work.
Speaker 4: If it's a couple hours of night Monday.
Speaker 9: Through Friday, all day Saturday, whatever works best or accommodates
Speaker 9: their schedule is what we do to work with them
Speaker 9: to allow them, you know, the flexibility to complete the program.
Speaker 4: Very good.
Speaker 2: Now, are you finding the younger people that it's it's
Speaker 2: the recruiting process itself easier or is it even more difficult.
Speaker 4: It's far more challenging than it's been.
Speaker 2: Tell you what, let's take a quick break and we
Speaker 2: can pick this up on the other start. All right, thanks,
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, america'struck A Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7: News Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
Speaker 7: A primetime speech from the White House, and President Trump
Speaker 7: is making his case to the country with the twelve
Speaker 7: thirty report. I'm Bretdy Hopkins. Breaking Now. Trump highlighted in
Speaker 7: his first eleven month in office in his speech last night,
Speaker 7: saying prices are coming down while blaming President Joe Biden
Speaker 7: for inflation and immigration. He also announced a Warrior dividend
Speaker 7: for military members ahead of Christmas.
Speaker 10: President just there said that prices are coming down and fast,
Speaker 10: but the latest government data actually shows that consumer prices
Speaker 10: are up three percent compared to a year ago, and
Speaker 10: that trend isn't going in the right direction. That same
Speaker 10: data showing that prices have been ticking up for the
Speaker 10: past five months.
Speaker 7: ABC's Mary Bruce now the latest forecast from the Train
Speaker 7: Heating and Cooling Weather Center on US Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 11: As we start your Thursday, the wind begins to pick
Speaker 11: up with temperatures in the upper thirties and low forties.
Speaker 11: Likely try to start things, but in the afternoon scattered
Speaker 11: rain of rives, maybe even a few rumbles of thunder.
Speaker 11: Late in the day. It will also be windy with
Speaker 11: a high near fifty three. Cold air push us in
Speaker 11: at night, dropping US to twenty three by Friday morning,
Speaker 11: with a few snowflakes possible overnight. From your severe Weather station,
Speaker 11: I'm nine first Warning meter REBLOGUS Mark Stitz News Radio
Speaker 11: seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7: Thirty eight degrees Right now in the Tri State, Duke
Speaker 7: Energy is saying new technology is sharply reducing power outages
Speaker 7: across the states of Ohio and Kentucky. The utility says
Speaker 7: it's smart grid and self healing technology prevented nearly four
Speaker 7: hundred thousand outages this year, saving about one point four
Speaker 7: million hours of lost power. The system automatically reroots electricity
Speaker 7: when lines are damaged, often limiting outages to brief flickers.
Speaker 7: Duke says more than three quarters of customers in the
Speaker 7: region now benefit from the upgraded grid. I'm Travis Laird
Speaker 7: News Radio seven hundred WLW. In the meantime, security is
Speaker 7: being increased up at Ryle High School this week out
Speaker 7: of abundance of caution after a threatening message was found
Speaker 7: scribbled on a wall, and police have not yet been
Speaker 7: able to determine the message credibility at this time. Our
Speaker 7: next update at one o'clock in breaking news anytime, I'm
Speaker 7: Bretty Hopkins's News Radio seven hundred WLW.
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Speaker 12: That's od dot com.
Speaker 2: The free iHeartRadio app is the number one app for
Speaker 2: the holiday.
Speaker 13: Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the
Speaker 13: rest of the country.
Speaker 14: And the Try State.
Speaker 13: Overnight partly cloudy the low down to thirty two, afternoon
Speaker 13: rain Thursday, high fifty six. Friday mostly claudy early than
Speaker 13: gradually becoming sunny and colder. Highs only the lower thirties.
Speaker 13: Partly sunny Saturday, in a bit of a warm up,
Speaker 13: a high of forty eight Nationally from the northwest of
Speaker 13: the north central US dangerous winds and heavy snow scene.
Speaker 13: Heavy rain is likely over parts of the Pacific Northwest
Speaker 13: starting Thursday, while heavy mountain snow continues in the Pacific
Speaker 13: Northwest and northern Rockies. Most of the country expected to
Speaker 13: see about average temperatures. There's the potential for record tying
Speaker 13: or record breaking highs out west and in the New
Speaker 13: England States.
