June 10, 2025 • 44 mins
Pat Winer's journey through the towing industry reveals a career marked by innovation, service, and an unwavering commitment to community. From his humble beginnings in the paint department at Challenger Wrecker Manufacturer in the early 1980s, Pat shares the fascinating evolution of his career alongside the technological advancements that have shaped modern towing.
Working under industry pioneer Bill Bottoms at Challenger, Pat witnessed firsthand how manufacturing excellence and thoughtful design could transform an industry. He describes the state-of-the-art facilities where an overhead chain-link system moved parts between stations – a testament to the ingenuity that has always driven the best in the business. As the wheel lift revolution took hold in the mid-80s, Pat found himself at the epicenter of change, watching as demand for add-on wheel lifts grew so intense that "guys were waiting in line to get them."
Perhaps most compelling is Pat's creation of Tow Trucks for Tots in 2007, an initiative born from a simple yet profound desire to transform the somber processions of tow trucks at industry funerals into something joyful and community-focused. What started as a local parade has grown into an annual tradition that has broken Guinness World Records, delivered toys to children affected by economic hardship and natural disasters, and even inspired similar events internationally. The friendly competition with the French Towing Association, who now hold the record with 491 trucks, only serves to benefit more children in need.
Today, as District Sales Manager for Landau Corporation, Pat continues to champion innovation with new trailer designs featuring 10-foot-1 spread axles and expandable capabilities reaching 61 feet. His humility shines through when discussing his Hall of Fame induction, crediting his entire team for the success of Tow Trucks for Tots.
For those interested in learning more or touring the Landau factory, Pat welcomes contact at pat.winer@landoll.com or 630-878-9837. Join us for this inspiring conversation that demonstrates how dedication to craft, community, and continuous improvement can create a lasting legacy in the towing industry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery
Institute podcast.
I want to remind all of youthat the American Towing
Recovery Institute aims topromote professionalism, safety
and education within the towingand recovery industry.
Remember, we provide trainingand certification programs for
towing operators.
(00:26):
We also advocate for industrystandards and best practices,
support research and develop allnew techniques, including
research and development ofelectric and alternative fuel
vehicles With extensive research, with the EV Clever app,
available now on Apple andGoogle Play stores, Foster
(00:50):
cooperation among industrystakeholders.
Please, if you need to contactus, we're always at wwwamtowri G
.
Now here is Towing.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
News Now, as always, dj, thank you so much for those
kind words.
I really do appreciate hearingthem.
Sometimes it's the nicest thinganybody said to me all week
long, so they really mean a lot.
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I'm doing excellent.
I want to tell all ourlisteners April right off the
start here that we heard backfrom Tunnel to Towers and the
van that we gave them down inOrlando while the tow show was
(01:40):
going on, atlanta, georgia.
So as that process goes on,we'll keep our listeners posted
and then about a month from now,Paul Meyer, who's the head of
all the veteran villages forTunnel to Towers, will be on
this podcast relaying to all ofour listeners how much they
(02:02):
appreciate Wes Wilburn and AprilWilburn's listeners for helping
out with Tunnel to Towers.
And we'll progress as we goalong.
But that's what's happeningtoday.
It was good April andeverything here is beautiful and
Georgia is a beautiful.
Beautiful blue skies, big puppywhite clouds out there.
(02:24):
It's gorgeous today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I heard it's 85 degrees there.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Oh yes.
That's all it's doing good, andso Wes and you have been.
You know it's a key thing, andso when you're asking about, I
just figured this would be agood tease.
So, down the road, anticipatehearing right from the man
himself, from Tunnel to Towers.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Well, thank you, DJ.
You give us a lot of credit,but really the credit belongs
with you.
You've been the one that's beenactive on this program.
You're the one with theconnection with United Recyclers
Group, URG.
By the way, I hope some of ourfans have given their podcast a
listen and given them asubscribe.
If you haven't, please do thatas a personal favor to me.
Dj does the podcast with them,URG.
(03:08):
How do they find that, DJ?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
If they just go thank you, wes If they just go to URG
on their Spotify or on theiryou know, just go to podcasts on
your phone and hit U-R-G standsfor United Recyclers Group, and
it'll come right up.
And the lady who's their hostis called Amanda Morrison.
(03:38):
She's very easy on the eyes,but she's the host and I'm the
co-host and they do a great job,but they're only nothing like
you guys.
You gotta have over 20 000listeners they're.
They just broke 9 000 and theystruggled doing that.
(03:59):
But if we could get them up to10 000 as you know, wes, that
once you hit 10 000, spotifiedand all of these people itunes,
iheart, media they all kick inand kind of help you a little
bit, get your audience.
So but if you don't hit the 10000 mark, you, you still stay
(04:20):
down in the limbo land that'sright, which?
Speaker 4 (04:23):
that's where they are right now.
And it's a good podcast.
There's a lot of goodinformation on there that they
can apply, whether you're in therecycling business or not, so
give them a listen.
Give them a subscribe.
That's where everything is.
Give them a subscribe, likethem and rate them, and all that
too.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yep.
So I also think that, with thecurrent situation, urg might be
a good podcast to listen to,because we're looking within
America now for sourcing.
That's right For sourcingmaterials and recycling.
We should be doing anyway, butwe don't because we're a very
disposable nation.
That recycling group could be avery good resource for a lot of
(05:04):
people in a lot of differentbusinesses.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I sure do appreciate you guys.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
We appreciate you, we appreciate your G for making us
feel so at home at theirfunction and everything they do.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Oh yeah, they loved you guys coming over and, of
course, tunnel to towers.
You did a great jobinterviewing Matt from Tunnel to
Towers.
It was a good podcast.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah, we need to get Matt back on on a more regular
basis and we're going to work onthat as well.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
You got it All right, so what's happening with April?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
April is good, we're rolling.
It's the middle of the trainingseason and the spring season,
so I um if I could take fiveminutes to think about how I'm
doing, I don't know, but todayI'm great.
We're you know, we're justrolling.
We're rolling with them.
This podcast is one of the bestthings that we look forward to
doing all week there you goabsolutely, and we're excited
(06:02):
about this podcast and theinterview.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Really, it really lays out what our future is and
the group we're working with andI'm super excited about that.
This just came across my deskyesterday afternoon and I feel
like it's worth talking aboutfor a moment Yesterday.
Well, first of all, let me readyou the news article from the
KFOX14 CBS4 affiliate in El Paso, texas.
(06:25):
The KFOX14 CBS4 affiliate in ElPaso, texas.
The son of a 65-year-old manwho died in a fiery semi-crash
that involved 12 vehicles onTrans Mountain in northwest El
Paso, has filed a lawsuitagainst the towing company and
the driver.
The law firm and I won'tmention their name, it's in the
public record identified.
(06:45):
The man is, and I won't.
His name is in public record aswell.
The law firm filed a lawsuitagainst and again, the towing
company's name is in therecordtruck which was towing
another semi after the one hadbecome disabled on Loop 375.
Old local person, for reasonsstill not known to investigators
(07:27):
, was not able to brake as thesemi approached the intersection
of Loop 375 and so-and-soBoulevard.
As a result, the trailersmashed into several cars that
were stopped at the red light.
According to the law firm, thedeceased was burned alive in the
cab of the truck.
The law firm said the petitionis filed on behalf of the
grieving son.
(07:47):
The lawsuit alleges that thedeath of Jenkins was caused by
the driver's negligent andcareless disregard for his
duties as a safe driver forprofit and they refer to that a
couple times, that safe driverfor profit.
So I'm sure that's some kind oflegal term that's been
established as case law down,there is my guess Right.
Been established as case lawdown there is my guess Right.
(08:08):
The lawsuit states the driverwas speeding, failing to keep a
safe distance from othervehicles and distracted by
electronic device, disregardingthe extreme risk of harm.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It was consciously tapered.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Thank you.
The document states that theselling service is being held
responsible for failing todevelop, implement and force
additional adequate safetypolicies regarding the operation
of the tow truck and the driverdistraction from electronic
devices.
A second lawsuit filed byanother person injured in the
cast is also suing the towingcompany.
(08:42):
His attorneys claim he waspermanently injured and is
seeking more than a milliondollars for damages in medical
care, loss of income andphysical and mental suffering.
Both lawsuits accused thetowing company, the driver, of
negligence and violating federalsafety standards.
The states no criminal chargeshave been filed but the
(09:02):
investigation continues.
That's a possibility.
So there's also the lawsuititself.
This was all found online andseveral of the towing groups are
talking about it on Facebooketc.
And the lawsuit document namesthe individual, names the towing
company and they're all namedin this lawsuit, all being sued
(09:22):
in a civil situation and again,there's still possible criminal
charges.
I've heard a lot of conversationabout what the cause of the
accident was.
I don't want to speculate aboutit.
Hopefully the investigationwill ferret out what exactly the
truth is.
But several of the things thatwere discussed are shortcuts I
(09:45):
see commonly taken by heavy-dutyoperators, and I always say in
classes we tell ourselves thatlie, that lie that it will be
okay this time.
We have to stop tellingourselves that lie, especially
in this situation.
This was a mountainoussituation, so telling it from
what I understand, it's a verymountainous area and telling a
tractor-trailer on flat groundcan be a dangerous proposition.
