November 25, 2025 • 35 mins
Roads change, but a calling doesn’t. We sit down with Kevin Goodyear to trace a line from a 1960s Gulf station to a modern towing and recovery operation spanning Alabama, Florida, and Georgia—and we dig into the choice that sparked it all: a 19‑year‑old selling his car to buy a used wrecker. That decision opens the door to a bigger story about what towing really is: disciplined emergency response, safety-first operations, and the kind of training that turns heavy equipment into life‑saving tools.
Kevin unpacks the realities of running multi‑state terminals, from insurance pressures to environmental liability, and why captive insurance paired with strong safety practices can keep companies stable when premiums surge. We talk through a vivid rescue where two rotators, precise rigging, and steady coordination helped free a trapped driver—an example of how towing professionals partner with fire and EMS to secure scenes and protect lives. Along the way, we confront public perception and why Slow Down Move Over is just the start; the industry must keep showing up, training with first responders, and telling the truth about the work.
This conversation also looks ahead. Kevin shares how he’s bringing his daughter and son‑in‑law into the business with intention, using national peer groups, legislative exposure, and hands‑on learning to build a well‑rounded leadership bench. Training weekends become more than classes—they’re catalysts for better habits, broader perspectives, and a network that makes everyone sharper on Monday. If you care about towing, heavy recovery, incident management, or simply what it takes to build a resilient family business, you’ll find practical insight and a renewed respect for the professionals who keep roads safe.
Enjoyed the episode? Follow, share with a friend who works in public safety or logistics, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. Your feedback moves the mission forward.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_05 (00:04):
You are on the train to success with April and West
Wilburne.
I'm DJ Hamilton, the co-host,better known as the Toad Doctor.
We're all on our way to the townof proper towing and recovery,
along with our producer, ChuckCamp in the studio.
Don't go to the town of woulda,coulda, shoulda.
(00:26):
You could have done this.
You should have done that.
Listen every week tothought-provoking wisdom from
great guests.
So if you have Spotify, iTunes,Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia,
or the number one podcast, ormaybe Amazon, or wherever you
(00:49):
get your podcast, turn in onWednesday and be turned on all
week long.
If you are a state associationand want your announcements or
upcoming state association news,or maybe a post show that's
coming up, let us know.
Our podcast studio phone numberis 706-409-5603.
(01:15):
I'm proud to be part of a greatteam at the American Drone
Recovery Institute.
Let's make 2025 our best yearever.
I will turn it to April Lewis.
SPEAKER_04 (01:27):
Oh, DJ, thank you so much for those kind words.
And um uh as always, we doappreciate everything that you
bring to us and um and all yourwords of wisdom.
Today on Towing News Now withthe Tony with the American Tony
Recovery Institute, we have avery special guest.
He has been on before and he andWes just completed a class
(01:50):
together, so we'll go into someof that too.
But I've got Kevin Goodyear.
Kevin, it's been a it's been aminute, so why don't you
reintroduce yourself to thosewho already those who may not
know you and familiarfamiliarize yourself with people
who already do.
SPEAKER_06 (02:05):
Oh, okay.
Um my name's Kevin Goodyear.
Um I own uh Goodyear towing andEastern Diesel.
We operate out of uh Panano,Florida, South Alabama,
Southwest Georgia.
And um we've been in thebusiness for many years,
multi-generations, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (02:26):
How many years how many how many years has Goodyear
Kevin Goodyear Towing beenaround?
SPEAKER_06 (02:33):
Kevin Goodyear Toewing has been around since
1989.
Uh the family started in thebusiness in nineteen sixty-six.
SPEAKER_04 (02:43):
And what was that called at that time when when
that started in nineteen sixtysix?
What was it called then?
SPEAKER_06 (02:49):
You know, I really have no idea.
That was my grandfather's gasstation business down on Main
Street, Enterprise, Alabama.
It was North Main Gulf, so I'mnew at the Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (03:03):
That's good enough for the government, as people
say, so it was your greatgrandfather who started it or
your grandfather who started it?
SPEAKER_06 (03:12):
My grandfather started in in the server station
business, which is where whatlanded us where we are today.
Anyway, you kind of twisted.
My mom we're speaking ofgrandfather, it's my mom's
father.
He on the gas station and my dadwas you know, we're near a
military base here just like youguys are.
(03:35):
My dad's family had moved toEnterprise Alabama here where um
after they retired from the AirForce to get, you know, a
civilian job at the militarypost.
So my dad wound up going to workat my grandfather's gas station,
and that's that's how he met mymom and whatnot.
SPEAKER_04 (03:52):
So did your mom work at the gas station then or was
she just She did.
SPEAKER_06 (03:58):
She was just a kid in school, but she went up there
and you know, kept track of theaccounts and stuff like that.
So that's that's where we mether at.
SPEAKER_04 (04:06):
Well that's it that's a begin that's the
beginning of the legacy.
It's what they call an originstory.
SPEAKER_06 (04:11):
Yeah, they they were just teenagers, you know, and uh
so Yeah, that's how that's howwe got our got our start in
this.
And then you know, later on mydad had a garage business and
they had a couple of wreckers,they used pull cars into the
garage, that kind of thing.
But you know, we really didn'tget in the in the wrecker
(04:34):
business, or what I call thewrecker business, you know,
until I started doing it in thelate eighties.
Uh prior to that in our area,you know, it was always
considered a sideline to behonest with you.
Nobody figured you could youcould you could do it standalone
anyway.
And at that time, Wes and Ispoke about this before, but at
(04:56):
that time there was a tow truckat every gas station, at every
car dealership, every garage hada record.
So there wasn't, you know, itwasn't the uh volume of business
that we have today.
Because there was more morepeople doing that, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (05:11):
But a lot of the starts of some of these towing
companies has been around umlong the time that your grand
your granddad's business or youknow, even older than that, most
of the times they have startedoff as a gas station.
And it just it just kind of, youknow, went from there one.
So your your um gas station andthen it went to auto repair, but
(05:36):
towing was all the way throughit.
SPEAKER_06 (05:38):
Yeah, there was always there was always a a tow
truck involved, a service truckinvolved.
You know, that back in the day,April, that was just that was
shop equipment.
That's just something you had tohave to serve your customers and
they didn't really even want thestuff, but they had to have it.
SPEAKER_04 (05:54):
And uh you know, so for you, gas station, auto
repair, and then like you said,the tow truck was basically just
equipment.
It was it was the same thing asa wrench for you, but what made
you decide that the thing thatyou were gonna do was towing
instead of the other two aspectsof what your family had started?
SPEAKER_06 (06:17):
Well, my my mom and dad decided to to get out of the
garage business in the late 80s.
And um to be frank with you, Idid not like the garage business
that well, so I didn't want tobe involved with that.
And um so I just I literally I Ihad a personal car that I
(06:39):
literally sold on a Friday,bought an old used tow truck,
and went to work on Monday.
You know, it was a rough deal,but but but that's that's really
where where I started was justfrom selling that car and buying
an old used tow truck.
SPEAKER_04 (06:55):
So it seemed like it it seemed like an impulse
decision, but I bet you itwasn't.
I bet you had been thinkingabout that for a little while.