Speaker 2: Kevin Gordon America struck In Network seven hundred WLW continue
Speaker 2: our conversation with Victor Cummings. He is the vice president
Speaker 2: of Servicing for Rush Enterprises.
Speaker 3: Rush truck centers, which.
Speaker 2: Really, I guess in and of itself is one of
Speaker 2: the has got to be an extremely challenging job. With
Speaker 2: over one hundred and forty service centers around the country,
Speaker 2: that has got to really be a huge undertaking for
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 4: It is. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 9: It is challenging, It can be stressful at times depending
Speaker 9: on what's going on in any given day, but it's
Speaker 9: also very rewarding. Uh huh, it's I think the most
Speaker 9: rewarding aspect of my job is being able to provide
Speaker 9: an opportunity for others.
Speaker 4: You know, similar.
Speaker 9: Opportunities are provided for me younger in my career. But yeah,
Speaker 9: it is. It is a very challenging job. There's the
Speaker 9: there's the employee component, and then there's the customer.
Speaker 3: Component and the corporate component.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that is true, That is true, you know, that's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's it is important with the being a
Speaker 2: tune with the customer making sure they're happy, and then
Speaker 2: of course the employees and make sure they're happy. We
Speaker 2: talked about previously about another challenging aspect of the business
Speaker 2: is bringing people in, like younger people.
Speaker 3: What that's like. You mentioned that that's a lot more
Speaker 3: challenging today.
Speaker 9: Far more challenging for for a number of reasons you
Speaker 9: don't have. It's not as common for younger folks to
Speaker 9: work with you know, say their dad on a hot
Speaker 9: rod in the garage or grow up on a farm.
Speaker 4: It's just it's just not as common.
Speaker 9: And the younger, uh, you know, trades people today are
Speaker 9: starting out at somewhat of a disadvantage because of that
Speaker 9: lack of experience. On top of that, you know, the
Speaker 9: vehicles are are far more complex and the emission systems
Speaker 9: are ever changing. So it's it's it's just ongoing learning
Speaker 9: and education, and it's tough. It takes a different level
Speaker 9: of expertise to diagnose the truck today than it did, say,
Speaker 9: twenty thirty years ago. And when we were talking about
Speaker 9: the internship program, you know, the main focus there is
Speaker 9: really easing that transition from the student school environment to
Speaker 9: the dealership environment and you know, giving them a good
Speaker 9: smooth transition over time to get used to that environment,
Speaker 9: to the people, et cetera, versus just diving into the
Speaker 9: cold wall.
Speaker 2: Well you mentioned, you know, before diving into the cold water,
Speaker 2: you said, coming out of trade school, he was thinking, oh,
Speaker 2: going in a dealership here.
Speaker 3: How hard could it be?
Speaker 2: Right, all of a sudden reality hits you in the
Speaker 2: face of the nervous and all that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: But now, as far as the younger pe are you
Speaker 2: finding more? I guess, I guess maybe I'm just in
Speaker 2: the circle of where I'm hearing more and more about
Speaker 2: younger people that are turning towards the trades that some
Speaker 2: of the other schooling, some of the other stuff just
Speaker 2: isn't there or it doesn't peak their attention, and so
Speaker 2: that they're turning more towards the trades as a way
Speaker 2: of getting into the business world or getting into the workforce.
Speaker 2: And I think surprising themselves as to what it's like.
Speaker 9: Well, trades are becoming cool again, eat and it's great
Speaker 9: to see. And really that's what you know, keeps this
Speaker 9: country going, uh huh, And yeah, it is.
Speaker 4: It's exciting.
Speaker 9: It's exciting to see the enthusiasm from various companies to
Speaker 9: really focus in on the importance of trades, you know,
Speaker 9: skilled trades.
Speaker 2: And well, as you mentioned about the diagnostics in terms
Speaker 2: of the computers involved.
Speaker 3: In the in the.