(10:08):
So I'm just asking all theoperators out here to keep in
mind to be safe and don't tellyourself that lie and don't take
that shortcut.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Can I add a couple things to it?
There's a second lawsuit out.
One of the individuals that wasinjured is also suing.
Why it happened doesn't changewhat happened.
Why it happened gives us theresolution, gives us the closure
, if there's such a thing, forit, why it happened.
(10:38):
Training is our mission in life.
That's what we do.
Education is our mission inlife.
Safety is our mission in life.
I don't know how you can trainsomebody not to look at their
devices when they're going downthe road.
You could tell them not to dothat.
That is what happened and therewasn't some kind of equipment
failure.
That's a possibility.
(10:59):
That report is a report, but wedon't know what happened.
We were not in that truck and Idon't know how they would know
he was looking at his device.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Oh, they know, they know absolutely.
But then it was on, but youdon't know if they were looking
at it Well, yeah, but they'vegot several ways they can detect
if you're using it or not.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I don't know how you train that out of somebody.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
I don't know that.
It's training, it's convincingthem, it's important and not to
take the shortcut.
Yes, I've always said that,especially years ago, when we
started training in thisindustry 30 years ago.
Most of the time we werepreaching to the choir the room
full of people that would come,especially back then, and they
knew what the right thing was.
They knew they should be usingsafety chains.
Every time, but again we goback to that lie.
(11:43):
We tell ourselves it will beokay this time.
So that's part of what I'vebeen my mission over the 30 some
years I've been involved intraining.
Yes, I'm sharing informationwith them, but I'm also trying
to convince them why thatinformation is important and why
they should do it every singletime yeah, because one shortcut.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
We were talking to a friend of ours at a tower and he
owns a company and he wastalking about doing being out on
a on a call with one of hisguys and he's seen this guy take
a shortcut and he stopped it.
He said because one shortcutleads to another, shortcut it.
It is a slippery slope, you getby with it, it's easy, you take
, you take the shortcuts andit's going to be fine.
(12:22):
200 times maybe, and then it'snot, it's some, something's
going to happen.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And of course we hope it doesn't, and we do pray for
all the families involved inthis situation.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
As promised, we have a great guest, Pat Weiner with
the Landau Corporation.
Pat, we are so lucky to haveyou on the podcast today.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I've known Pat for decades.
He's always been just thenicest of people and he's really
been involved in a lot of thegroundbreaking events in our
industry.
Pat, go ahead and introduceyourself, please.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
Well, thank you very much.
I sure appreciate the kindwords and I'm very honored to be
here.
My name is Pat Weiner.
I'm from Landau Corporation.
I'm the District Sales Managerfor the Illinois, wisconsin,
minnesota, iowa, south Dakota,north Dakota, wyoming, eastern
Montana and east of 65 inMissouri, and I'm very happy to
(13:16):
be here.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
That's quite a territory and we'll talk about
that later.
But tell us how you first gotinvolved in the industry.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
Yes, certainly.
So I've gotten involved in theindustry.
Back in the 80s I lived inElkhart, indiana, and graduated
from Elkhart Central High School, and a few of my friends were
working at a place calledChallenger Wrecker Manufacturer.
They were working in the paintdepartment and I was looking for
a job and my buddy said hey,why don't you come over here and
(13:43):
apply I know we're hiring andsee if you can get a job with us
.
And at that time Challenger wasa union shop.
And so I applied and gotaccepted and I think you had I
think it was maybe 90 days, Ithink something like that.
(14:06):
You had to work and to get intothe union.
And so I did that and got a jobwith Challenger and started on
the line at Challenger RecordManufacturer.
I originally started in thepaint department, priming parts,
and then went into the shippingdepartment and then ended up
co-managing the shippingdepartment with Lisa Bottoms,
which was Bill Bottoms' daughter, and then ended up.
Jeff Badgley was the salesmanager back in that day, back
(14:29):
in that time, and I had askedJeff if I had a chance at
getting a sales job sellingrecords and Jeff said let me
think about it, I'll get back toyou.
And he got back to me and hesaid you know what?
We've got an inside salesposition.
We'd like to put you in and seehow you do, and so that's kind
of how I got started in theindustry.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Wow, in the very beginning, working with a lot of
players that were here fordecades.
What year are?
We talking ballpark.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Oh gosh, that was in the 80s, early 80s, so I think I
started there.
It was 83, 84, somewhere rightaround there, 85.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It also probably did help you going into sales when
you were doing the, the paintingand the shipping that you
actually got to know the trucksvery well.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
So when you oh, yes, when you were talking to
potential customers, you couldreally speak to the insides and
outs of those trucks yes, yes,no, it was great starting at the
bottom there and and uh, andlearning how to, how to, you
know, build the trucks.
I also worked on the linesometimes and they would switch
us to different positions andI'd work on the line assembling
records and, uh, you know, backin the day, uh, bill had the
(15:37):
state of the art uh facility.
Uh, throughout the wholefacility he had a chain link
system that was up above theceiling and the parts they would
build the record parts of ourstations and the guys would
build the parts.
And then this, this continuouschain, would go around the whole
entire factory and they wouldgo to each station and they
(15:58):
would have hooks on there and sothe, the guy making his parts
would put his part on that hookand it would go to the next
station.
That guy would take it off andhe would do his part to it.
Then he'd put, put it back onthe line and then it would go to
the next station and then,after everything, all the steel
was all built and everything itwould go up into a blaster.
It would be blasted and then itwould get a phosphate wash and
(16:18):
then a chemical wash and thenthe parts would get primed and
then they would get put on skidsto go to the paint shop to
either be painted or to beassembled.
And it was really really a neatfactory and you know at the
time it was definitely state ofthe art.
You know, bill really was agenius at designing things and
you know designing the floor ofthe factory and how it worked.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It was just great to see and great to be a part of.
That's interesting.
I've heard a lot of people talkabout him and definitely we can
credit him with the modernhydraulic tow truck.
I've never heard that discussedin detail like that how
organized he was.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Oh yeah, it was amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Yeah, that's interesting, that's very
interesting.
So middle 80s, this is going on.
We're at the height of you'vegot to have a wheel lift to tow
a car, basically.
Well, you got to have a wheellift to tow a car, basically, at
least from my memory, you knowmiddle 80s, you're a pretty
strong point that you'reprobably selling as many wheel
lift little wreckers as you aresling trucks.
(17:18):
Is my memory serving me right?
Speaker 6 (17:21):
That's correct.
We were building a lot ofadd-on wheel lifts at the time
also.
Oh yeah, because back thenthere was a lot of wreckers
didn't have wheel lifts and so alot of the manufacturers were
building add-on wheel lifts andyou couldn't keep them in stock.
I mean, you know, guys were,were waiting in line to get them
and uh, you know they were, uh,they would uh bolt on
(17:43):
underneath the truck and and uh,you know it's kind of neat back
then because the wheel liftcame out, the, the rollback was
just starting to come out, youknow, and uh, it was really
really a neat time in theindustry yeah, it sounds like
you're on the forefront of a lotof the new innovation um that
was coming out yeah, with thatadd-on wheel.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
If that made every service station in america a
potential customer, didn't it?
Speaker 6 (18:06):
it, did it it so from Challenger.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Uh, how long did you stay there?
What was the next move fromChallenger?
Speaker 6 (18:16):
yeah, so Challenger, uh, so Challenger was owned by
Bill Bottoms and uh, then, uh,of course, bill brought a
partner in to, uh, um, to, Iguess the banks had required
Bill to bring a partner in,which was the Grable Corporation
.
And the Grable Corporationended up was a company that I
(18:37):
think they bought Western Plow,and they bought a whole bunch of
other companies and they endedup, I guess you know, doing some
things that weren't you know, Idon't know how to say it,
especially things that theyshouldn't have done, and it put
Challenger into bankruptcy atthat time.
(18:58):
And then, of course, billBottoms and Bill Miller went to
court and both of them went tobuy Challenger and, you know,
bill Miller ended up buyingChallenger and Bill Bottoms
ended up starting All ProToywing equipment in Elkhart,
indiana, which was anotherwrecker manufacturer before he
started B&B.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Right, allpro made that monster wrecker for Ernie
on that Oshkosh, if I'm notmistaken.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
If I'm not mistaken, they did, they did and again,
the facility he built.
He built that facility brandnew and that was the first time
I ever saw the sealed floorswhere his floors were like a
light-colored blue and the wholebuilding was just beautiful.
Again he had thestate-of-the-art facility.
(19:44):
He had a whole glass frontwhere you could park a wrecker
in the front and it was justreally, really neat.
Building Bill, like I said, wasreally good at designing
factories and buildings andequipment.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Yeah, portable bars as well.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Yes, he did.
They're still in use today atBudweiser.
Matter of fact, I still in usetoday at Budweiser.
As a matter of fact, I was on atour at Budweiser just recently
and they are still using hisporta-parties.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Oh wow, what at their St Louis location.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
Yes, correct.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Wow, I'll have to see that.
I'll have to take a look forthat.
So you're with Bill through All.
Pro, where's Pat through allthis.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
So Miller Industries, of course, was in Elkhart,
indiana when they boughtChallenger.
