December 18, 2025 • 46 mins
Kevin recaps his attendance at the 20th Anniversary, Rush Enterprises Tech Skills Rodeo (TSR) this past Sunday thru Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. While at the TSR Kevin spoke with Victor Cummings, Vice President, Service Operations, Rush Enterprises about the competition, employee retention, mentoring programs, internship programs and an innovative program for trade school students. Robert LaValley, Heavy Duty Technician from Flagstaff, AZ., stopped by to talk about his participation and being a finalist in every competition since the first TSR in 2006.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is America's trucking network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome aboard, thanks for tuning in. The Rush Enterprises twentieth
Anniversary Tech Skills Rodeo at the Gaylord Opperland Resort and
Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee is in the rearview mirror.
The cost of this competition was three million dollars to
put this on, paid for by four hundred and forty sponsors.
(00:30):
In addition to all of that, it was a trade show,
so all of these sponsors brought their equipment, brought their trucks.
Peterbilt had three of their tractors there to display the
different cabs and so on. International brought two of theirs.
There was Commons that brought their engines, a trailer that
(00:53):
had engines in it. Allison Transmissions had a big van
there that had their different transmissions in there. It was
basically all of their wares, all these different boosts, displaying
all the merchandise that they had from Valvelene to Lucas.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Oil and so on. It was an amazing event.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Now as far as the war, talk about a whirlwind
of activity.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
My goodness.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
We arrived here in Nashville on Saturday, after escaping Snowmageddon
and Cincinnati. The event started on Sunday morning with out
of the Collision Center in Smyrna, Tennessee, at.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Their body shop out there.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
That started at nine am, and then around noonish there,
about one o'clock or so, I had to rush over
onto the Convention Center and figure out a way of
getting in there in order to get the booth set
up so that we could broadcast from there on Monday.
So we got that taken care of, and then at
(02:03):
seven o'clock we all met and went on the General
Jackson boat, the river boat to tour the Tennessee River
and see the Nashville skyline. Unfortunately, it was not the
warmest thing. I think it was. Might have set a
record in Nashville that it started off at eighteen degrees
(02:25):
and then by the time the cruise was over, the
temperature was down around five degrees with about negative numbers
as far as windshchill factor. That Monday morning started off
at eight am conducting interviews, show closed at three pm.
Seven pm, we had a media dinner with the people
(02:46):
from Rush and talking about the event and met some
of the folks that were part of the media crew.
That Tuesday morning, we started off at six thirty am,
back to the booth, show shut down at three pm,
got all packed up, got everything down, went to a
four o'clock press conference with Rusty Rush, the CEO of
(03:09):
Rush Truck Centers, and then at five forty five, and
he had some interesting comments and probably in a later
show we'll talk about some of his comments on the
state of the industry, how Rush Enterprises is doing. And
so on five forty five we had a cocktail hour
and a six thirty the dinner, an award ceremony which
(03:29):
didn't end until ten thirty. So it was basically every
day from Sunday morning until Tuesday morning.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Actually Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Everything started around from about six o'clock in the morning
till well after midnight. So it was a very interesting time.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Now at this.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Rodeo, over three thousand technicians tested to qualify the top
performers made it to Nashville well over two hundred participants.
So Rush Enterprises brought all these people and their spouses
to this convention and the convention center at opry Land
Resort and Convention Center. Three days of competitions. The awards
(04:12):
ceremony was I got to tell you it was beyond expectations.
The food was great. Over eight hundred people attended, the spouses, executives, participants,
Over nearly three hundred thousand dollars in checks were awarded,
and just mind boggling as far as that they were
issuing prizes in different divisions the parts leasing, Rising Star,
(04:37):
body Shop, Medium Duty, heavy duty truck sales, and then
they had the Reserve Champion, the Grand Champion, and then
they awarded the All Around Grand Rodeo Champion. I'll get
to him in a moment, but the sheer size of
the number of people that participated in this, and the
actual checks that were issued, and the awards ceremony, naming
(05:00):
every one of the people, having them come up on stage,
getting their picture taken, and so on. The All Round
Grand Champion Rodeo Champion Dom McConnell of Rush Truck Centers
in Orlando, South took away the top prize eighteen thousand
and five hundred dollars. Now, talk about an interesting story.