Speaker 2: Systems, and then the operations and the engine emissions control
Speaker 2: and that sort of thing that is well beyond what
Speaker 2: the you know, turning the wrenches were years ago. This
Speaker 2: requires a level of you know, if you're if you're
Speaker 2: into the tech end of it or in terms of
Speaker 2: computers and so on, there's that for you, if there's
Speaker 2: you discover along those lines that you're interested in working
Speaker 2: with your hands to a certain extent. And I think
Speaker 2: a lot of people realize that when they do that,
Speaker 2: there is that sense of accomplishment.
Speaker 9: Absolutely yes, it's and and the technician world has become
Speaker 9: uh far more specialized.
Speaker 4: Uh huh and uh.
Speaker 9: I can see where you know, you see some of
Speaker 9: the younger, uh skilled technicians coming into the business and
Speaker 9: and really gravitating towards the computer side of the truck,
Speaker 9: the diagnostics and and you know, it's exciting to see
Speaker 9: some of the older texts are not as interested in
Speaker 9: that part of it. They'd rather work on the mechanical bonus. Well, yeah,
Speaker 9: change is always always difficulty. We're speaking again with Victor Cummings.
Speaker 9: He is the vice president of vice president of Service Operations.
Speaker 9: Now getting back to the show here itself, the twentieth
Speaker 9: anniversary and the amount of prizes involved, the amount of
Speaker 9: bragging rates. The amount of trophies that we look across
Speaker 9: the way and see those, it is absolutely impressive. And
Speaker 9: from a recruitment standpoint, this is a recruiting tool that
Speaker 9: people say, you know, coming into Rush truck centers, you
Speaker 9: have the opportunity to do this, But then once you're there,
Speaker 9: here's the opportunity. And then people see how much the
Speaker 9: company cares about them competing and putting them in a
Speaker 9: position where they can compete for these prizes. Yeah, I
Speaker 9: really believe it's a testament to you know, what Rush
Speaker 9: is as a company and the value that we have
Speaker 9: for our employees.
Speaker 4: And it makes me proud to be a part of
Speaker 4: all this.
Speaker 9: And my first participation or engagement in this event was
Speaker 9: as a supplier, you know, providing equipment and judges for
Speaker 9: this event. And I'll never forget the first time it
Speaker 9: came and just myself, you know, as a visitor to
Speaker 9: see the whole event take place, it was just incredible.
Speaker 9: It's quite an event. I've never seen another company put
Speaker 9: on anything quite like this. And I don't mean to
Speaker 9: brag when I say that I'm bragging about my company,
Speaker 9: my employer, you know.
Speaker 2: I'm bragging about seeing it because again, I'm this my
Speaker 2: first time and I don't hear about this and a
Speaker 2: lot of other companies, which piques my attention to begin with,
Speaker 2: and then to actually be here and witness it as
Speaker 2: something else.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'd like to make a plug for our CEO,
Speaker 9: Rusty Rush.
Speaker 4: He's an amazing individual.
Speaker 9: I've worked for a few other publicly traded companies and
Speaker 9: similar in size prior to coming to Rush fourteen years ago,
Speaker 9: and I have never encountered anybody in leadership, any leadership role,
Speaker 9: and especially at the CEO level that is as engaged
Speaker 9: is Rusty. And when you see them on stage and
Speaker 9: they're handing out the wards, that's Rusty Rush. And it's
Speaker 9: quite an event you're going to You're really going to
Speaker 9: enjoy it.
Speaker 3: I'm really looking forward to it, Yes.
Speaker 9: And so he he's you know, fully supportive of this event.
Speaker 9: And our suppliers are amazing. We couldn't do without them.
Speaker 9: It's just the synergy that brings it all together is amazing.
Speaker 2: But and the excitement around the room in terms of
Speaker 2: looking at the various suppliers, I mean, it is just
Speaker 2: you know, it's one thing to see it on paper,
Speaker 2: it's one thing to see pictures. But then it's another
Speaker 2: thing to witness it all together and just the sheer
Speaker 2: volume of the And it's a testament I don't mean
Speaker 2: to when I am bragging about Rush Truck Centers because
Speaker 2: the fact that these companies want to support this company
Speaker 2: as much as they do to actually show up and
Speaker 2: display what they have to various suppliers of Rush truck centers.
Speaker 4: It's incredible.