That was the first place theybought and they moved it to
Ottawa, Tennessee, and theyoffered everybody that worked
there to go to Ottawa.
(20:49):
At that point I had never reallybeen to Tennessee and lived in
Elkhart my whole life, and RandyOlson, which was one of the
sales guys back in the day atChallenger and then became the
sales manager at MillerIndustries, had asked me if I'd
be interested in going to workfor them in Chicago.
And so then I went to work forthem in Chicago selling records
(21:10):
and towing equipment and that'skind of how I ended up in
Chicago and then that turnedinto B&B industry and worked for
B&B and then Jordan hadapproached me.
We are also a Jordan dealer atB&B, so they approached me about
going to work for them as amanufacturer's rep, and so I
(21:31):
took that position with Jordan.
Jordan asked me if I'd beinterested in owning my own
dealership in Chicagoland.
They were looking to get moreof the market share in Chicago.
They asked me if I'd beinterested in opening a
dealership in Chicago.
I opened a dealership inChicago called Worldwide
Equipment Sales.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
All right.
So what year were you at atthis point?
Just to put a littleperspective.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
That would be probably about 2003,.
I imagine is when I opened upWorldwide Equipment.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Let me get you to clarify one more thing.
Going backwards, you mentionedB&B a second time.
Yes, that was B&B, a dealership, not the record manufacturer.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
That point am I correct on that?
Correct?
Yes, yes, I'm sorry.
Yes, that was the dealership inChicago.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Just making sure for listeners at home.
All the steps are clear Very,very fascinating career and you
haven't even got started yetwith some of the big things
you've achieved.
We've got to get you to hangaround.
We're going to take a quickbreak and after the break I want
to hear about Worldwide andsome of the great things that
you achieved there.
So we'll be right backlisteners.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
For electric and other alternative fuel vehicles.
We have developed an app thatgives you all the manufacturers
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Whether you are a fire tower orpolice, we got you covered.
To find the EVClever app, go toyour Apple or Google Play store
for a 30-day free trial.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
We also offer the National Tow Operator
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vehicle.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
TRAA, the Injured Drivers Fund and legislation
that makes all of us safer arewhat makes this industry special
.
Ina Towing supports all of thisand more.
When there is a need, gayRochester is always one of the
first to come forward and askhow can I help?
The American Towing andRecovery Institute is honored to
(23:33):
have the support of the INATowing Network.
Together, we all make adifference.
Ina Towing Network simplifiedsolutions, superior service.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
All right, everybody, welcome back from the break
here at Towing News.
Now we have Pat Weiner fromLandall Equipment and he's going
to tell us about his experienceat Worldwide.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Yeah, so Worldwide.
We started in 2003.
We started out, of coursecourse, selling Jordan products
and Landall trailers and kind ofgrew it.
We also started sellingCottrell car haulers, which were
the big 13 car haulers.
We grew that till 2015 and in2015 Joe Pritchard from
(24:21):
Pritchard Auto Group, which isthe supplier of chassis to
Jordan for their Ford, dodge andChevy chassis, came to us and
we agreed on an agreement tosell the company to him.
And Pritchard Auto Group is agreat family business.
Their great-grandfather startedit in 1913, I believe, and they
(24:41):
dealt directly with Henry Fordback in the day.
And that's how old theirdealership is One of the oldest
dealerships in the country, ifnot the oldest, wow.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Well, and we'll talk more about Pritchard in a second
, but tell us a little bit aboutWorldwide and some of the
things you achieved.
I recognize the differentbrands that you carried, but
there's a whole lot more toWorldwide than that, wasn't
there?
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Yes, yes, so we also.
We started Tow Trucks for Totsback in 2007.
I was at a funeral for a towerand, of course, they always have
a tow truck procession there atthe funeral, and you know,
everybody is very somber and Ithought, boy, it'd be be nice to
be able to have a parade whereeverybody was happy and more, uh
(25:27):
, festive and uh.
So I, I came back that day and Isat down with all my employees
at worldwide and I said, hey,you know, I would like to have a
parade, a tow truck paradewhere it can be festive.
And and if we're going to dothat, we got to do something
good with it.
You know, what can we do?
And we came up with the idea tohave a tow truck parade and
(25:47):
collect toys for children inneed at Christmas time, and then
also to go for the GuinnessBook of World Records and then
show the towing companies in abetter light, you know, showing
that they're good, family runbusinesses.
The towing companies in abetter light, you know, showing
that they're good, family-runbusinesses.
And so we came up with thisidea for Tow Trucks for Tots in
2007.
Of course, it's still going,and this year will be 2025.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
So it'll be 18 years we've been collecting toys for
children, which is anoutstanding job you folks do.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
Well, thank you.
We've helped out a lot ofplaces.
You know, back in the earlyyears Elkhart, indiana, had the
highest unemployment rate in thecountry.
As a matter of fact, I don'tremember the president at the
time there he went there toconsole the people there and
tell them that they were goingto try to bring jobs back to
Elkhart.
So we went to Elkhart atChristmastime and gave out toys.
(26:37):
And we went to Elkhart atChristmas time and gave out toys
and we went to Hurricane Sandyin New York, we did the
wildfires in Tennessee, we didthe tornadoes in Southern
Illinois, we did the GM plant,which was the Top Kick plant
that they closed in Janesville,wisconsin.
We took toys to them and thenwe also give out to hospitals
(26:58):
and food pantries and anybody inneed.
So it's been a great thing,it's been a lot of fun and it's
a great event to do.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So you're saying who else is in this with you, who
else is doing this with you?
Speaker 6 (27:13):
I've got a whole group of people that help out,
but especially there's agentleman by the name of Jim
Bresnahan here in Chicago thathelps out Ed Forsythe, myla
Howell, mike Irwin, john Journal, joe Scalavara, and my wife
Kathy, and of course, mychildren help out with it, and
numerous other people I mean wehave it's huge, you know, and
(27:36):
it's just not one person person,it's a whole giant group of
people and we have firefightersto help out with the police
officers.
Unfortunately, with thecutbacks, you know, in the
government, um, before the statepolice would let us go from
joliet all the way downtownchicago to uh to uh back then it
was called toyota park and, uh,they would close off the
(27:57):
expressway which is?
Speaker 4 (27:59):
which is how many miles just?
Speaker 6 (28:01):
for about 40, 42 miles 42 miles of a parade route
big interstates too and theywould close the interstate off
for us and the people would go,the trucks would go right down
the interstate and it was hugeand, uh, matter of fact, the the
first, one of the first paradeswe had going down the
interstate.
We got a letter from a lady andshe says I go to church every
(28:24):
Sunday, never missed.
And she says last Sunday I wasgoing to church and she said I
seen all these tow trucks goingdown I-55 with their lights on.
And she thought, oh my gosh,something must have happened in
downtown Chicago.
So she stopped, she watched andpretty soon she saw that the
trucks were all decorated forChristmas and she realized that
we were doing a toy run and shesaid that was the neatest thing
(28:48):
she's ever seen.
And she said you know shedoesn't want to miss church, but
she said I'm going to misschurch every year, this time
just to watch that parade.
She thought that was that coolthat we were doing that.
Pretty humbling.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Very humbling and you could be in church in your car.
You know God is everywhere.
So how for the cuts andimpacting your guys' route?
How long ago did that impacthappen and what are you doing
now instead?
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Yeah, so, gosh, it's been probably three to four
years now that the impacts haveimpacted our route.
So now our parade route is muchsmaller.
We go from Hollywood Casino inJoliet to the Joliet Speedway,
and so we just keep the truckslocal.
And so we just keep the truckslocal.
Without having the state policeprotection on the expressways
(29:41):
it would be, you know, just waytoo hard to get the trucks down
down to the expressway.
You know, when we did that, itinvolved the state police,
county police, city police, andthen we had several cities like
the village of Bridgeview, thegosh, the Justice Police
Department, rockdale PoliceDepartment, joliet Police
Department, and there's many,many more Gosh, I think, burbank
(30:05):
Police Department, and they allhelped, and plus IDOT, which
also has their own tow trucks,they would help out also.
So it was a huge amount ofpeople and amount of government
agencies that helped us go downthat expressway safely.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
It almost sounds like the same efforts they'd make if
the president was coming totown.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
It's just like that.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I'd say it probably even more extent because I'm
sure there was a lot developedum between the government
entities and the towing industrywith this endeavor that you do
over here, because you don't,you don't plan.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
You don't plan this a week beforehand, you plan this
a month beforehand oh yes, we,when we end it in, uh, in, uh,
you know it's always the secondsunday in nove, and so that
second Sunday in November afterthe parade, there's a group of
us, we all meet, we have lunchor dinner, I guess, you'd say
(31:07):
and we go over what happened atthat one and we start planning
for the next year.
So we start planning rightafter the other one ends.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
So tell us a little bit about the Guinness World
Book of Records.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
You know, we had three things that we wanted to
go after is to help children toshow the towing industry in a
better light and then also gofor the Guinness Book of World
Records.
We did break the Guinness Bookof World Records.
The first year that we did theparade, the Guinness Book of
World Records was held by atowing association in Washington
and I believe it was 83 or 84trucks, um, and in the first
(31:42):
year we had um gosh, I don'tremember the exact numbers but
it was, you know, close to 200.