This was his third attempt at the rodeo. In the
(05:24):
two previous he had not even made the finals, and
this time around, not only did he win, but he
became the Grand champion last year at the convention and
the awards ceremony, it was down in San Antonio, so
along the river walk down there. He and his fiance
(05:44):
or and his girlfriend got engaged down there. And so
at the last Truck Rodeo Awards ceremony or that period,
he got engaged. And he's as of well, the awards ceremony,
about seventeen days from now, he and his wife and
his fiance are going to get married. So talk about
a whirlwind for him. And it was interesting talking to
(06:07):
him after the ceremony. We had an opportunity to interview
him directly a couple of people from the media, and
it was interesting to listen to him talk about how
his approach to the show was or to the competition.
He said in the past he tried to like go
buy the book. But when you're a technician and you
(06:28):
know what you're doing and you have the experience, you
generally have an idea.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
It's not like you know, a.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Cookbook where you have to start off at step one,
step two, and you know, just follow those right down
the line. A lot of the initial things are in
your head and you just go and do it. And
then based on a little bit of intuition and because
you've studied and he talks about he talked about how
he actually takes the stuff home with him, studies the manuals,
(06:58):
reads about him over the week, weekend, does stuff in
terms of basically continuing education in his spare time. So
this kid, twenty six years old, third competition, this has
won the overall championship. But here is this guy at
twenty six years old, a student of what he's his craft,
(07:21):
and he's just so dedicated to that. And it was
great to see him win that award and to talk
to him afterwards. But it was an amazing situation, and
we had a great conversation with him, and the fact
that I can't emphasize enough here he is twenty six
years old, competed three previously, this was his third competition,
(07:43):
had never placed into the finals, and comes up the
grand champion. And as he talked about it, was he
kind of I asked him about it because he said
the way he put it was I just kind of
let my instincts take over and based on what my
knowledge was, I just went into that. And along the way,
(08:07):
as the judges were coming along, he was explaining to
them what he was doing, which I asked him if
that was kind of a new technique. He said, I
don't know. He said, I've heard other people may have
done that, but he said, I made an effort to
make sure that they knew what steps I was doing,
because part of the competition is they look at how
(08:29):
your approach to that is as opposed to not only
diagnosing the problem and so on. So explaining everything that
he was doing all along the way probably was the
thing that got him the highest score. And then of
course winning or eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
That's going to be a nice present.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Now at the banquet, they always every year Rusty Rush
and Rush Enterprises has a surprise guest. This year it
was Clint Boyer, who was car driver and commentator for
Fox and Nascar on Fox, and he got up and
had a few words to say, and it was very interesting.
(09:10):
And then he's standing up there talked with Rusty and
all of a sudden he says, and oh, by the way,
there's somebody else here you might know, and he introduces
Jeff Gordon, a stock car racing legend and chairman and
vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody was like what they
were all of a sudden all that you can see
(09:30):
all the people at the banquet tables all of a
sudden turning their heads to where Jeff Gordon was sitting.
And then of course after the bank, once it was over,
everybody was just flocking to him. Fortunately they were at
the table right in front of us. So I went
over and finally got to meet my younger brother Jeff.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
So it was interesting.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I mentioned to him, how many people are asking me,
are you related to Jeff Gordon. So anyway, it was
a lot of fun. The Gaylord opery Land Hotel and
Resort is just if you've never been been there, you've
got to go. It is just the a trims, the walkways,
the sheer volume of what is there and everything.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I've talked about that over the last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And by the way, if you missed any of that
stuff that we talked about over the last few days,
check out a podcast brought to you by Rush Truck Centers. Well, folks,
well I'll tell you it was just absolutely a fantastic day.