Speaker 9: It really is the amount of energy in this auditorium
Speaker 9: or what have you, convention hall is amazing. And it's
Speaker 9: like you say, it's it's it's the company, it's the suppliers,
Speaker 9: the competitors and you know, everybody working together for the
Speaker 9: same cause.
Speaker 2: And uh, it's quite an event. Or I wish you
Speaker 2: all the best. Thank you, it is great talking to you.
Speaker 2: Thanks for stopping by a talker. Appreciate it, and uh
Speaker 2: all the best. And I'll be curious to see later
Speaker 2: on tonight at the awards banquet. What is going to
Speaker 2: all be about and everything that we.
Speaker 9: Here announce the finalists, uh tonight and then uh the
Speaker 9: following evening is actually the wards ceremony.
Speaker 2: Actually, as far as what we're doing right now, I
Speaker 2: see we will be broadcasting this tonight hopefully, and so
Speaker 2: let's actually.
Speaker 3: Be Tuesday morning.
Speaker 4: Excellent.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so all of this will be history by this
Speaker 2: but again, thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 3: I certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I'm Kevin Gordon, America Trucking Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: News Radio seven hundred WLW, and iHeartRadio Station Guarantee Human
Speaker 1: seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4: HI Hard Radio.
Speaker 10: Run a business and not think Networks seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 2: I have the pleasure of speaking with Robert Lavali. He
Speaker 2: is a heavy duty technician from Flagstaff, Arizona. This year
Speaker 2: marks the twentieth and competition at not only the competition
Speaker 2: at twentieth anniversary of the Textkills Rodeo, but your twentieth
Speaker 2: year of competing everyone. Yeah, and prior to this, every
Speaker 2: year a finalist and unfortunately not this year. But again,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned off air, you never know what the
Speaker 2: competition is going to be coming in. You don't know
Speaker 2: what the items are going to be and what things
Speaker 2: you're going to have to look for.
Speaker 15: Yes, yes, because you might think you're going to be
Speaker 15: doing electronic shooting or transmission and you show up and
Speaker 15: they have you assembling a ship bar housing for an
Speaker 15: emetric transmission.
Speaker 3: So all the cramming that you think, yes.
Speaker 15: I mean, all you do is give yourself a headache,
Speaker 15: you know, you know, because I mean, like I said,
Speaker 15: one year, you'll think you're going to be doing.
Speaker 14: Working on an autoshift component's X Y shift and everything.
Speaker 15: You go there and they're going to have you build
Speaker 15: a rear section of transmission or sometimes you get you
Speaker 15: focus your skills on the electronic part of it and
Speaker 15: you're assembling gears for an onder on eighteen speed transmission.
Speaker 14: Well if you and you've never even seen one before.
Speaker 2: And what that speaks to is the fact that the
Speaker 2: level of competition just to get here is so top
Speaker 2: notch that all of these things that they throw at
Speaker 2: you you're able to diagnose, treat basically at the physician
Speaker 2: at fix. So the actual is overall you don't necessarily
Speaker 2: cram for one particular thing, but basically because.
Speaker 15: If your knowledge you have to be pretty much very
Speaker 15: well rounded in your knowledge of what you are testing in,
Speaker 15: you know, because you never know, you never know what
Speaker 15: it's going to be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so it's a surprise. Sometimes it's not
Speaker 2: a pleasant surprise exactly.
Speaker 15: Well, it's it's like it's like the they bug the trucks. Also,
Speaker 15: they'll bug the trucks, you know, and that's their job,
Speaker 15: is a bugget, and our job is to try to
Speaker 15: figure out what do they do?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 14: Now there's one year.
Speaker 15: Competition where you try to hook up to a truck
Speaker 15: and you couldn't communicate to it or a thing. And
Speaker 15: you're like, all right, so is it on my end?
Speaker 15: Is it a computer? Is a translator? Is it the truck?
Speaker 15: Is it a power issue? And then then after so
Speaker 15: you're checking all the fuses and stuff, but what they've
Speaker 15: done is you have power on both sides of the fuse.
Speaker 4: Well, what they did, those sneaky guys, they pull.
Speaker 15: The fuse out and they cut the leg off one
Speaker 15: side and they put it back.
Speaker 3: You have power.
Speaker 14: So now you're completely thrown off the track, you know,
Speaker 14: So you don't know.