I think it was 203 trucks, youknow.
So we we had a great showing,um, our best year we had 324
trucks and that was our bestyear.
And we continued to have theGuinness Book of World's records
for many years.
Until about a few years back,tow Times Magazine did an
(32:06):
article about tow trucks fortots and over in Europe there's
a towing magazine called LDM andthat goes all over the Europe
area, and the French TowingAssociation saw what we were
doing so they said, hey, we wantto jump in on that.
So they started having theirown parade.
(32:28):
Now, at this time we didn'tknow that they were having a
parade and they had their paradefor two or three years, and the
third year they got 491 trucksto show up and beat our record.
And so I was at home one dayand I got this message through
Facebook and it said the Frenchbeat the Americans, you know.
(32:52):
And it says tow trucks for tots, for 491 trucks.
So I thought I got to find outwho this guy is and if this was
real or not, you know.
And so, anyways, we ended upmaking contact with them and
Luke is the president of theFrench Towing Association and
he's the one that headed that up, and a super nice guy.
(33:12):
Matter of fact, he was inductedinto the Towing Hall of Fame a
couple years back for the FrenchTowing Parade, and at that time
they had a registration fee andall the money that they
collected went to fightchildhood cancer.
And they've had their paradeevery year and they keep waiting
for the Americans to give thema run for their money and break
(33:34):
the record, and every year, ofcourse, we try, but right now it
seems like we're only gettingclose to 300 trucks a year, and
in order to beat them we have tobeat them at.
We have to be more than 491trucks and so, which is a hard
number to hit.
They did a good job oforganizing that and getting that
many trucks, because that's alot of trucks.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
And out of this competition, only the children
have benefited in so manydifferent ways.
Oh, yes, so this is a very goodcompetition.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
Yes, no, it is, it is and it's very exciting and they
really want us to try to breaktheir record, you know, because
they would like to do more.
Also, and hopefully, you know,in the next couple of years we
can get enough towers to breakthat record, you know, and it
would be nice to see it all overthe United States.
I'd love to see it in othercities.
You know, the same day, always,you know, second Sunday in
(34:26):
November at 9 am, and have it inmany cities, you know.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
It would be great to see other towers do it and other
associations do it.
Well, we tried to do some ofthat and we never did link up
with you guys.
I didn't really realize atfirst that y'all were doing it,
but that's a great idea andmaybe we can help promote that
as we move forward.
We also we've got to take aquick break, but before we do, I
want to say there's a lot oftellers in the Midwest that
listen to this podcast, so let'shopefully give this Toys for
(34:56):
Tots parade a little bump andwe'll definitely have you back
on at that point to talk aboutit.
But can you hang around for abreak and we want to talk about
what you're doing nowadays.
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Speaker 2 (36:20):
Welcome back to Tony News, Now with Pat Weiner and
I'm going to hand it over to Wes.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
Pat, you talked about quite a bit about your history,
which I find fascinating.
You also mentioned the Hall ofFame.
You're also a Hall of Famemember.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthat.
You also mentioned the Hall ofFame.
You're also a Hall of Famemember.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
Talk to us a little bit about that, would you please
?
Sure, well, I'm very, veryhumbled to be in the Hall of
Fame.
But you know, as I said when Iaccepted it, it's really not me,
it's the Tow Trucks for Totsgroup, it's all of us, because
without them I couldn't havedone any of it.
You know, it would have beenvery hard to put together and
(36:59):
I've got a lot of people thatput a lot into Tow Trucks for
Tots and made it as successfulas it is, and that's why I was
put into the Hall of Famous forTow Trucks for Tots.
But, like I said, it's not justme, it's my whole entire group,
you know.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
They're all great people and they help out
immensely.
That's very humble.
You recognize everybody else,but it was your vision that made
it happen.
This happens you say the secondSunday in November every year
in Joliet, yes, which is nearthe worldwide headquarters,
still correct.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Yes, correct.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
Okay, so talk to us a little bit about what's going
on nowadays with Landau.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
Yeah, certainly, of course.
After I sold worldwide, Istayed on for several years to
work with Joe Pritchard and hisgroup and a couple of years back
I guess it's been three yearsago now Gary Dwell Cotty from
Landau which he ran the salesdepartment at Landau and then
was an outside salesperson atLandau called me and told me he
was going to retire and asked meif I'd be interested in going
(38:08):
to work for Landau.
And I told him no, I've alwayssold tow trucks.
My plan is to retire here atWorldwide.
You know, I wasn't ready when Isold the business to retire,
because I enjoy working, I enjoythe towing industry, I love
being out there and working withtrucks and trailers, and I just
wasn't ready to retire.
And so Gary asked me if I'd beinterested in coming to work for
(38:29):
them and I said no, I sell towtrucks, that's what I do.
I said I sell trailers too, butyou know, my main business is
tow trucks.
And I said I sell tow trucks,that's what I do.
I said I sell trailers too, butyou know, my main business is
tow trucks.
And I said I sell tow trucks.
And he said well, you know, I'mnot ready to tire yet, but he
says you need to start thinkingabout it.
And he said it would be a goodmove for you to do if you, if to
let worldwide you know the newowners take over and you would
(38:51):
kind of move in a sidewaysposition and still be able to
help them.
You would still be their repfor Worldwide's rep for Landau
Trailers, and so you'd still beinvolved with Worldwide.
The more I thought about that, Ithought wow, that is a great
move.
It's an opportunity to let thenew owners of Worldwide run
Worldwide and it's a greatopportunity for me to move
(39:14):
sideways.
I'm not in competition withthem because I wouldn't want to
do that.
You know, they had bought mycompany and I feel that it
wouldn't be fair for me to gointo competition with them, and
so I ended up.
I talked to the Pritchard familyand told them what had happened
, that Landau had offered methis position, and I said you
know I don't want to leavewithout their blessing.
And so they said we'd like tokeep you, but if you'd like to
(39:41):
do that, that that would be fine, you know.
And so I took the position withLandau and love it.
You know I have several statesthat I, that I represent and you
know I work with a lot oftowing distributors.
You know of course Zips andPurpose and Worldwide and and
then a lot of trailer dealerslike Midwest Diesel and MidState
Utility and also a new one, theJackson Group out in Wyoming
(40:06):
and Montana, which is aPeterbilt dealer.
So I get to go to some neatplaces and visit some great
people and I'm still involvedwith the towing industry.
So it works out good.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
Well, boy, that's good to hear and I'm very
thankful for it.
That's so well for you.
So you plan on staying on withthem for a while.
Speaker 6 (40:25):
Yes, I'll plan on retiring.
I'm 63.
So I'm planning on stayingthere for at least seven years,
you know.
And then you know I'll retirefrom Landahl.
And Landahl does have some newproducts that they came out with
on their 400 series, which istheir slide axle.
It's only available on the50-foot CA trailer now and this
(40:48):
fall will be available on the53-foot 440, but they have a
10-1 spread axle.
It's kind of neat because it'sa sliding axle trailer tandem
and then you can use it as atandem and slide the axles
together as a tandem, or you canseparate them apart and they're
10 foot 1 inch.
So on your tandems, of courseyou know when it's a tandem that
(41:11):
you're allowed 34 on the rears.
When you spread that apart, ithas to be than more than 10 foot
.
So it's 10 foot one inch andyou can put 40,000 pounds on the
rears, and so you can use it asa 10-1 spread or as a tandem,
your choice, which is, which iskind of nice and that will be
available on a 53 footer thisfall wow, that is nice.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
What else is new?
Speaker 6 (41:32):
yep, they've got.
So they came out with anexpandable trailer too, and the
expandable trailer is a 53-foottrailer and it expands 8 foot,
so it goes to 61 foot.
And the nice thing about aLandau trailer well, all our
Landau trailers you can gethot-dip galvanized so they don't
rust in the rust belt areas.
But our expandable trailer,where it expands, it's a box
(41:56):
beam, so you can load our boxbeam.
A lot of our othermanufacturers out there they use
a ramp to get to what they callthe back porch, which is the
back part of the trailer.
So they use a ramp to get tothat back porch, and that ramp
is only to be driven across,it's not to be loaded.
Where our extension can beloaded, Matter of fact, we even
put D-rings on our extension totie down on.
(42:18):
And so the nice thing aboutthat being able to load that
area is that if you've got toget something closer to the
front of the trailer to put moreweight on the tractor, you can
do that.
With our competitors you can'tdo that, and then, of course,
most of their extensions areonly 5 foot.
Ours is 61 foot, Ours is 8 footand so it's 3 foot longer, so
(42:41):
it makes it a lot better.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
Wow, landau's always on the move to make things
better, aren't they?
Speaker 6 (42:47):
They are, they are, and I always compare Don Landau
and Bill Bottoms.
They're both just amazingengineers at laying out
factories and, you know,building new buildings.
They're both two peas in a pod.
And you know, anybody everwants to get out there to Landau
(43:08):
Factory for a tour?
You know, please let me know.
We'll organize a tour for themand get them out there and let
them see what we're doing.
And if you guys would like tocome out, we'd love to have you.
We'll maybe do a podcast fromthere.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
For sure.
Yeah, we definitely like that.