SPEAKER_06 (07:02):
Well, you gotta realize a kid 19 years old where
you know my options were youknow to try to you know try to
figure out a way to muddlethrough college and do something
like that, no way to pay for it,or you know, go to work at the
Ford dealership, turning ranchesor something like that, you
know.
Next option would have been, youknow, dumping fries at
(07:24):
McDonald's.
So the options sucked.
Yeah.
You know, so it it was reallyone of them deals where, you
know, I I just you know, I justdecided I was I was gonna do it,
you know, and and and um oh, youknow, you gotta realize all
these adults and older peopleand everything else, like you
(07:45):
can't make it doing that, yeah,yeah, yeah, this and that, you
know.
And and it was it was achallenge.
It was a challenge for a goodmany years, I can tell you that.
SPEAKER_04 (07:53):
Can imagine, I can imagine.
Um, I think you're kind of likeright there, you're in Alabama,
but you're close to Georgia andand Florida.
I mean you bought you boughtshops there too.
So I don't know.
SPEAKER_06 (08:06):
So we are we are 20 miles from we're 20 miles from
Florida State Line, about 40miles from Georgia State Line.
I mean you could throw a rock ateither one and we have terminals
in both states in all threestates.
SPEAKER_04 (08:19):
Yeah.
And that has to be a ben thathas to be a benefit too, but
also a nightmare for insurance.
SPEAKER_06 (08:26):
Well, yeah, I know there's challenges with that.
Yeah, you know, what you know,we're on the insurance deal, you
know, I I I'm a lot of towoutfits, you know, that's that's
a struggling point for themright now.
And they're you know, a lot ofthem are closing closing shop
because of it.
But uh, you know, fortunately,fortunately, I I I was able to
(08:46):
see the writing on the wall, anduh, this is a subject for
another day, but to see writingon the wall and and and get
involved, you know, in a captiveand and self-insure ourselves to
a certain degree so that wedon't we don't necessarily have
those battles that some of theother tow companies have, and
you know, and of course, keepingour safety to where we don't
(09:07):
have as many problems either,because you know, loss runs are
what drives that insuranceproblem, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (09:11):
Yeah, I think that is a good subject for another
day, the the captive with the uhself-insured thing.
I do I definitely think that weshould have a podcast on that
because it's an interestinginteresting subject, and I think
there's there's more and more itseems like there's more and more
companies going that route.
So we definitely will have apodcast on that.
(09:32):
Um what do you see as the futurefor your for for the towing
industry in general and then forfor you yourself?
What how do you when you'relooking down the road at all the
changes and and the things thatare happening?
SPEAKER_06 (09:46):
What's what I want to see is a is a more you know
more professional, morerecognized uh by the community,
uh by first responders, bypolice agencies, whatever, as
the professionals that we trulyare.
(10:06):
And that's gonna take some workon our part because we don't we
don't do a very good job of ofuh you know of uh of making that
of making that work out, youknow.
Um we're very good at polishingtrucks and we're very good at
going to recovering tractortrailers, doing our little
stuff.
But you know the the communitymany times don't even know what
(10:31):
we do.
I mean they think we're just outuh you know, towing away cars
off the beach or uh fromapartment complexes or whatever
is toaways, you know, whichthat's not even a business that
we we really engage in.
But you know, the the public'sjust not aware of what we do.
So um uh there are a little morewith this with the slowdown move
(10:52):
over awareness and that kind ofstuff, but still, you know, they
have no idea really what we do,no idea at all.
SPEAKER_04 (10:59):
That's that's very very true.
It we're kind of anafterthought, and it's something
if you need if you're brokendown on the side of the road,
it's not an enjoyable experienceeither, because you're glad to
see us when we come if you'rebroke down, but the only reason
you you're you're thinking of usis because that that incident
that's happening.
So I think more communityinvolvement and and maybe even
(11:21):
participating with your localfire departments, your local
police departments with thatdown.
SPEAKER_06 (11:27):
And we've been doing that for years and years and
years and have a a you know avery good relationship.
Now, you know, I'll hit on thatsubject uh you know, back in uh
back in my dad's back in mydad's time in the business, you
know, back when he was drivingwrecker in the 70s, you know,
many times in in the rural partof the country, uh, you know, he
(11:48):
was the jaws of life.
Wow.
You know, a lot of peoplethroughout the country will
relate to that that were fromthat era.
And, you know, um uh uh thosewrecker operators back in those
days were very, very involved inwhat we know now as emergency
management because uh, you know,they had to be, because you
(12:08):
know, the job had to be done,lives had to be saved, and the
resources were limited.
SPEAKER_04 (12:14):
That's something to think about too, because it
because it really until you saidthat, Kevin, I it makes sense to
me.
You know, that what you saidjust makes sense to me, but I've
never thought about that.
SPEAKER_06 (12:26):
Well that technology come about, you know, I mean I
can tell you there's I have mydad's old tow truck from the
seventies that restored andtaken it around to to the record
shows and stuff.
And you know, back then in the70s, you know, he had a s it
there was there was a siren onthe on the fender of the truck.
The siren's still there.
We use it in grades and whatnot,but but you know, on the local
(12:50):
level, they literally looked athim as an emergency responder.
SPEAKER_04 (12:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (12:54):
And um and depended on him for that, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (12:57):
We gotta get back we gotta get back to that.
I think we've we've gotta getback to that.
They don't need us as far as uhemergency response with the late
part of it, but they do need usfor emergency response response
in other aspects.
SPEAKER_06 (13:11):
Well, I was I was gonna say, you know, uh if
anybody happened to, I don'tremember what month it was in
two times last year, we got afeatured article in there with
that very that very situationwhere a tractor trailer had
turned over on a guardrail, uhin a median, driver was trapped,
and this had gone on for severalhours, and the fire department
(13:35):
was doing everything it could,but they couldn't get the guy
out.
They were very reluctant toallow us to use our equipment.
You know, we had two rotators onthe scene, we had what what they
needed, and so finally uh the umbattalion chief came up to me
and said, Mr.
Goodyear, do you do you reallythink you can make that straight
(13:55):
lift like that without anymovement?
I said, Yes, sir, I I believe wecan.
We tied the winches off and allin such a manner that we brought
that chassis straight up, youknow, about two or three feet,
and they were able to go inthere and get that man out.
Within within 20 minutes, he wasin a helicopter on the way to
Hollywood, and he had been inthere for three and a half
hours.
SPEAKER_04 (14:15):
And and that's what that's what people don't see.
SPEAKER_06 (14:18):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_04 (14:19):
That is what they don't see.
SPEAKER_06 (14:21):
That's right.
That's right.
So we have a very, you know, wehave a very unique industry.
It's not like any otherindustry.
Uh, you know, I brought mychildren back into the business.
They've been, they went off tocollege, went doing their thing.
You know, I have a son-in-lawthat, you know, he's he's pretty
educated and and and he cameinto this and he, you know, he's
(14:43):
like, Pop, this is differentthan anything I've ever been
involved with.
I said, Well, yeah, I've beentelling you that.
You know, he didn't realize thattill he got here and and and
seen what we go through.
And I was like, holy cow, youknow, I had no idea, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (14:58):
So you brought so you brought your son-in-law up,
and this is a family business,and your children are involved.
So let's talk about that for alittle while.