Speaker 15: And then then the judges said, did you physically checked
Speaker 15: the FUSEE?
Speaker 4: I have power?
Speaker 14: Did you physically checked diffuse? No?
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 15: Yeah, And did you hear the judges snicker and stuff?
Speaker 2: You know, They're like, I got you an that It's
Speaker 2: one of those things where they dream up these things.
Speaker 3: They say, Oh, well, I guess.
Speaker 2: We figured that the degree of difficulty last year wasn't
Speaker 2: so much, so we're really gonna get up this year.
Speaker 4: Oh, they were sneaky.
Speaker 15: There was one year I competed in pack car and
Speaker 15: they actually welded a fuel line shut because the engine
Speaker 15: had a miss. They welded a fuel line shut, so
Speaker 15: the line wasn't pulsing, so it.
Speaker 4: Wasn't getting fueled to that injector.
Speaker 15: But so you so you had to troubleshoot that by
Speaker 15: putting your.
Speaker 4: Fingers on the line.
Speaker 15: On every line, you could feel like a little heartbeat
Speaker 15: on every line except for one had no heartbeat. So
Speaker 15: then you pull the line off and they welded it shut.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, which leads me to ask the question, in
Speaker 2: the real world, when would you actually encounter that you
Speaker 2: wouldn't Okay, you would you know it?
Speaker 4: Really it's their way.
Speaker 15: Of being creative, okay, and thinking about this stuff. I
Speaker 15: think they wait, they lie awake at night and thinking
Speaker 15: about this fan because I mean, they're they're really good
Speaker 15: at what they do. Yeah, and so apparently so they
Speaker 15: make us really good at what we do. Okay, we're
Speaker 15: speaking with Robert Lavalley. He has a heavy duty technician
Speaker 15: out of flag Staff, Arizona. This is his twentieth year
Speaker 15: of competition. And going over some of the things that
Speaker 15: some of the weird stuff and the odd stuff that
Speaker 15: they have thrown at you over the years.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure you've seen a lot of it. You've
Speaker 2: seen it all and as far as your career, you've
Speaker 2: probably seen a lot of it. And and I can't
Speaker 2: emphasize enough just getting here, as you mentioned, is a
Speaker 2: significant goal.
Speaker 15: You've already won. Yeah, yeah, you've already won. I mean,
Speaker 15: just went in the cash is just is a bonus. Yeah,
Speaker 15: we're just getting getting here is a proud is proud
Speaker 15: to be here.
Speaker 2: Okay, So let's go back wind back through your career.
Speaker 2: What got you involved in this line of work to
Speaker 2: begin with?
Speaker 15: I didn't have a choice, okay, because I was I
Speaker 15: was a teenager, uh huh. And my father had two
Speaker 15: trucking companies okay, and so he had me work on
Speaker 15: on trucks. He also raced flat track. He also raced
Speaker 15: dirt race cars in northern California. Okay, so I had
Speaker 15: to work on his race car. Also, I was his
Speaker 15: pit crew okay, And I had to work on the
Speaker 15: trucks because that's well speaking, I.
Speaker 2: Have a sneaky individual. He figured it had some free
Speaker 2: labor there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, yes, yes.
Speaker 15: And there would be times when I'd be working on
Speaker 15: a race car and if I had a question by something,
Speaker 15: you know, I'm fifteen years old, and he'd be sitting
Speaker 15: inside the house he said, get back out there and
Speaker 15: figure it out.
Speaker 3: Well, which is kind of to a certain extent, good training.
Speaker 15: Because that's how that's how you become self taught. Yeah,
Speaker 15: you know, sometimes you have to think through the situation.
Speaker 3: You can't.
Speaker 15: You can't just run to somebody and ask somebody. Sometimes
Speaker 15: you guys sit back and just.
Speaker 2: You know, skills are applicable to other areas. I mean
Speaker 2: throughout your life. You have certain things. You have a
Speaker 2: plan A, you have a plan B, and you say, okay,
Speaker 2: well Plan B isn't working, So then you move to C, A, D,
Speaker 2: and some instance, as.
Speaker 15: You get all the way to G, you're still thinking
Speaker 15: outside the box.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hate that term. It's one of those things
Speaker 2: that it's used way too much.