Maybe we need to plan that.
How can folks get in touch withyou?
Speaker 6 (43:25):
They can email me at pat P-A-T period Weiner
W-I-N-E-R at landolcom,l-a-n-d-o-l-lcom, or they can
call me on my cell at630-878-9837.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
So if our listeners need more information from Pat,
who is a wealth of knowledge, ashe's proved through this
podcast, don't hesitate to reachout to him.
I've known him for decades, agreat, humble gentleman, one of
the many in this industry, butdefinitely stands amongst
himself.
So don't forget to reach out tohim with questions.
Tell him you got hisinformation on the podcast and,
(44:07):
pat, I definitely appreciate allthe information today.
Anything you'd like to say inclosing?
Speaker 6 (44:13):
Yeah, I'd like to tell you guys, wes and April,
thank you very much for havingme.
This has been great.
I sure appreciate it and I'mvery humbled that you asked me
to be here.
So thank you very much, andthank you very much to your
listeners.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Well, thank you, pat, we'll look forward to having
you back on.
There you have it folks.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Another great episode from the American Toeing
Recovery Institute podcast.
See you next time.
Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery
Institute podcast.
I want to remind all of youthat the American Towing
Recovery Institute aims topromote professionalism, safety
and education within the towingand recovery industry.
Remember, we provide trainingand certification programs for
towing operators.
(00:26):
We also advocate for industrystandards and best practices,
support research and develop allnew techniques, including
research and development ofelectric and alternative fuel
vehicles With extensive research, with the EV Clever app,
available now on Apple andGoogle Play stores, Foster
(00:50):
cooperation among industrystakeholders.
Please, if you need to contactus, we're always at wwwamtowri G
.
Now here is Towing.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
News Now, as always, dj, thank you so much for those
kind words.
I really do appreciate hearingthem.
Sometimes it's the nicest thinganybody said to me all week
long, so they really mean a lot.
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I'm doing excellent.
I want to tell all ourlisteners April right off the
start here that we heard backfrom Tunnel to Towers and the
van that we gave them down inOrlando while the tow show was
(01:40):
going on, atlanta, georgia.
So as that process goes on,we'll keep our listeners posted
and then about a month from now,Paul Meyer, who's the head of
all the veteran villages forTunnel to Towers, will be on
this podcast relaying to all ofour listeners how much they
(02:02):
appreciate Wes Wilburn and AprilWilburn's listeners for helping
out with Tunnel to Towers.
And we'll progress as we goalong.
But that's what's happeningtoday.
It was good April andeverything here is beautiful and
Georgia is a beautiful.
Beautiful blue skies, big puppywhite clouds out there.
(02:24):
It's gorgeous today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I heard it's 85 degrees there.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Oh yes.
That's all it's doing good, andso Wes and you have been.
You know it's a key thing, andso when you're asking about, I
just figured this would be agood tease.
So, down the road, anticipatehearing right from the man
himself, from Tunnel to Towers.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Well, thank you, DJ.
You give us a lot of credit,but really the credit belongs
with you.
You've been the one that's beenactive on this program.
You're the one with theconnection with United Recyclers
Group, URG.
By the way, I hope some of ourfans have given their podcast a
listen and given them asubscribe.
If you haven't, please do thatas a personal favor to me.
Dj does the podcast with them,URG.
(03:08):
How do they find that, DJ?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
If they just go thank you, wes If they just go to URG
on their Spotify or on theiryou know, just go to podcasts on
your phone and hit U-R-G standsfor United Recyclers Group, and
it'll come right up.
And the lady who's their hostis called Amanda Morrison.
(03:38):
She's very easy on the eyes,but she's the host and I'm the
co-host and they do a great job,but they're only nothing like
you guys.
You gotta have over 20 000listeners they're.
They just broke 9 000 and theystruggled doing that.
(03:59):
But if we could get them up to10 000 as you know, wes, that
once you hit 10 000, spotifiedand all of these people itunes,
iheart, media they all kick inand kind of help you a little
bit, get your audience.
So but if you don't hit the 10000 mark, you, you still stay
(04:20):
down in the limbo land that'sright, which?
Speaker 4 (04:23):
that's where they are right now.
And it's a good podcast.
There's a lot of goodinformation on there that they
can apply, whether you're in therecycling business or not, so
give them a listen.
Give them a subscribe.
That's where everything is.
Give them a subscribe, likethem and rate them, and all that
too.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yep.
So I also think that, with thecurrent situation, urg might be
a good podcast to listen to,because we're looking within
America now for sourcing.
That's right For sourcingmaterials and recycling.
We should be doing anyway, butwe don't because we're a very
disposable nation.
That recycling group could be avery good resource for a lot of
(05:04):
people in a lot of differentbusinesses.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I sure do appreciate you guys.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
We appreciate you, we appreciate your G for making us
feel so at home at theirfunction and everything they do.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Oh yeah, they loved you guys coming over and, of
course, tunnel to towers.
You did a great jobinterviewing Matt from Tunnel to
Towers.
It was a good podcast.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah, we need to get Matt back on on a more regular
basis and we're going to work onthat as well.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
You got it All right, so what's happening with April?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
April is good, we're rolling.
It's the middle of the trainingseason and the spring season,
so I um if I could take fiveminutes to think about how I'm
doing, I don't know, but todayI'm great.
We're you know, we're justrolling.
We're rolling with them.
This podcast is one of the bestthings that we look forward to
doing all week there you goabsolutely, and we're excited
(06:02):
about this podcast and theinterview.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Really, it really lays out what our future is and
the group we're working with andI'm super excited about that.
This just came across my deskyesterday afternoon and I feel
like it's worth talking aboutfor a moment Yesterday.
Well, first of all, let me readyou the news article from the
KFOX14 CBS4 affiliate in El Paso, texas.
(06:25):
The KFOX14 CBS4 affiliate in ElPaso, texas.
The son of a 65-year-old manwho died in a fiery semi-crash
that involved 12 vehicles onTrans Mountain in northwest El
Paso, has filed a lawsuitagainst the towing company and
the driver.
The law firm and I won'tmention their name, it's in the
public record identified.
(06:45):
The man is, and I won't.
His name is in public record aswell.
The law firm filed a lawsuitagainst and again, the towing
company's name is in therecordtruck which was towing
another semi after the one hadbecome disabled on Loop 375.
Old local person, for reasonsstill not known to investigators
(07:27):
, was not able to brake as thesemi approached the intersection
of Loop 375 and so-and-soBoulevard.
As a result, the trailersmashed into several cars that
were stopped at the red light.
According to the law firm, thedeceased was burned alive in the
cab of the truck.
The law firm said the petitionis filed on behalf of the
grieving son.
(07:47):
The lawsuit alleges that thedeath of Jenkins was caused by
the driver's negligent andcareless disregard for his
duties as a safe driver forprofit and they refer to that a
couple times, that safe driverfor profit.
So I'm sure that's some kind oflegal term that's been
established as case law down,there is my guess Right.
Been established as case lawdown there is my guess Right.
(08:08):
The lawsuit states the driverwas speeding, failing to keep a
safe distance from othervehicles and distracted by
electronic device, disregardingthe extreme risk of harm.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It was consciously tapered.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Thank you.
The document states that theselling service is being held
responsible for failing todevelop, implement and force
additional adequate safetypolicies regarding the operation
of the tow truck and the driverdistraction from electronic
devices.
A second lawsuit filed byanother person injured in the
cast is also suing the towingcompany.
(08:42):
His attorneys claim he waspermanently injured and is
seeking more than a milliondollars for damages in medical
care, loss of income andphysical and mental suffering.
Both lawsuits accused thetowing company, the driver, of
negligence and violating federalsafety standards.
The states no criminal chargeshave been filed but the
(09:02):
investigation continues.
That's a possibility.
So there's also the lawsuititself.
This was all found online andseveral of the towing groups are
talking about it on Facebooketc.
And the lawsuit document namesthe individual, names the towing
company and they're all namedin this lawsuit, all being sued
(09:22):
in a civil situation and again,there's still possible criminal
charges.
I've heard a lot of conversationabout what the cause of the
accident was.
I don't want to speculate aboutit.
Hopefully the investigationwill ferret out what exactly the
truth is.
But several of the things thatwere discussed are shortcuts I
(09:45):
see commonly taken by heavy-dutyoperators, and I always say in
classes we tell ourselves thatlie, that lie that it will be
okay this time.
We have to stop tellingourselves that lie, especially
in this situation.
This was a mountainoussituation, so telling it from
what I understand, it's a verymountainous area and telling a
tractor-trailer on flat groundcan be a dangerous proposition.
(10:08):
So I'm just asking all theoperators out here to keep in
mind to be safe and don't tellyourself that lie and don't take
that shortcut.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Can I add a couple things to it?
There's a second lawsuit out.
One of the individuals that wasinjured is also suing.
Why it happened doesn't changewhat happened.
Why it happened gives us theresolution, gives us the closure
, if there's such a thing, forit, why it happened.
(10:38):
Training is our mission in life.
That's what we do.
Education is our mission inlife.
Safety is our mission in life.
I don't know how you can trainsomebody not to look at their
devices when they're going downthe road.
You could tell them not to dothat.