Let's let's go into that becausea lot of the the industry is
mostly built on family, familybusiness is a multi-generational
thing, and that's moving alittle bit away from that, I
think, I think, but not but notlike other industries.
(15:21):
I think we're still a verygenerational um um industry.
Talk about your kids coming backinto business.
SPEAKER_06 (15:31):
Well, we like I said, I sent my daughter off to
Sanford University in Birminghamback, gosh, 15 years ago.
And um she got her degree, wentto work uh as a marketing
director at a real estatecompany in Birmingham, Alabama,
which is about 200 miles fromme.
(15:53):
And she met her husband, whichis my son-in-law now.
He was a uh property manager orwhatever, commercial property
manager, that that dealt withthat company a little bit.
And um so that's how they met.
And uh over the years they hadthought maybe they would want to
(16:15):
come back to a small town andraise their kids in a small
community.
And uh a couple years ago theythey called me and uh asked me
what I was up to, and I said,Well, I honestly I'm kinda
looking for an an exit strategyin a way.
And uh my son-in-law said, Holdthat fault, you need to talk to
(16:35):
your daughter.
And so I called her, she said,Dad, it's it's crazy.
She said, You know, 'cause we'repeople of faith, and and uh my
daughter said, I just feel likethat you know, I feel like the
Lord is telling me to move backdown there and work for you.
And um she said, I don't evenknow why.
(16:56):
But it was awfully ironic that Iwas kind of looking at maybe
getting out of the business, andthen you know, they they they
come in and wiped all that offthe charts.
SPEAKER_04 (17:07):
No, well and you and you're not getting out of the
business, but you are this isyour extra strategy, even if you
stay in it for ten, five, ten,twenty years, your extra
strategy is that you are you areum handing this over to them
little bit by little bit, theywill be taking things on and
(17:27):
doing things your way and maybea little bit different too,
because i everybody to thetable.
SPEAKER_06 (17:33):
And I wanna t I want to touch on that if I can.
You know, when I brought myson-in-law in here, I didn't you
can Papa want you to teach meeverything about this.
Well, we're not gonna do it thatway.
You know, I said I'm I'm I'mpart of this 20 group.
And I said, You're you're goingto you're going to become my
role in this twenty group.
(17:53):
And these towers that arefriends of mine from all over
the country, they're going toteach you their side of the
business too.
That way you've got a goodrounded view of it.
Not just Kevin's view, becauseKevin's view ain't necessarily
per right.
So so you've got a nice roundedview of this.
(18:15):
You see I've done all throughoutthe country.
That has been a great investmentbecause it it's it's taught him
about the business.
Um I pulled him into you know,legislative matters and that
kind of stuff that I'm workingon and whatnot.
Where he can meet some of thepeople that that we deal with
(18:35):
and whatnot, state governmentand stuff.
And and he's he's picking thatup.
He's learning it.
And um you know, he uh he's asharp young man, but he's
learning learning our learningwhat our business does.
SPEAKER_04 (18:50):
And it was that's it was very intelligent to bring
him into the 20 group too,because like like you said, and
sometimes it's perspectives,Kevin.
It's not about what you know,which it is about what you know,
but it's other people'sperspectives throughout the
country too.
SPEAKER_06 (19:05):
So that's a very important thing.
It is, April, and I don't wantto ever block someone's
ambition, goal, dreams,whatever, by me stepping in and
saying, you know, I've triedthat a hundred times, that ain't
gonna work.
I I I don't want to be thatperson.
(19:26):
Because they may be able to makesomething work that I couldn't
make work.
Right.
And uh, you know, and so uh I Iyou know um I've I've I've
learned that the the one withthe craziest ideas at this place
are mi is me.
So I'm not too worried about thechildren coming up with any
crazy ideas because I I've gotthat cornered.
SPEAKER_04 (19:47):
Well, you did all the crazy things, and that's why
you're where you're at now, andnow it's just executing it's
executing.
SPEAKER_06 (19:54):
Well I've got I've got that garbage cornered, man.
They like that.
There we go.
There we go.
SPEAKER_04 (20:00):
All right.
Well, on that on that uhexciting note, we're gonna go to
a break, Kevin, and when we comeback, we're gonna talk about the
stuff that you and West just didtogether in your in your um in
your own.
(22:32):
All right.
Um we're back here with uh KevinGoodyear with good with Kevin
Goodyear uh from Interpods,Alabama, and I'm gonna ask him
about the class that he and Wesjust did um in Alabama, which
was a great class.
They had a good turnout for it.
I want to ask him what histakeaways were and what maybe he
could see in the future that wecould add to to this class.
(22:56):
So, Kevin, welcome back from thebreak.
SPEAKER_06 (22:58):
To be honest, I mean, I don't, you know, Wes
always does a great class.
I I uh I'm sure there's alwaysthings we could add, but you
know, at the end of the day, uhhe does a wonderful job.
I uh I enjoyed having him here,enjoyed him having down at my
Florida location a couple yearsago.
And um, you know, uh we alwayslearn something from it.
(23:23):
The uh the students learn fromit.
Um you know, but it's nothingelse.
We come together for a weekendand just get back out here on
Monday morning and just becomebetter at what we do is for the
sure fact that we're investingourselves.
SPEAKER_04 (23:40):
I think that is I think that is true and the fresh
coming back from the weekend.
Um you get back to work andyou're excited about maybe you
knew everything that you justseen, but it's like like I said,
about perspective.
Sometimes the way that you lookat doing something and the and
the problem is a little bitdifferent.
SPEAKER_06 (23:58):
Now, I gotta be honest with you.
Pretty much now me and Wis, weenjoy.
We enjoy one part of the day.
That's when we get to leave andgo eat.
Yeah.
So so so dinner's the big deal.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (24:16):
And it is a big deal.
The food the food down that wayis phenomenal and it's uh and
and it's fellowship.
SPEAKER_06 (24:25):
Yeah, yeah.
I was gonna say that we tooksome of the some of the students
along with us a couple of thenights and had a good time of
fellowship and socializing witheverybody, and we had people
from New York, you know, fromfrom Iowa, you know, from
Florida right down the road,from right here 30 miles, you
(24:47):
know, a little one-man towcompany, 30 miles to the to the
wet to the west over here.
He he come and and uh enjoyedthe class.
Heck, my my snap-on uh tourtruck guy, he he came for the
class.
I don't know why, but he did andhe he enjoyed it.
He said he just wanted to learnmore about the industry and what
(25:07):
we do.
But um, but it was it was great.
It always is.
I I uh I enjoy Wes's programsbetter than seriously better
than anyone else's.
I mean, uh for it's thecamaraderie, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_04 (25:22):
It's it's yeah, it is the camaraderie.
And I I'm always amazed at howfar away when I first I was in
the towing industry when I metWes, it's sort of kind of how I
met him.
And then I went on the road withthem.
And Wes's teaching methods andhis techniques are phenomenal
and and second to none in my permy unbiased personal opinion of
(25:43):
my husband, okay.
Um but but the thing that alwaysimpressed me and always amazed
me more than anything and stilldoes, like I'm not less
impressed by this than I was thefirst time I seen it, was how
far away people would come to acloud.
SPEAKER_06 (26:00):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (26:01):
Iowa in New York is quite a distance, it's a little
bit more than a car trip away.
SPEAKER_06 (26:06):
But you know, those of us that are hungry for
knowledge, we do that.