I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I need this is the briefing report on America's Trucking
Network on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
One of the aspects of the lawsuit between twenty three
eleven in Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR and their trial
was NASCAR was concerned about the racing series SRX over
the last few years. Daylernhard Junior and his sister Kelly
on Dirty Moe Radio podcast says NASCAR's concerns were out
of this world.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
To hear that they were even remostly the least bitten
threatened is so wow, surprising to me because they're this
giant that's NASCAR and SRX is just this little thing.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
You know, It's take years to recreate what NASCAR is.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
Yeah, and they were like, there's twelve cars, right, they're
just barely getting by financially. They're tearing up so much.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
They had no idea.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
It's gonna tear up all that. Yeah, and you know,
in the end, they couldn't make the money work. SRX
went away because it's expensive to operate and the money
that you know, the network, the viewership numbers didn't justify
the TV contract and the KIV contract couldn't afford the series,
and so it just financially didn't really work. You know,
(11:43):
I am surprised by some of the comments that I
read from Phelps, I mean sorry, from O'Donnell and a
couple of other people about man, we gotta go, we
got to put an end to this, or we gotta
you know, we gotta go take a look at this.
Speaker 7 (11:54):
And again to me, yeah, why are we worried?
Speaker 5 (11:59):
JR Motorsports also revealed a mouth watering new sponsor on Tuesday,
Dale Earnhardt Junior announced a multi year, multifaceted partnership between
JR Motorsports and restaurant Arby's. The fast food chain will
be the primary sponsor for eight NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts
Series events in twenty twenty six, and will also hold
a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
This is the reasing report on America's drugging network on
seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
For a t N.
Speaker 8 (12:34):
Kids, they are just different than us, They have no inhibitions.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Will also hold a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
This is the wreathing report on America's trucking network on
seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison for a t N.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Kids. They are just different than us. They have no inhibitions,
consider silverware optional, and can find fun anywhere. When kids
get really sick, they're different than us too. That's why
the Leukemia and Nomphoma Society is introducing the Deer to
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with plumbings.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
He is vice president of Servicing for Rush Truck Centers
and one of the very important components of this is
the tech skills and the servicing end of that. So
kind of give us a little description of that.
Speaker 9 (13:27):
Well, we we start the whole process with online testing,
so that we we test each technician for their their
technical skills, you know, via an online test, and the
top qualifiers come to this event and compete for you know,
cash and prizes if you will.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So there is a qualifying event just even guest here
in the first place.
Speaker 9 (13:51):
We start the testing process July August, you know, months
ahead of time. It's quite an under taking if you
think about it. We have close to three thousand technicians.
Most of them do enroll or enlist for the uh
for the testing, and it's it's quite.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
An effort to get through all of that uh huh.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So do you, I guess you guys, encourage them to compete.
Speaker 9 (14:18):
Absolutely absolutely, and and you know, we'll hold calls and
we'll send out e blast communication and we'll work through
the managers as well.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
There are you know, a number.
Speaker 9 (14:28):
Of individuals in any given year, especially some of the
new hires that are apprehensive, nervous. One fear is or
concern is that if they don't don't do well on
the test, it'll be posted for everybody to see.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Test results are anonymous. We do not post that.
Speaker 9 (14:43):
We just post basically who are the top qualifiers in
order of scoring in the testing. But we we don't
do anything to shame or embarrass anybody. And so it
takes a little coaching to talk through that. And I
will say that U past competitors that talk with the
tax at the shop or what have you, they are
(15:05):
no doubt they're the most are they They're the biggest
contributor to eliciting excitement around the rodeo and participation.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Rodeo ambassadors, so to speak. Yeah, get everybody interested. And
I guess and I guess you know, in any environment
there's always a certain competition within the group itself. And
so to encourage that and and to promote that is amazing.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
It is amazing, it really is. And you'll find the
competitors here are all very you know, they're they're celebrating
for their peers that win, you know, they're most of
the folks that come are very humble and and they're
happy for their their peers when they win.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And it's it's just an exciting event all the way around.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It is now describe because this is this is a
great opportunity or great thing about as far as Russia
is concerned about employee retention, the fact that you guys
reward people for competing, the amount of prizes involved, and
the fact that you care about the employees and their success.