That is what happened and therewasn't some kind of equipment
failure.
That's a possibility.
(10:59):
That report is a report, but wedon't know what happened.
We were not in that truck and Idon't know how they would know
he was looking at his device.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Oh, they know, they know absolutely.
But then it was on, but youdon't know if they were looking
at it Well, yeah, but they'vegot several ways they can detect
if you're using it or not.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I don't know how you train that out of somebody.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
I don't know that.
It's training, it's convincingthem, it's important and not to
take the shortcut.
Yes, I've always said that,especially years ago, when we
started training in thisindustry 30 years ago.
Most of the time we werepreaching to the choir the room
full of people that would come,especially back then, and they
knew what the right thing was.
They knew they should be usingsafety chains.
Every time, but again we goback to that lie.
(11:43):
We tell ourselves it will beokay this time.
So that's part of what I'vebeen my mission over the 30 some
years I've been involved intraining.
Yes, I'm sharing informationwith them, but I'm also trying
to convince them why thatinformation is important and why
they should do it every singletime yeah, because one shortcut.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
We were talking to a friend of ours at a tower and he
owns a company and he wastalking about doing being out on
a on a call with one of hisguys and he's seen this guy take
a shortcut and he stopped it.
He said because one shortcutleads to another, shortcut it.
It is a slippery slope, you getby with it, it's easy, you take
, you take the shortcuts andit's going to be fine.
(12:22):
200 times maybe, and then it'snot, it's some, something's
going to happen.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And of course we hope it doesn't, and we do pray for
all the families involved inthis situation.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
As promised, we have a great guest, Pat Weiner with
the Landau Corporation.
Pat, we are so lucky to haveyou on the podcast today.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I've known Pat for decades.
He's always been just thenicest of people and he's really
been involved in a lot of thegroundbreaking events in our
industry.
Pat, go ahead and introduceyourself, please.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
Well, thank you very much.
I sure appreciate the kindwords and I'm very honored to be
here.
My name is Pat Weiner.
I'm from Landau Corporation.
I'm the District Sales Managerfor the Illinois, wisconsin,
minnesota, iowa, south Dakota,north Dakota, wyoming, eastern
Montana and east of 65 inMissouri, and I'm very happy to
(13:16):
be here.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
That's quite a territory and we'll talk about
that later.
But tell us how you first gotinvolved in the industry.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
Yes, certainly.
So I've gotten involved in theindustry.
Back in the 80s I lived inElkhart, indiana, and graduated
from Elkhart Central High School, and a few of my friends were
working at a place calledChallenger Wrecker Manufacturer.
They were working in the paintdepartment and I was looking for
a job and my buddy said hey,why don't you come over here and
(13:43):
apply I know we're hiring andsee if you can get a job with us
.
And at that time Challenger wasa union shop.
And so I applied and gotaccepted and I think you had I
think it was maybe 90 days, Ithink something like that.
(14:06):
You had to work and to get intothe union.
And so I did that and got a jobwith Challenger and started on
the line at Challenger RecordManufacturer.
I originally started in thepaint department, priming parts,
and then went into the shippingdepartment and then ended up
co-managing the shippingdepartment with Lisa Bottoms,
which was Bill Bottoms' daughter, and then ended up.
Jeff Badgley was the salesmanager back in that day, back
(14:29):
in that time, and I had askedJeff if I had a chance at
getting a sales job sellingrecords and Jeff said let me
think about it, I'll get back toyou.
And he got back to me and hesaid you know what?
We've got an inside salesposition.
We'd like to put you in and seehow you do, and so that's kind
of how I got started in theindustry.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Wow, in the very beginning, working with a lot of
players that were here fordecades.
What year are?
We talking ballpark.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Oh gosh, that was in the 80s, early 80s, so I think I
started there.
It was 83, 84, somewhere rightaround there, 85.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It also probably did help you going into sales when
you were doing the, the paintingand the shipping that you
actually got to know the trucksvery well.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
So when you oh, yes, when you were talking to
potential customers, you couldreally speak to the insides and
outs of those trucks yes, yes,no, it was great starting at the
bottom there and and uh, andlearning how to, how to, you
know, build the trucks.
I also worked on the linesometimes and they would switch
us to different positions andI'd work on the line assembling
records and, uh, you know, backin the day, uh, bill had the
(15:37):
state of the art uh facility.
Uh, throughout the wholefacility he had a chain link
system that was up above theceiling and the parts they would
build the record parts of ourstations and the guys would
build the parts.
And then this, this continuouschain, would go around the whole
entire factory and they wouldgo to each station and they
(15:58):
would have hooks on there and sothe, the guy making his parts
would put his part on that hookand it would go to the next
station.
That guy would take it off andhe would do his part to it.
Then he'd put, put it back onthe line and then it would go to
the next station and then,after everything, all the steel
was all built and everything itwould go up into a blaster.
It would be blasted and then itwould get a phosphate wash and
(16:18):
then a chemical wash and thenthe parts would get primed and
then they would get put on skidsto go to the paint shop to
either be painted or to beassembled.
And it was really really a neatfactory and you know at the
time it was definitely state ofthe art.
You know, bill really was agenius at designing things and
you know designing the floor ofthe factory and how it worked.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It was just great to see and great to be a part of.
That's interesting.
I've heard a lot of people talkabout him and definitely we can
credit him with the modernhydraulic tow truck.
I've never heard that discussedin detail like that how
organized he was.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Oh yeah, it was amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Yeah, that's interesting, that's very
interesting.
So middle 80s, this is going on.
We're at the height of you'vegot to have a wheel lift to tow
a car, basically.
Well, you got to have a wheellift to tow a car, basically, at
least from my memory, you knowmiddle 80s, you're a pretty
strong point that you'reprobably selling as many wheel
lift little wreckers as you aresling trucks.
(17:18):
Is my memory serving me right?
Speaker 6 (17:21):
That's correct.
We were building a lot ofadd-on wheel lifts at the time
also.
Oh yeah, because back thenthere was a lot of wreckers
didn't have wheel lifts and so alot of the manufacturers were
building add-on wheel lifts andyou couldn't keep them in stock.
I mean, you know, guys were,were waiting in line to get them
and uh, you know they were, uh,they would uh bolt on
(17:43):
underneath the truck and and uh,you know it's kind of neat back
then because the wheel liftcame out, the, the rollback was
just starting to come out, youknow, and uh, it was really
really a neat time in theindustry yeah, it sounds like
you're on the forefront of a lotof the new innovation um that
was coming out yeah, with thatadd-on wheel.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
If that made every service station in america a
potential customer, didn't it?
Speaker 6 (18:06):
it, did it it so from Challenger.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Uh, how long did you stay there?
What was the next move fromChallenger?
Speaker 6 (18:16):
yeah, so Challenger, uh, so Challenger was owned by
Bill Bottoms and uh, then, uh,of course, bill brought a
partner in to, uh, um, to, Iguess the banks had required
Bill to bring a partner in,which was the Grable Corporation
.
And the Grable Corporationended up was a company that I
(18:37):
think they bought Western Plow,and they bought a whole bunch of
other companies and they endedup, I guess you know, doing some
things that weren't you know, Idon't know how to say it,
especially things that theyshouldn't have done, and it put
Challenger into bankruptcy atthat time.
(18:58):
And then, of course, billBottoms and Bill Miller went to
court and both of them went tobuy Challenger and, you know,
bill Miller ended up buyingChallenger and Bill Bottoms
ended up starting All ProToywing equipment in Elkhart,
indiana, which was anotherwrecker manufacturer before he
started B&B.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Right, allpro made that monster wrecker for Ernie
on that Oshkosh, if I'm notmistaken.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
If I'm not mistaken, they did, they did and again,
the facility he built.
He built that facility brandnew and that was the first time
I ever saw the sealed floorswhere his floors were like a
light-colored blue and the wholebuilding was just beautiful.
Again he had thestate-of-the-art facility.
(19:44):
He had a whole glass frontwhere you could park a wrecker
in the front and it was justreally, really neat.
Building Bill, like I said, wasreally good at designing
factories and buildings andequipment.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Yeah, portable bars as well.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Yes, he did.
They're still in use today atBudweiser.
Matter of fact, I still in usetoday at Budweiser.
As a matter of fact, I was on atour at Budweiser just recently
and they are still using hisporta-parties.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Oh wow, what at their St Louis location.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
Yes, correct.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Wow, I'll have to see that.
I'll have to take a look forthat.
So you're with Bill through All.
Pro, where's Pat through allthis.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
So Miller Industries, of course, was in Elkhart,
indiana when they boughtChallenger.
That was the first place theybought and they moved it to
Ottawa, Tennessee, and theyoffered everybody that worked
there to go to Ottawa.
(20:49):
At that point I had never reallybeen to Tennessee and lived in
Elkhart my whole life, and RandyOlson, which was one of the
sales guys back in the day atChallenger and then became the
sales manager at MillerIndustries, had asked me if I'd
be interested in going to workfor them in Chicago.
And so then I went to work forthem in Chicago selling records
(21:10):
and towing equipment and that'skind of how I ended up in
Chicago and then that turnedinto B&B industry and worked for
B&B and then Jordan hadapproached me.