Yeah.
And and and and we're gonna getthe knowledge.
I mean, we're gonna do whateverit takes.
unknown (26:20):
Yes.
SPEAKER_06 (26:21):
Because what you gotta realize I'm not I'm not
being arrogant here, pleasedon't take it this way.
But I'm sharpening my sword onboth sides daily.
SPEAKER_07 (26:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (26:32):
I'm fifty I'm fifty-five years old.
You know, we have gosh close toa hundred trucks and nine
terminals.
And, you know, I was out allnight on a double tractor
trailer roller.
And you know, I'm gonna be therewith my men as long as I'm able
(26:55):
to be there because I enjoy thework.
SPEAKER_04 (26:58):
And and let me ask you a question, Kevin, because
when I when I talked to youearlier about doing this
podcast, kind of kind of threwit at you last minute, and and
you were gracious enough to ifgive me the time with of your
day to do it when I know yourtime is very precious.
You had just gotten back fromdoing that double trailer call.
SPEAKER_06 (27:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just walked in the door, yep,sure.
SPEAKER_04 (27:22):
Walked in the door and and within an hour's notice
got on the phone with V.
Now, obviously, if the phonewould have rang and you'd have
had called out to do somethingelse, then we would have had
this conversation on a differentday, but that shows the lower.
SPEAKER_06 (27:35):
No, we wouldn't.
No, we wouldn't.
I made the point now when I sendsomebody else.
I can send somebody else.
But I don't I don't have to, butI can't.
And that's that's the beauty ofwhere I'm at, where the people
ask me all the time, when yougonna retire?
When you go move to the beach ormove to the lake, and blah blah
blah.
I'm like, I'm not.
(27:56):
I go to the beach when I want togo to the lake when I want.
I'm not interested in retiring.
You know, if um you guys hear ofme retiring, you're probably
gonna re reading an obituary afew days later because I just I
only know doing this, I don'tknow anything else.
SPEAKER_04 (28:13):
And and it's something you probably still
enjoy doing.
I mean, I know sometimes theday-to-day business part of it's
not always the most excitingpart, but you are Oh no, no, no.
SPEAKER_06 (28:25):
The toys.
The toys, it's all about thetoys.
You know, as a little kid, wehad these little talk of toys we
played with in the backyard ofmy grandmother's house, you
know.
Yeah.
And you go and we built freewaysand interstates, we wrecked
trucks, we had wreckers, we hadall kinds of stuff.
So now, you know, we just get togo out there and do it with real
ones.
SPEAKER_04 (28:44):
And and you're doing it in a way that makes a
difference.
At the end of the day, peoplecould think about the industry
what they want to think aboutit.
You are out there to to do aservice for for your community.
SPEAKER_06 (28:55):
If there's something I'm not I'm in no way beating my
chest on it, but I heard acomment this morning from a
customer.
I heard the comment.
It wasn't it wasn't directed atme.
I heard the comment beingdiscussed with an environmental
guy.
And the man said they weremaking a comment about my big my
(29:17):
big rotator, one of my bigrotators.
I had two there.
And the customer told the guy,he said, that's why I use these
people.
They are top notch and firstclass.
And I realized after the factthat the guy was discussing, not
(29:37):
really a competitor, but anothertowing company.
And my customer was saying, No,no.
We got this handled, this is theway we want.
And so, you know, that that's athat's a compliment, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (29:49):
Yeah.
But once you once you get upthere, you're not beating your
chest, but once you get upthere, you gotta stay up there
and you gotta maintain thatquality, that level of quality
at all at all.
Time that that that's the way tobe around.
SPEAKER_06 (30:03):
Yeah, safety and and this you know the quality of
service.
I was telling someone thismorning that you know big
companies and everybody thatdoes business with us, they are
more concerned about safety thanthey are anything.
They don't want anything spilt,they don't want anything done
unsafe, and they, you know, theywill hire the guy that's gonna
(30:25):
do it right way before they'llhire the guy that they might get
by a little cheaper, just tomake sure they avoid any
liability.
Because liability is huge.
We're back to the insurancething.
Liability is huge, it's a bigproblem, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (30:40):
Yeah, for that for that going more inexpensive, it
can cost you thousands ofdollars on the road if you don't
have the right equipment and theright um um the the right folks
behind it do knowing whatthey're doing with it too.
So yeah, you can probably get itdone cheaper, but how much does
that cost to you on down theroad?
SPEAKER_06 (31:01):
How much is that worth to you?
You know, you gotta think aboutthat because sometimes, and I've
you know, I've done that withvendors, vendors here, you know,
where you know the cheaper pricewasn't the most positive
outcome.
You know, so but uh but at theend of the day, we love Wes
coming here, we enjoy him, anduh I um I my real goal in it is
(31:26):
to try to help him get to thatthousand mark on his classes,
you know.
SPEAKER_04 (31:31):
Yeah, that's an exciting thing for us in 2026.
We are gonna reach a thousand.
We're trying to we're trying tomap out where that's gonna be
out, but that's that's kind ofhard to do.
Um we're already getting theclasses lined up, so we may be
able to hone that in once wesee, you know, the structure of
it.
But the thousand classes, it'sright, it's not that far away,
(31:51):
Kevin.
SPEAKER_06 (31:52):
And you know, I've known I've known your husband
for like 30 years.
Uh I knew him way, way back, youknow, when when they did the the
Florida show over there, it'sTwin Towers.
It's not long enough.
That was a long time ago.
Yeah, you know, so so uh matterof fact, I used to buy these re
(32:14):
reproduction memorabilia thingsfrom him, you know, like the uh
homes ads and stuff.
And um I had a I've got allkinds of that stuff that I got
from him over the years.
Yeah.
Yeah, he specializes in thattoo.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I've he he gave me alittle homes patch when he was
down here the other day.
He said, Oh, I know you'll lovethis.
(32:34):
And I yeah, no doubt, I do,buddy.
You can guarantee you that.
Oh.
SPEAKER_04 (32:40):
All right, Kevin.
It has been good having you onfor this interview, and we're
gonna get you booked on foranother one, and that goes so
far in uh in between our um ouruh conversations.
How about you giving us a goodword of Thanksgiving?
Because this couldn't either airright at Thanksgiving or right
before it.
And I think that would just be agood way to end this podcast.
SPEAKER_06 (33:01):
You know, uh, you know, I just I I wish everybody
a great Thanksgiving, Christmasseason, and um uh I hope
everyone's family is is is welland um and happy and uh I just
look forward to uh to us growingin this business in the next
generations and uh you knowregardless of the structure, you
(33:25):
know, whether it's big company,you know, I say big companies,
whether it's you know, whetherit's guys that you know that we
we structure ourselves where weown 15 or 20 different towing
outfits or whatever, or it'sjust mom and pops.
It really doesn't matter.
You know either way, we we weare gonna be pushing this
(33:47):
industry forward.
And um and that's very exciting.
But uh but I appreciate you guysum letting me come on today.
And uh like I said, I will uhI'll be glad to to close in a
prayer if you want to.
Uh yes, sir.
Okay.
(34:07):
That's it.
SPEAKER_04 (34:08):
Let's let's close this out in a in a beautiful
prayer.