Speaker 3: With robbery.
Speaker 15: There are situations, you know, where you it's something completely
Speaker 15: different than what that what you think is, and so
Speaker 15: to keep a job from going all, you know, way
Speaker 15: out and left field, and you kind of have to
Speaker 15: try to narrow it down and focus on what it
Speaker 15: is that you're that you're trying to accomplish exactly.
Speaker 2: Speaking with Robert Lavalley, he is the heavy duty technician
Speaker 2: for flag Staff, Arizona. Again, twentieth year of competition and
Speaker 2: what have you have you seen?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 3: What? What about the.
Speaker 2: Level of competition, the younger people that you're that you're
Speaker 2: seeing coming up through the right, It's tough.
Speaker 15: The reason being why it's tough is because in flag
Speaker 15: Staff we have nine technicians uh huh, so we are
Speaker 15: most of us. We are bumper to bumper, uh huh.
Speaker 15: One day we'll be working on an engine. Next day
Speaker 15: we'll be doing a transmission or a differential, or suspension
Speaker 15: or or after treatment. Because there is never We do
Speaker 15: not specialize. We do not have one specialty. Even though
Speaker 15: I'm certified in everything, but I never know what whatever
Speaker 15: the next work order is, That's what I'm doing, okay,
Speaker 15: because they don't they don't.
Speaker 4: Say, okay, well, okay, well.
Speaker 15: Let's see you just do transmission. So you just hold
Speaker 15: off until we get you a transmission job. It's whatever
Speaker 15: comes out next. And the people here that I compete against,
Speaker 15: these are the bigger shop guys.
Speaker 14: That's all they do. This is the bread and butter.
Speaker 14: That's their niche.
Speaker 2: And for you to be competitive with that and and
Speaker 2: be on the finals year after year after year as
Speaker 2: a testament to you and your quality and the fact
Speaker 2: of your overall knowledge, so that you know being I
Speaker 2: hate to say jack of all trades, but you have
Speaker 2: to know a lot of things and have a wealth
Speaker 2: of knowledge in order to accomplish that.
Speaker 15: That's the reason why I've competed in Pathhart and I've
Speaker 15: also qualified for Alison along with it, and also and
Speaker 15: and I've also I also do Caterpillar too well.
Speaker 2: Talk about a job that every day you don't know
Speaker 2: what you're going to encounter. It's every day is a surprise.
Speaker 2: It's like, well, let's get let's get into the shop
Speaker 2: today and find out what's behind door number three.
Speaker 15: Yes, it's always nice when you get a big job
Speaker 15: because when you call it back to work in the morning,
Speaker 15: you know that you're doing an inframe. But when you're
Speaker 15: doing you know, like after treatment stuff, you go back
Speaker 15: in the morning, you're like well, wonder what today is
Speaker 15: going to bring. Yeah, but it's also it takes away
Speaker 15: the monotony of the job also because every day is
Speaker 15: a challenge every day every day.
Speaker 2: That's fantastic. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 2: Any words of encouragement to people that are thinking about
Speaker 2: getting into the business, how somebody would we.
Speaker 15: Really need more technicians to come into this field. We
Speaker 15: have more or less old people retiring than we have
Speaker 15: young bucks coming into the business.
Speaker 2: And it is a good career for people that may
Speaker 2: not necessarily think in terms of that area.
Speaker 15: It's something for them to think about. Well, this business
Speaker 15: is becoming so challenging now. So just like a new
Speaker 15: Peterbilt has fourteen computers on it, uh huh okay, and you.
Speaker 2: Never thought you were going to be a computer specialist.
Speaker 15: No, I started on mechanicals on there. I guess this
Speaker 15: entire transition all right, Robert, has been a pleasure talking
Speaker 15: to you. All the best to you and keep at
Speaker 15: it again. My guest, Robert Lavalley, heavy duty Technician, flag
Speaker 15: Staff Arizona twentieth Competition.
Speaker 3: Been here from the beginning, from day one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm Kevin Gordon, America's struck a network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7: News, Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
Speaker 7: We are hearing from the other children of Rob and
Speaker 7: Michelle Reiner following their deaths, with the top of the
Speaker 7: hour report