We are also a Jordan dealer atB&B, so they approached me about
going to work for them as amanufacturer's rep, and so I
(21:31):
took that position with Jordan.
Jordan asked me if I'd beinterested in owning my own
dealership in Chicagoland.
They were looking to get moreof the market share in Chicago.
They asked me if I'd beinterested in opening a
dealership in Chicago.
I opened a dealership inChicago called Worldwide
Equipment Sales.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
All right.
So what year were you at atthis point?
Just to put a littleperspective.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
That would be probably about 2003,.
I imagine is when I opened upWorldwide Equipment.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Let me get you to clarify one more thing.
Going backwards, you mentionedB&B a second time.
Yes, that was B&B, a dealership, not the record manufacturer.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
That point am I correct on that?
Correct?
Yes, yes, I'm sorry.
Yes, that was the dealership inChicago.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Just making sure for listeners at home.
All the steps are clear Very,very fascinating career and you
haven't even got started yetwith some of the big things
you've achieved.
We've got to get you to hangaround.
We're going to take a quickbreak and after the break I want
to hear about Worldwide andsome of the great things that
you achieved there.
So we'll be right backlisteners.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
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Speaker 4 (23:00):
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Speaker 5 (23:12):
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.
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When there is a need, gayRochester is always one of the
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The American Towing andRecovery Institute is honored to
(23:33):
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Speaker 2 (23:45):
All right, everybody, welcome back from the break
here at Towing News.
Now we have Pat Weiner fromLandall Equipment and he's going
to tell us about his experienceat Worldwide.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Yeah, so Worldwide.
We started in 2003.
We started out, of coursecourse, selling Jordan products
and Landall trailers and kind ofgrew it.
We also started sellingCottrell car haulers, which were
the big 13 car haulers.
We grew that till 2015 and in2015 Joe Pritchard from
(24:21):
Pritchard Auto Group, which isthe supplier of chassis to
Jordan for their Ford, dodge andChevy chassis, came to us and
we agreed on an agreement tosell the company to him.
And Pritchard Auto Group is agreat family business.
Their great-grandfather startedit in 1913, I believe, and they
(24:41):
dealt directly with Henry Fordback in the day.
And that's how old theirdealership is One of the oldest
dealerships in the country, ifnot the oldest, wow.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Well, and we'll talk more about Pritchard in a second
, but tell us a little bit aboutWorldwide and some of the
things you achieved.
I recognize the differentbrands that you carried, but
there's a whole lot more toWorldwide than that, wasn't
there?
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Yes, yes, so we also.
We started Tow Trucks for Totsback in 2007.
I was at a funeral for a towerand, of course, they always have
a tow truck procession there atthe funeral, and you know,
everybody is very somber and Ithought, boy, it'd be be nice to
be able to have a parade whereeverybody was happy and more, uh
(25:27):
, festive and uh.
So I, I came back that day and Isat down with all my employees
at worldwide and I said, hey,you know, I would like to have a
parade, a tow truck paradewhere it can be festive.
And and if we're going to dothat, we got to do something
good with it.
You know, what can we do?
And we came up with the idea tohave a tow truck parade and
(25:47):
collect toys for children inneed at Christmas time, and then
also to go for the GuinnessBook of World Records and then
show the towing companies in abetter light, you know, showing
that they're good, family runbusinesses.
The towing companies in abetter light, you know, showing
that they're good, family-runbusinesses.
And so we came up with thisidea for Tow Trucks for Tots in
2007.
Of course, it's still going,and this year will be 2025.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
So it'll be 18 years we've been collecting toys for
children, which is anoutstanding job you folks do.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
Well, thank you.
We've helped out a lot ofplaces.
You know, back in the earlyyears Elkhart, indiana, had the
highest unemployment rate in thecountry.
As a matter of fact, I don'tremember the president at the
time there he went there toconsole the people there and
tell them that they were goingto try to bring jobs back to
Elkhart.
So we went to Elkhart atChristmastime and gave out toys.
(26:37):
And we went to Elkhart atChristmas time and gave out toys
and we went to Hurricane Sandyin New York, we did the
wildfires in Tennessee, we didthe tornadoes in Southern
Illinois, we did the GM plant,which was the Top Kick plant
that they closed in Janesville,wisconsin.
We took toys to them and thenwe also give out to hospitals
(26:58):
and food pantries and anybody inneed.
So it's been a great thing,it's been a lot of fun and it's
a great event to do.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So you're saying who else is in this with you, who
else is doing this with you?
Speaker 6 (27:13):
I've got a whole group of people that help out,
but especially there's agentleman by the name of Jim
Bresnahan here in Chicago thathelps out Ed Forsythe, myla
Howell, mike Irwin, john Journal, joe Scalavara, and my wife
Kathy, and of course, mychildren help out with it, and
numerous other people I mean wehave it's huge, you know, and
(27:36):
it's just not one person person,it's a whole giant group of
people and we have firefightersto help out with the police
officers.
Unfortunately, with thecutbacks, you know, in the
government, um, before the statepolice would let us go from
joliet all the way downtownchicago to uh to uh back then it
was called toyota park and, uh,they would close off the
(27:57):
expressway which is?
Speaker 4 (27:59):
which is how many miles just?
Speaker 6 (28:01):
for about 40, 42 miles 42 miles of a parade route
big interstates too and theywould close the interstate off
for us and the people would go,the trucks would go right down
the interstate and it was hugeand, uh, matter of fact, the the
first, one of the first paradeswe had going down the
interstate.
We got a letter from a lady andshe says I go to church every
(28:24):
Sunday, never missed.
And she says last Sunday I wasgoing to church and she said I
seen all these tow trucks goingdown I-55 with their lights on.
And she thought, oh my gosh,something must have happened in
downtown Chicago.
So she stopped, she watched andpretty soon she saw that the
trucks were all decorated forChristmas and she realized that
we were doing a toy run and shesaid that was the neatest thing
(28:48):
she's ever seen.
And she said you know shedoesn't want to miss church, but
she said I'm going to misschurch every year, this time
just to watch that parade.
She thought that was that coolthat we were doing that.
Pretty humbling.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Very humbling and you could be in church in your car.
You know God is everywhere.
So how for the cuts andimpacting your guys' route?
How long ago did that impacthappen and what are you doing
now instead?
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Yeah, so, gosh, it's been probably three to four
years now that the impacts haveimpacted our route.
So now our parade route is muchsmaller.
We go from Hollywood Casino inJoliet to the Joliet Speedway,
and so we just keep the truckslocal.
And so we just keep the truckslocal.
Without having the state policeprotection on the expressways
(29:41):
it would be, you know, just waytoo hard to get the trucks down
down to the expressway.
You know, when we did that, itinvolved the state police,
county police, city police, andthen we had several cities like
the village of Bridgeview, thegosh, the Justice Police
Department, rockdale PoliceDepartment, joliet Police
Department, and there's many,many more Gosh, I think, burbank
(30:05):
Police Department, and they allhelped, and plus IDOT, which
also has their own tow trucks,they would help out also.
So it was a huge amount ofpeople and amount of government
agencies that helped us go downthat expressway safely.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
It almost sounds like the same efforts they'd make if
the president was coming totown.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
It's just like that.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I'd say it probably even more extent because I'm
sure there was a lot developedum between the government
entities and the towing industrywith this endeavor that you do
over here, because you don't,you don't plan.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
You don't plan this a week beforehand, you plan this
a month beforehand oh yes, we,when we end it in, uh, in, uh,
you know it's always the secondsunday in nove, and so that
second Sunday in November afterthe parade, there's a group of
us, we all meet, we have lunchor dinner, I guess, you'd say
(31:07):
and we go over what happened atthat one and we start planning
for the next year.
So we start planning rightafter the other one ends.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
So tell us a little bit about the Guinness World
Book of Records.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
You know, we had three things that we wanted to
go after is to help children toshow the towing industry in a
better light and then also gofor the Guinness Book of World
Records.
We did break the Guinness Bookof World Records.
The first year that we did theparade, the Guinness Book of
World Records was held by atowing association in Washington
and I believe it was 83 or 84trucks, um, and in the first
(31:42):
year we had um gosh, I don'tremember the exact numbers but
it was, you know, close to 200.
I think it was 203 trucks, youknow.
So we we had a great showing,um, our best year we had 324
trucks and that was our bestyear.
And we continued to have theGuinness Book of World's records
for many years.
Until about a few years back,tow Times Magazine did an
(32:06):
article about tow trucks fortots and over in Europe there's
a towing magazine called LDM andthat goes all over the Europe
area, and the French TowingAssociation saw what we were
doing so they said, hey, we wantto jump in on that.
So they started having theirown parade.
(32:28):
Now, at this time we didn'tknow that they were having a
parade and they had their paradefor two or three years, and the
third year they got 491 trucksto show up and beat our record.
And so I was at home one dayand I got this message through
Facebook and it said the Frenchbeat the Americans, you know.
(32:52):
And it says tow trucks for tots, for 491 trucks.
So I thought I got to find outwho this guy is and if this was
real or not, you know.
And so, anyways, we ended upmaking contact with them and
Luke is the president of theFrench Towing Association and
he's the one that headed that up, and a super nice guy.