SPEAKER_06 (34:11):
All right, dear Heavenly Father, I just want to
thank you for the opportunity touh to participate on uh Wes's
podcast.
So thank you for Miss April hereand for everybody involved in uh
in the training organization.
Um Lord God, it just as youbless our industry, the people
in our industry.
(34:31):
Just you know, you know, helpthem in their endeavors and and
and you know, just just justhelp them do the right thing, be
honest, be fair, and treatpeople like they want to be
treated.
We just praise you foreverything you've given us, all
your mighty blessings.
And Lord, we just we just wejust allow to serve you and to
(34:54):
you know do our best to be apositive to our communities and
and to our issues.
Give you all the glory andpraise.
SPEAKER_03 (35:04):
Amen.
And that's it, that's a good wayto end this podcast.
Thank you so much, Kevin, and uhhave a good end of your family.
You are on the train to success with April and West
Wilburne.
I'm DJ Hamilton, the co-host,better known as the Toad Doctor.
We're all on our way to the townof proper towing and recovery,
along with our producer, ChuckCamp in the studio.
Don't go to the town of woulda,coulda, shoulda.
(00:26):
You could have done this.
You should have done that.
Listen every week tothought-provoking wisdom from
great guests.
So if you have Spotify, iTunes,Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia,
or the number one podcast, ormaybe Amazon, or wherever you
(00:49):
get your podcast, turn in onWednesday and be turned on all
week long.
If you are a state associationand want your announcements or
upcoming state association news,or maybe a post show that's
coming up, let us know.
Our podcast studio phone numberis 706-409-5603.
(01:15):
I'm proud to be part of a greatteam at the American Drone
Recovery Institute.
Let's make 2025 our best yearever.
I will turn it to April Lewis.
SPEAKER_04 (01:27):
Oh, DJ, thank you so much for those kind words.
And um uh as always, we doappreciate everything that you
bring to us and um and all yourwords of wisdom.
Today on Towing News Now withthe Tony with the American Tony
Recovery Institute, we have avery special guest.
He has been on before and he andWes just completed a class
(01:50):
together, so we'll go into someof that too.
But I've got Kevin Goodyear.
Kevin, it's been a it's been aminute, so why don't you
reintroduce yourself to thosewho already those who may not
know you and familiarfamiliarize yourself with people
who already do.
SPEAKER_06 (02:05):
Oh, okay.
Um my name's Kevin Goodyear.
Um I own uh Goodyear towing andEastern Diesel.
We operate out of uh Panano,Florida, South Alabama,
Southwest Georgia.
And um we've been in thebusiness for many years,
multi-generations, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (02:26):
How many years how many how many years has Goodyear
Kevin Goodyear Towing beenaround?
SPEAKER_06 (02:33):
Kevin Goodyear Toewing has been around since
1989.
Uh the family started in thebusiness in nineteen sixty-six.
SPEAKER_04 (02:43):
And what was that called at that time when when
that started in nineteen sixtysix?
What was it called then?
SPEAKER_06 (02:49):
You know, I really have no idea.
That was my grandfather's gasstation business down on Main
Street, Enterprise, Alabama.
It was North Main Gulf, so I'mnew at the Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (03:03):
That's good enough for the government, as people
say, so it was your greatgrandfather who started it or
your grandfather who started it?
SPEAKER_06 (03:12):
My grandfather started in in the server station
business, which is where whatlanded us where we are today.
Anyway, you kind of twisted.
My mom we're speaking ofgrandfather, it's my mom's
father.
He on the gas station and my dadwas you know, we're near a
military base here just like youguys are.
(03:35):
My dad's family had moved toEnterprise Alabama here where um
after they retired from the AirForce to get, you know, a
civilian job at the militarypost.
So my dad wound up going to workat my grandfather's gas station,
and that's that's how he met mymom and whatnot.
SPEAKER_04 (03:52):
So did your mom work at the gas station then or was
she just She did.
SPEAKER_06 (03:58):
She was just a kid in school, but she went up there
and you know, kept track of theaccounts and stuff like that.
So that's that's where we mether at.
SPEAKER_04 (04:06):
Well that's it that's a begin that's the
beginning of the legacy.
It's what they call an originstory.
SPEAKER_06 (04:11):
Yeah, they they were just teenagers, you know, and uh
so Yeah, that's how that's howwe got our got our start in
this.
And then you know, later on mydad had a garage business and
they had a couple of wreckers,they used pull cars into the
garage, that kind of thing.
But you know, we really didn'tget in the in the wrecker
(04:34):
business, or what I call thewrecker business, you know,
until I started doing it in thelate eighties.
Uh prior to that in our area,you know, it was always
considered a sideline to behonest with you.
Nobody figured you could youcould you could do it standalone
anyway.
And at that time, Wes and Ispoke about this before, but at
(04:56):
that time there was a tow truckat every gas station, at every
car dealership, every garage hada record.
So there wasn't, you know, itwasn't the uh volume of business
that we have today.
Because there was more morepeople doing that, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (05:11):
But a lot of the starts of some of these towing
companies has been around umlong the time that your grand
your granddad's business or youknow, even older than that, most
of the times they have startedoff as a gas station.
And it just it just kind of, youknow, went from there one.
So your your um gas station andthen it went to auto repair, but
(05:36):
towing was all the way throughit.
SPEAKER_06 (05:38):
Yeah, there was always there was always a a tow
truck involved, a service truckinvolved.
You know, that back in the day,April, that was just that was
shop equipment.
That's just something you had tohave to serve your customers and
they didn't really even want thestuff, but they had to have it.
SPEAKER_04 (05:54):
And uh you know, so for you, gas station, auto
repair, and then like you said,the tow truck was basically just
equipment.
It was it was the same thing asa wrench for you, but what made
you decide that the thing thatyou were gonna do was towing
instead of the other two aspectsof what your family had started?
SPEAKER_06 (06:17):
Well, my my mom and dad decided to to get out of the
garage business in the late 80s.
And um to be frank with you, Idid not like the garage business
that well, so I didn't want tobe involved with that.
And um so I just I literally I Ihad a personal car that I
(06:39):
literally sold on a Friday,bought an old used tow truck,
and went to work on Monday.
You know, it was a rough deal,but but but that's that's really
where where I started was justfrom selling that car and buying
an old used tow truck.
SPEAKER_04 (06:55):
So it seemed like it it seemed like an impulse
decision, but I bet you itwasn't.
I bet you had been thinkingabout that for a little while.
SPEAKER_06 (07:02):
Well, you gotta realize a kid 19 years old where
you know my options were youknow to try to you know try to
figure out a way to muddlethrough college and do something
like that, no way to pay for it,or you know, go to work at the
Ford dealership, turning ranchesor something like that, you
know.
Next option would have been, youknow, dumping fries at
(07:24):
McDonald's.
So the options sucked.
Yeah.
You know, so it it was reallyone of them deals where, you
know, I I just you know, I justdecided I was I was gonna do it,
you know, and and and um oh, youknow, you gotta realize all
these adults and older peopleand everything else, like you
(07:45):
can't make it doing that, yeah,yeah, yeah, this and that, you
know.
And and it was it was achallenge.
It was a challenge for a goodmany years, I can tell you that.
SPEAKER_04 (07:53):
Can imagine, I can imagine.
Um, I think you're kind of likeright there, you're in Alabama,
but you're close to Georgia andand Florida.