Speaker 9 (16:18):
Yeah, we absolutely do and this this event is a
testament to our commitment to our employees. And I don't
know how how and depth you've discussed us with others.
I mean, this started as an event for technicians and
there were approximately forty competitors twenty years ago, and the
(16:38):
whole event has evolved to go well beyond that to
include our revenue generators within the dealership group. So that's
that's parts people, it's after market sales, truck sales, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So there's a lot of energy, a lot of discussion
in almost every level of the corporation. Yes, which is
great because now you've got the rev new generation side,
the parts people, the start of saying, the collision people,
all those involved in terms of the competition, so every
level of the company people are competing.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
For these various prizes. We're speaking with.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Victor Cummings, vice president Operations for Rush Truck Centers, and
I am blown away by this. This is the first
time I've been here, and I've read about it. I've
read about it in the trade magazines and thought what
a great program this is, but to actually see it
live is beyond words.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, I'm honestly, I'm blown away too.
Speaker 9 (17:34):
I'm humbled to work with such a very high caliber
how excuse me, high caliber level of people and you know,
just humble folks that really care genuinely for our employees,
and the the amount of effort and collaboration it takes
to put this together is really something else. When we
back up at the end of this event and head home,
(17:57):
our first rodeo meeting is the first week of every month.
We start very next month planning for the following year.
So this is a year round project. It's quite a
wind up coming out here to Nashville. This is our
twenty year anniversary. That's why we're here. This is where
it started. And we were actually quite nervous about it,
(18:18):
just just the logistics and the number of people, what
it takes to put this together. And the venue is
a place we've never been for the rodeo. Right, So
I'll tell you it's been the smoothest so far, and
it's exciting. And the competitors I've talked to, the suppliers
I've talked to, are thrilled about the venue, just the
energy behind it, and you know, the scope of the
(18:41):
event itself.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It corrects me proud.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And what's interesting too is the fact that because of
the logistics, you got to make sure that you bring
everything with you. It's not like, Okay, we're in San Antonio.
It's close to home and if I forget something, I
just go, yeah, call somebody and say, hey, can you
bring this over? I mean everything is that whole checklist
and everything along those lines is very important. Now, we
had talked about talked briefly off air about how you
(19:07):
came into this and how this works in terms of
bringing people up through the ranks and the programs that
you have. I mean, not only are you dealing with
people that are that are been in the business for
years in terms of technicians and hiring them, because are
also in the process or during the process of developing
(19:28):
people to come into the trade.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
That is correct.
Speaker 9 (19:32):
You know, we have one group that competes and they're
called the Rising Star. Uh those are level one, level
two techs that are new with Rush, and we want
to be all inclusive. We want the new hires and
the lower level techs to have that rodeo experience as well,
and we want it to be fair in terms of competition.
(19:52):
So it is a separate course or competition if you will,
from you know, the rest of the technicians and they
can only compete and Rising Star once. So once you've
done that, then you have to step up to the
big leagues.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So you get through the Triple A ball team and
now you're into the big lit up to the show,
so to speak. Well, that's cool, that's that's very interesting. Again,
we're speaking with Victor Cummings. He is vice president of
Servicing for Rush Truck Centers and one of the things
we talked about too, was how in developing people even
(20:29):
at the at this trade school level. And you had
a very interesting story that we were talking about as
far as what your experience was coming out of that
and the environment into the actual dealership.
Speaker 9 (20:41):
Yes, sometimes I have to hit the pause button, kind
of rewind and think back to what I experienced, what
I felt when I came out of trade school hired
on with a cat dealership. The first especially the first
couple of weeks on the job was very stressful, is intimidating.