(33:12):
Matter of fact, he was inductedinto the Towing Hall of Fame a
couple years back for the FrenchTowing Parade, and at that time
they had a registration fee andall the money that they
collected went to fightchildhood cancer.
And they've had their paradeevery year and they keep waiting
for the Americans to give thema run for their money and break
(33:34):
the record, and every year, ofcourse, we try, but right now it
seems like we're only gettingclose to 300 trucks a year, and
in order to beat them we have tobeat them at.
We have to be more than 491trucks and so, which is a hard
number to hit.
They did a good job oforganizing that and getting that
many trucks, because that's alot of trucks.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
And out of this competition, only the children
have benefited in so manydifferent ways.
Oh, yes, so this is a very goodcompetition.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
Yes, no, it is, it is and it's very exciting and they
really want us to try to breaktheir record, you know, because
they would like to do more.
Also, and hopefully, you know,in the next couple of years we
can get enough towers to breakthat record, you know, and it
would be nice to see it all overthe United States.
I'd love to see it in othercities.
You know, the same day, always,you know, second Sunday in
(34:26):
November at 9 am, and have it inmany cities, you know.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
It would be great to see other towers do it and other
associations do it.
Well, we tried to do some ofthat and we never did link up
with you guys.
I didn't really realize atfirst that y'all were doing it,
but that's a great idea andmaybe we can help promote that
as we move forward.
We also we've got to take aquick break, but before we do, I
want to say there's a lot oftellers in the Midwest that
listen to this podcast, so let'shopefully give this Toys for
(34:56):
Tots parade a little bump andwe'll definitely have you back
on at that point to talk aboutit.
But can you hang around for abreak and we want to talk about
what you're doing nowadays.
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Speaker 2 (36:20):
Welcome back to Tony News, Now with Pat Weiner and
I'm going to hand it over to Wes.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
Pat, you talked about quite a bit about your history,
which I find fascinating.
You also mentioned the Hall ofFame.
You're also a Hall of Famemember.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthat.
You also mentioned the Hall ofFame.
You're also a Hall of Famemember.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
Talk to us a little bit about that, would you please
?
Sure, well, I'm very, veryhumbled to be in the Hall of
Fame.
But you know, as I said when Iaccepted it, it's really not me,
it's the Tow Trucks for Totsgroup, it's all of us, because
without them I couldn't havedone any of it.
You know, it would have beenvery hard to put together and
(36:59):
I've got a lot of people thatput a lot into Tow Trucks for
Tots and made it as successfulas it is, and that's why I was
put into the Hall of Famous forTow Trucks for Tots.
But, like I said, it's not justme, it's my whole entire group,
you know.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
They're all great people and they help out
immensely.
That's very humble.
You recognize everybody else,but it was your vision that made
it happen.
This happens you say the secondSunday in November every year
in Joliet, yes, which is nearthe worldwide headquarters,
still correct.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Yes, correct.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
Okay, so talk to us a little bit about what's going
on nowadays with Landau.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
Yeah, certainly, of course.
After I sold worldwide, Istayed on for several years to
work with Joe Pritchard and hisgroup and a couple of years back
I guess it's been three yearsago now Gary Dwell Cotty from
Landau which he ran the salesdepartment at Landau and then
was an outside salesperson atLandau called me and told me he
was going to retire and asked meif I'd be interested in going
(38:08):
to work for Landau.
And I told him no, I've alwayssold tow trucks.
My plan is to retire here atWorldwide.
You know, I wasn't ready when Isold the business to retire,
because I enjoy working, I enjoythe towing industry, I love
being out there and working withtrucks and trailers, and I just
wasn't ready to retire.
And so Gary asked me if I'd beinterested in coming to work for
(38:29):
them and I said no, I sell towtrucks, that's what I do.
I said I sell trailers too, butyou know, my main business is
tow trucks.
And I said I sell tow trucks,that's what I do.
I said I sell trailers too, butyou know, my main business is
tow trucks.
And I said I sell tow trucks.
And he said well, you know, I'mnot ready to tire yet, but he
says you need to start thinkingabout it.
And he said it would be a goodmove for you to do if you, if to
let worldwide you know the newowners take over and you would
(38:51):
kind of move in a sidewaysposition and still be able to
help them.
You would still be their repfor Worldwide's rep for Landau
Trailers, and so you'd still beinvolved with Worldwide.
The more I thought about that, Ithought wow, that is a great
move.
It's an opportunity to let thenew owners of Worldwide run
Worldwide and it's a greatopportunity for me to move
(39:14):
sideways.
I'm not in competition withthem because I wouldn't want to
do that.
You know, they had bought mycompany and I feel that it
wouldn't be fair for me to gointo competition with them, and
so I ended up.
I talked to the Pritchard familyand told them what had happened
, that Landau had offered methis position, and I said you
know I don't want to leavewithout their blessing.
And so they said we'd like tokeep you, but if you'd like to
(39:41):
do that, that that would be fine, you know.
And so I took the position withLandau and love it.
You know I have several statesthat I, that I represent and you
know I work with a lot oftowing distributors.
You know of course Zips andPurpose and Worldwide and and
then a lot of trailer dealerslike Midwest Diesel and MidState
Utility and also a new one, theJackson Group out in Wyoming
(40:06):
and Montana, which is aPeterbilt dealer.
So I get to go to some neatplaces and visit some great
people and I'm still involvedwith the towing industry.
So it works out good.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
Well, boy, that's good to hear and I'm very
thankful for it.
That's so well for you.
So you plan on staying on withthem for a while.
Speaker 6 (40:25):
Yes, I'll plan on retiring.
I'm 63.
So I'm planning on stayingthere for at least seven years,
you know.
And then you know I'll retirefrom Landahl.
And Landahl does have some newproducts that they came out with
on their 400 series, which istheir slide axle.
It's only available on the50-foot CA trailer now and this
(40:48):
fall will be available on the53-foot 440, but they have a
10-1 spread axle.
It's kind of neat because it'sa sliding axle trailer tandem
and then you can use it as atandem and slide the axles
together as a tandem, or you canseparate them apart and they're
10 foot 1 inch.
So on your tandems, of courseyou know when it's a tandem that
(41:11):
you're allowed 34 on the rears.
When you spread that apart, ithas to be than more than 10 foot
.
So it's 10 foot one inch andyou can put 40,000 pounds on the
rears, and so you can use it asa 10-1 spread or as a tandem,
your choice, which is, which iskind of nice and that will be
available on a 53 footer thisfall wow, that is nice.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
What else is new?
Speaker 6 (41:32):
yep, they've got.
So they came out with anexpandable trailer too, and the
expandable trailer is a 53-foottrailer and it expands 8 foot,
so it goes to 61 foot.
And the nice thing about aLandau trailer well, all our
Landau trailers you can gethot-dip galvanized so they don't
rust in the rust belt areas.
But our expandable trailer,where it expands, it's a box
(41:56):
beam, so you can load our boxbeam.
A lot of our othermanufacturers out there they use
a ramp to get to what they callthe back porch, which is the
back part of the trailer.
So they use a ramp to get tothat back porch, and that ramp
is only to be driven across,it's not to be loaded.
Where our extension can beloaded, Matter of fact, we even
put D-rings on our extension totie down on.
(42:18):
And so the nice thing aboutthat being able to load that
area is that if you've got toget something closer to the
front of the trailer to put moreweight on the tractor, you can
do that.
With our competitors you can'tdo that, and then, of course,
most of their extensions areonly 5 foot.
Ours is 61 foot, Ours is 8 footand so it's 3 foot longer, so
(42:41):
it makes it a lot better.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
Wow, landau's always on the move to make things
better, aren't they?
Speaker 6 (42:47):
They are, they are, and I always compare Don Landau
and Bill Bottoms.
They're both just amazingengineers at laying out
factories and, you know,building new buildings.
They're both two peas in a pod.
And you know, anybody everwants to get out there to Landau
(43:08):
Factory for a tour?
You know, please let me know.
We'll organize a tour for themand get them out there and let
them see what we're doing.
And if you guys would like tocome out, we'd love to have you.
We'll maybe do a podcast fromthere.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
For sure.
Yeah, we definitely like that.
Maybe we need to plan that.
How can folks get in touch withyou?
Speaker 6 (43:25):
They can email me at pat P-A-T period Weiner
W-I-N-E-R at landolcom,l-a-n-d-o-l-lcom, or they can
call me on my cell at630-878-9837.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
So if our listeners need more information from Pat,
who is a wealth of knowledge, ashe's proved through this
podcast, don't hesitate to reachout to him.
I've known him for decades, agreat, humble gentleman, one of
the many in this industry, butdefinitely stands amongst
himself.
So don't forget to reach out tohim with questions.
Tell him you got hisinformation on the podcast and,
(44:07):
pat, I definitely appreciate allthe information today.
Anything you'd like to say inclosing?
Speaker 6 (44:13):
Yeah, I'd like to tell you guys, wes and April,
thank you very much for havingme.
This has been great.
I sure appreciate it and I'mvery humbled that you asked me
to be here.
So thank you very much, andthank you very much to your
listeners.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Well, thank you, pat, we'll look forward to having
you back on.
There you have it folks.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Another great episode from the American Toeing
Recovery Institute podcast.
See you next time.
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