I mean you bought you boughtshops there too.
So I don't know.
SPEAKER_06 (08:06):
So we are we are 20 miles from we're 20 miles from
Florida State Line, about 40miles from Georgia State Line.
I mean you could throw a rock ateither one and we have terminals
in both states in all threestates.
SPEAKER_04 (08:19):
Yeah.
And that has to be a ben thathas to be a benefit too, but
also a nightmare for insurance.
SPEAKER_06 (08:26):
Well, yeah, I know there's challenges with that.
Yeah, you know, what you know,we're on the insurance deal, you
know, I I I'm a lot of towoutfits, you know, that's that's
a struggling point for themright now.
And they're you know, a lot ofthem are closing closing shop
because of it.
But uh, you know, fortunately,fortunately, I I I was able to
(08:46):
see the writing on the wall, anduh, this is a subject for
another day, but to see writingon the wall and and and get
involved, you know, in a captiveand and self-insure ourselves to
a certain degree so that wedon't we don't necessarily have
those battles that some of theother tow companies have, and
you know, and of course, keepingour safety to where we don't
(09:07):
have as many problems either,because you know, loss runs are
what drives that insuranceproblem, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (09:11):
Yeah, I think that is a good subject for another
day, the the captive with the uhself-insured thing.
I do I definitely think that weshould have a podcast on that
because it's an interestinginteresting subject, and I think
there's there's more and more itseems like there's more and more
companies going that route.
So we definitely will have apodcast on that.
(09:32):
Um what do you see as the futurefor your for for the towing
industry in general and then forfor you yourself?
What how do you when you'relooking down the road at all the
changes and and the things thatare happening?
SPEAKER_06 (09:46):
What's what I want to see is a is a more you know
more professional, morerecognized uh by the community,
uh by first responders, bypolice agencies, whatever, as
the professionals that we trulyare.
(10:06):
And that's gonna take some workon our part because we don't we
don't do a very good job of ofuh you know of uh of making that
of making that work out, youknow.
Um we're very good at polishingtrucks and we're very good at
going to recovering tractortrailers, doing our little
stuff.
But you know the the communitymany times don't even know what
(10:31):
we do.
I mean they think we're just outuh you know, towing away cars
off the beach or uh fromapartment complexes or whatever
is toaways, you know, whichthat's not even a business that
we we really engage in.
But you know, the the public'sjust not aware of what we do.
So um uh there are a little morewith this with the slowdown move
(10:52):
over awareness and that kind ofstuff, but still, you know, they
have no idea really what we do,no idea at all.
SPEAKER_04 (10:59):
That's that's very very true.
It we're kind of anafterthought, and it's something
if you need if you're brokendown on the side of the road,
it's not an enjoyable experienceeither, because you're glad to
see us when we come if you'rebroke down, but the only reason
you you're you're thinking of usis because that that incident
that's happening.
So I think more communityinvolvement and and maybe even
(11:21):
participating with your localfire departments, your local
police departments with thatdown.
SPEAKER_06 (11:27):
And we've been doing that for years and years and
years and have a a you know avery good relationship.
Now, you know, I'll hit on thatsubject uh you know, back in uh
back in my dad's back in mydad's time in the business, you
know, back when he was drivingwrecker in the 70s, you know,
many times in in the rural partof the country, uh, you know, he
(11:48):
was the jaws of life.
Wow.
You know, a lot of peoplethroughout the country will
relate to that that were fromthat era.
And, you know, um uh uh thosewrecker operators back in those
days were very, very involved inwhat we know now as emergency
management because uh, you know,they had to be, because you
(12:08):
know, the job had to be done,lives had to be saved, and the
resources were limited.
SPEAKER_04 (12:14):
That's something to think about too, because it
because it really until you saidthat, Kevin, I it makes sense to
me.
You know, that what you saidjust makes sense to me, but I've
never thought about that.
SPEAKER_06 (12:26):
Well that technology come about, you know, I mean I
can tell you there's I have mydad's old tow truck from the
seventies that restored andtaken it around to to the record
shows and stuff.
And you know, back then in the70s, you know, he had a s it
there was there was a siren onthe on the fender of the truck.
The siren's still there.
We use it in grades and whatnot,but but you know, on the local
(12:50):
level, they literally looked athim as an emergency responder.
SPEAKER_04 (12:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (12:54):
And um and depended on him for that, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (12:57):
We gotta get back we gotta get back to that.
I think we've we've gotta getback to that.
They don't need us as far as uhemergency response with the late
part of it, but they do need usfor emergency response response
in other aspects.
SPEAKER_06 (13:11):
Well, I was I was gonna say, you know, uh if
anybody happened to, I don'tremember what month it was in
two times last year, we got afeatured article in there with
that very that very situationwhere a tractor trailer had
turned over on a guardrail, uhin a median, driver was trapped,
and this had gone on for severalhours, and the fire department
(13:35):
was doing everything it could,but they couldn't get the guy
out.
They were very reluctant toallow us to use our equipment.
You know, we had two rotators onthe scene, we had what what they
needed, and so finally uh the umbattalion chief came up to me
and said, Mr.
Goodyear, do you do you reallythink you can make that straight
(13:55):
lift like that without anymovement?
I said, Yes, sir, I I believe wecan.
We tied the winches off and allin such a manner that we brought
that chassis straight up, youknow, about two or three feet,
and they were able to go inthere and get that man out.
Within within 20 minutes, he wasin a helicopter on the way to
Hollywood, and he had been inthere for three and a half
hours.
SPEAKER_04 (14:15):
And and that's what that's what people don't see.
SPEAKER_06 (14:18):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_04 (14:19):
That is what they don't see.
SPEAKER_06 (14:21):
That's right.
That's right.
So we have a very, you know, wehave a very unique industry.
It's not like any otherindustry.
Uh, you know, I brought mychildren back into the business.
They've been, they went off tocollege, went doing their thing.
You know, I have a son-in-lawthat, you know, he's he's pretty
educated and and and he cameinto this and he, you know, he's
(14:43):
like, Pop, this is differentthan anything I've ever been
involved with.
I said, Well, yeah, I've beentelling you that.
You know, he didn't realize thattill he got here and and and
seen what we go through.
And I was like, holy cow, youknow, I had no idea, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (14:58):
So you brought so you brought your son-in-law up,
and this is a family business,and your children are involved.
So let's talk about that for alittle while.
Let's let's go into that becausea lot of the the industry is
mostly built on family, familybusiness is a multi-generational
thing, and that's moving alittle bit away from that, I
think, I think, but not but notlike other industries.
(15:21):
I think we're still a verygenerational um um industry.
Talk about your kids coming backinto business.
SPEAKER_06 (15:31):
Well, we like I said, I sent my daughter off to
Sanford University in Birminghamback, gosh, 15 years ago.
And um she got her degree, wentto work uh as a marketing
director at a real estatecompany in Birmingham, Alabama,
which is about 200 miles fromme.
(15:53):
And she met her husband, whichis my son-in-law now.
He was a uh property manager orwhatever, commercial property
manager, that that dealt withthat company a little bit.
And um so that's how they met.
And uh over the years they hadthought maybe they would want to
(16:15):
come back to a small town andraise their kids in a small
community.
And uh a couple years ago theythey called me and uh asked me
what I was up to, and I said,Well, I honestly I'm kinda
looking for an an exit strategyin a way.
And uh my son-in-law said, Holdthat fault, you need to talk to
(16:35):
your daughter.
And so I called her, she said,Dad, it's it's crazy.
She said, You know, 'cause we'repeople of faith, and and uh my
daughter said, I just feel likethat you know, I feel like the
Lord is telling me to move backdown there and work for you.
And um she said, I don't evenknow why.
(16:56):
But it was awfully ironic that Iwas kind of looking at maybe
getting out of the business, andthen you know, they they they
come in and wiped all that offthe charts.
SPEAKER_04 (17:07):
No, well and you and you're not getting out of the
business, but you are this isyour extra strategy, even if you
stay in it for ten, five, ten,twenty years, your extra
strategy is that you are you areum handing this over to them
little bit by little bit, theywill be taking things on and
(17:27):
doing things your way and maybea little bit different too,
because i everybody to thetable.
SPEAKER_06 (17:33):
And I wanna t I want to touch on that if I can.
You know, when I brought myson-in-law in here, I didn't you
can Papa want you to teach meeverything about this.
Well, we're not gonna do it thatway.
You know, I said I'm I'm I'mpart of this 20 group.
And I said, You're you're goingto you're going to become my
role in this twenty group.
(17:53):
And these towers that arefriends of mine from all over
the country, they're going toteach you their side of the
business too.
That way you've got a goodrounded view of it.
Not just Kevin's view, becauseKevin's view ain't necessarily
per right.
So so you've got a nice roundedview of this.
(18:15):
You see I've done all throughoutthe country.
That has been a great investmentbecause it it's it's taught him
about the business.
Um I pulled him into you know,legislative matters and that
kind of stuff that I'm workingon and whatnot.
Where he can meet some of thepeople that that we deal with
(18:35):
and whatnot, state governmentand stuff.
And and he's he's picking thatup.
He's learning it.
And um you know, he uh he's asharp young man, but he's
learning learning our learningwhat our business does.
SPEAKER_04 (18:50):
And it was that's it was very intelligent to bring
him into the 20 group too,because like like you said, and
sometimes it's perspectives,Kevin.
It's not about what you know,which it is about what you know,
but it's other people'sperspectives throughout the
country too.
SPEAKER_06 (19:05):
So that's a very important thing.
It is, April, and I don't wantto ever block someone's
ambition, goal, dreams,whatever, by me stepping in and
saying, you know, I've triedthat a hundred times, that ain't
gonna work.
I I I don't want to be thatperson.
(19:26):
Because they may be able to makesomething work that I couldn't
make work.
Right.
And uh, you know, and so uh I Iyou know um I've I've I've
learned that the the one withthe craziest ideas at this place
are mi is me.
So I'm not too worried about thechildren coming up with any
crazy ideas because I I've gotthat cornered.
SPEAKER_04 (19:47):
Well, you did all the crazy things, and that's why
you're where you're at now, andnow it's just executing it's
executing.
SPEAKER_06 (19:54):
Well I've got I've got that garbage cornered, man.
They like that.
There we go.
There we go.
SPEAKER_04 (20:00):
All right.
Well, on that on that uhexciting note, we're gonna go to
a break, Kevin, and when we comeback, we're gonna talk about the
stuff that you and West just didtogether in your in your um in
your own.
(22:32):
All right.
Um we're back here with uh KevinGoodyear with good with Kevin
Goodyear uh from Interpods,Alabama, and I'm gonna ask him
about the class that he and Wesjust did um in Alabama, which
was a great class.
They had a good turnout for it.
I want to ask him what histakeaways were and what maybe he
could see in the future that wecould add to to this class.
(22:56):
So, Kevin, welcome back from thebreak.
SPEAKER_06 (22:58):
To be honest, I mean, I don't, you know, Wes
always does a great class.
I I uh I'm sure there's alwaysthings we could add, but you
know, at the end of the day, uhhe does a wonderful job.
I uh I enjoyed having him here,enjoyed him having down at my
Florida location a couple yearsago.
And um, you know, uh we alwayslearn something from it.
(23:23):
The uh the students learn fromit.
Um you know, but it's nothingelse.
We come together for a weekendand just get back out here on
Monday morning and just becomebetter at what we do is for the
sure fact that we're investingourselves.
SPEAKER_04 (23:40):
I think that is I think that is true and the fresh
coming back from the weekend.
Um you get back to work andyou're excited about maybe you
knew everything that you justseen, but it's like like I said,
about perspective.
Sometimes the way that you lookat doing something and the and
the problem is a little bitdifferent.
SPEAKER_06 (23:58):
Now, I gotta be honest with you.
Pretty much now me and Wis, weenjoy.
We enjoy one part of the day.
That's when we get to leave andgo eat.
Yeah.
So so so dinner's the big deal.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (24:16):
And it is a big deal.
The food the food down that wayis phenomenal and it's uh and
and it's fellowship.
SPEAKER_06 (24:25):
Yeah, yeah.
I was gonna say that we tooksome of the some of the students
along with us a couple of thenights and had a good time of
fellowship and socializing witheverybody, and we had people
from New York, you know, fromfrom Iowa, you know, from
Florida right down the road,from right here 30 miles, you
(24:47):
know, a little one-man towcompany, 30 miles to the to the
wet to the west over here.
He he come and and uh enjoyedthe class.
Heck, my my snap-on uh tourtruck guy, he he came for the
class.
I don't know why, but he did andhe he enjoyed it.
He said he just wanted to learnmore about the industry and what
(25:07):
we do.
But um, but it was it was great.
It always is.
I I uh I enjoy Wes's programsbetter than seriously better
than anyone else's.
I mean, uh for it's thecamaraderie, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_04 (25:22):
It's it's yeah, it is the camaraderie.
And I I'm always amazed at howfar away when I first I was in
the towing industry when I metWes, it's sort of kind of how I
met him.
And then I went on the road withthem.
And Wes's teaching methods andhis techniques are phenomenal
and and second to none in my permy unbiased personal opinion of
(25:43):
my husband, okay.
Um but but the thing that alwaysimpressed me and always amazed
me more than anything and stilldoes, like I'm not less
impressed by this than I was thefirst time I seen it, was how
far away people would come to acloud.
SPEAKER_06 (26:00):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (26:01):
Iowa in New York is quite a distance, it's a little
bit more than a car trip away.
SPEAKER_06 (26:06):
But you know, those of us that are hungry for
knowledge, we do that.
Yeah.
And and and and we're gonna getthe knowledge.
I mean, we're gonna do whateverit takes.
unknown (26:20):
Yes.
SPEAKER_06 (26:21):
Because what you gotta realize I'm not I'm not
being arrogant here, pleasedon't take it this way.
But I'm sharpening my sword onboth sides daily.
SPEAKER_07 (26:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (26:32):
I'm fifty I'm fifty-five years old.
You know, we have gosh close toa hundred trucks and nine
terminals.
And, you know, I was out allnight on a double tractor
trailer roller.
And you know, I'm gonna be therewith my men as long as I'm able
(26:55):
to be there because I enjoy thework.
SPEAKER_04 (26:58):
And and let me ask you a question, Kevin, because
when I when I talked to youearlier about doing this
podcast, kind of kind of threwit at you last minute, and and
you were gracious enough to ifgive me the time with of your
day to do it when I know yourtime is very precious.
You had just gotten back fromdoing that double trailer call.
SPEAKER_06 (27:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just walked in the door, yep,sure.
SPEAKER_04 (27:22):
Walked in the door and and within an hour's notice
got on the phone with V.
Now, obviously, if the phonewould have rang and you'd have
had called out to do somethingelse, then we would have had
this conversation on a differentday, but that shows the lower.
SPEAKER_06 (27:35):
No, we wouldn't.
No, we wouldn't.
I made the point now when I sendsomebody else.
I can send somebody else.
But I don't I don't have to, butI can't.
And that's that's the beauty ofwhere I'm at, where the people
ask me all the time, when yougonna retire?
When you go move to the beach ormove to the lake, and blah blah
blah.
I'm like, I'm not.
(27:56):
I go to the beach when I want togo to the lake when I want.
I'm not interested in retiring.
You know, if um you guys hear ofme retiring, you're probably
gonna re reading an obituary afew days later because I just I
only know doing this, I don'tknow anything else.
SPEAKER_04 (28:13):
And and it's something you probably still
enjoy doing.
I mean, I know sometimes theday-to-day business part of it's
not always the most excitingpart, but you are Oh no, no, no.
SPEAKER_06 (28:25):
The toys.
The toys, it's all about thetoys.
You know, as a little kid, wehad these little talk of toys we
played with in the backyard ofmy grandmother's house, you
know.
Yeah.
And you go and we built freewaysand interstates, we wrecked
trucks, we had wreckers, we hadall kinds of stuff.
So now, you know, we just get togo out there and do it with real
ones.
SPEAKER_04 (28:44):
And and you're doing it in a way that makes a
difference.
At the end of the day, peoplecould think about the industry
what they want to think aboutit.
You are out there to to do aservice for for your community.
SPEAKER_06 (28:55):
If there's something I'm not I'm in no way beating my
chest on it, but I heard acomment this morning from a
customer.
I heard the comment.
It wasn't it wasn't directed atme.
I heard the comment beingdiscussed with an environmental
guy.
And the man said they weremaking a comment about my big my
(29:17):
big rotator, one of my bigrotators.
I had two there.
And the customer told the guy,he said, that's why I use these
people.
They are top notch and firstclass.
And I realized after the factthat the guy was discussing, not
(29:37):
really a competitor, but anothertowing company.
And my customer was saying, No,no.
We got this handled, this is theway we want.
And so, you know, that that's athat's a compliment, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (29:49):
Yeah.
But once you once you get upthere, you're not beating your
chest, but once you get upthere, you gotta stay up there
and you gotta maintain thatquality, that level of quality
at all at all.
Time that that that's the way tobe around.
SPEAKER_06 (30:03):
Yeah, safety and and this you know the quality of
service.
I was telling someone thismorning that you know big
companies and everybody thatdoes business with us, they are
more concerned about safety thanthey are anything.
They don't want anything spilt,they don't want anything done
unsafe, and they, you know, theywill hire the guy that's gonna
(30:25):
do it right way before they'llhire the guy that they might get
by a little cheaper, just tomake sure they avoid any
liability.
Because liability is huge.
We're back to the insurancething.
Liability is huge, it's a bigproblem, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (30:40):
Yeah, for that for that going more inexpensive, it
can cost you thousands ofdollars on the road if you don't
have the right equipment and theright um um the the right folks
behind it do knowing whatthey're doing with it too.
So yeah, you can probably get itdone cheaper, but how much does
that cost to you on down theroad?
SPEAKER_06 (31:01):
How much is that worth to you?
You know, you gotta think aboutthat because sometimes, and I've
you know, I've done that withvendors, vendors here, you know,
where you know the cheaper pricewasn't the most positive
outcome.
You know, so but uh but at theend of the day, we love Wes
coming here, we enjoy him, anduh I um I my real goal in it is
(31:26):
to try to help him get to thatthousand mark on his classes,
you know.
SPEAKER_04 (31:31):
Yeah, that's an exciting thing for us in 2026.
We are gonna reach a thousand.
We're trying to we're trying tomap out where that's gonna be
out, but that's that's kind ofhard to do.
Um we're already getting theclasses lined up, so we may be
able to hone that in once wesee, you know, the structure of
it.
But the thousand classes, it'sright, it's not that far away,
(31:51):
Kevin.
SPEAKER_06 (31:52):
And you know, I've known I've known your husband
for like 30 years.
Uh I knew him way, way back, youknow, when when they did the the
Florida show over there, it'sTwin Towers.
It's not long enough.
That was a long time ago.
Yeah, you know, so so uh matterof fact, I used to buy these re
(32:14):
reproduction memorabilia thingsfrom him, you know, like the uh
homes ads and stuff.
And um I had a I've got allkinds of that stuff that I got
from him over the years.
Yeah.
Yeah, he specializes in thattoo.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I've he he gave me alittle homes patch when he was
down here the other day.
He said, Oh, I know you'll lovethis.
(32:34):
And I yeah, no doubt, I do,buddy.
You can guarantee you that.
Oh.
SPEAKER_04 (32:40):
All right, Kevin.
It has been good having you onfor this interview, and we're
gonna get you booked on foranother one, and that goes so
far in uh in between our um ouruh conversations.
How about you giving us a goodword of Thanksgiving?
Because this couldn't either airright at Thanksgiving or right
before it.
And I think that would just be agood way to end this podcast.
SPEAKER_06 (33:01):
You know, uh, you know, I just I I wish everybody
a great Thanksgiving, Christmasseason, and um uh I hope
everyone's family is is is welland um and happy and uh I just
look forward to uh to us growingin this business in the next
generations and uh you knowregardless of the structure, you
(33:25):
know, whether it's big company,you know, I say big companies,
whether it's you know, whetherit's guys that you know that we
we structure ourselves where weown 15 or 20 different towing
outfits or whatever, or it'sjust mom and pops.
It really doesn't matter.
You know either way, we we weare gonna be pushing this
(33:47):
industry forward.
And um and that's very exciting.
But uh but I appreciate you guysum letting me come on today.
And uh like I said, I will uhI'll be glad to to close in a
prayer if you want to.
Uh yes, sir.
Okay.
(34:07):
That's it.
SPEAKER_04 (34:08):
Let's let's close this out in a in a beautiful
prayer.
SPEAKER_06 (34:11):
All right, dear Heavenly Father, I just want to
thank you for the opportunity touh to participate on uh Wes's
podcast.
So thank you for Miss April hereand for everybody involved in uh
in the training organization.
Um Lord God, it just as youbless our industry, the people
in our industry.
(34:31):
Just you know, you know, helpthem in their endeavors and and
and you know, just just justhelp them do the right thing, be
honest, be fair, and treatpeople like they want to be
treated.
We just praise you foreverything you've given us, all
your mighty blessings.
And Lord, we just we just wejust allow to serve you and to
(34:54):
you know do our best to be apositive to our communities and
and to our issues.
Give you all the glory andpraise.
SPEAKER_03 (35:04):
Amen.
And that's it, that's a good wayto end this podcast.
Thank you so much, Kevin, and uhhave a good end of your family.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.