You know, I really had no idea what I was stept
and into. I know I wanted to pursue the trade,
(21:02):
but was just a beginner, a rookie if you will.
And so we've developed a internship program to work with
the trade schools to give them that opportunity to get exposure,
to get their foot in the door prior to actually
coming on you know, on board. Full time internship program
is really something like being a part time Level one
(21:23):
tech and uh, if you like, I can kind of
give you a quick overview of how it's structured and
or what you know, why we do what we do.
So we we partner with a sc accredited trade schools
and we have a set like fundamentals training if you will.
And and OIES have given us permission to allow the
(21:44):
trade school students to take the online training. So we
define here are here basically the fundamentals to kind of
get your head around, you know, just the basics of
what we do at our dealership and the product, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
They need to do that on their own time.
Speaker 9 (22:02):
It's part of their curriculum, and then once they complete
that training, we bring them into the dealership for approximately
twenty hours of shadowing.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
So we really want.
Speaker 9 (22:12):
Them to experience and see from cradle to grave the
whole repair process, meaning from when the truck pulls into
the gate to when the truck leaves the gate. So
there's the write up process, there's the dispatch to the technician,
the parts ordering process, working with the back counter, pulling
the parts out of the warehouse, and anything involved in
(22:36):
supporting the tech to get that truck back on the road.
And we find that that really does a lot to
kind of give them a perspective and a better understanding,
and it empowers.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Them to speak up when something doesn't make sense.
Speaker 9 (22:49):
We allow anywhere from six months to a year to
complete the program. So they do this while they're going
to school, and we're very flexible around the hours that
they work.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
If it's a couple hours of night Monday.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
Through Friday, all day Saturday, whatever works best or accommodates
their schedule is what we do to work with them
to allow them, you know, the flexibility to complete the program.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Very good.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Now, are you finding the younger people that it's it's
the recruiting process itself easier or is it even more difficult.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
It's far more challenging than it's been.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Tell you what, let's take a quick break and we
can pick this up on the other start. All right, thanks,
I'm Kevin Gordon, america'struck A Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
News Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
A primetime speech from the White House, and President Trump
is making his case to the country with the twelve
thirty report. I'm Bretdy Hopkins. Breaking Now. Trump highlighted in
his first eleven month in office in his speech last night,
(23:54):
saying prices are coming down while blaming President Joe Biden
for inflation and immigration. He also announced a Warrior dividend
for military members ahead of Christmas.
Speaker 10 (24:05):
President just there said that prices are coming down and fast,
but the latest government data actually shows that consumer prices
are up three percent compared to a year ago, and
that trend isn't going in the right direction. That same
data showing that prices have been ticking up for the
past five months.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
ABC's Mary Bruce now the latest forecast from the Train
Heating and Cooling Weather Center on US Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 11 (24:32):
As we start your Thursday, the wind begins to pick
up with temperatures in the upper thirties and low forties.
Likely try to start things, but in the afternoon scattered
rain of rives, maybe even a few rumbles of thunder.
Late in the day. It will also be windy with
a high near fifty three. Cold air push us in
at night, dropping US to twenty three by Friday morning,
with a few snowflakes possible overnight. From your severe Weather station,
(24:52):
I'm nine first Warning meter REBLOGUS Mark Stitz News Radio
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (24:57):
Thirty eight degrees Right now in the Tri State, Duke
Energy is saying new technology is sharply reducing power outages
across the states of Ohio and Kentucky. The utility says
it's smart grid and self healing technology prevented nearly four
hundred thousand outages this year, saving about one point four
(25:17):
million hours of lost power. The system automatically reroots electricity
when lines are damaged, often limiting outages to brief flickers.
Duke says more than three quarters of customers in the
region now benefit from the upgraded grid. I'm Travis Laird
News Radio seven hundred WLW. In the meantime, security is
(25:37):
being increased up at Ryle High School this week out
of abundance of caution after a threatening message was found
scribbled on a wall, and police have not yet been
able to determine the message credibility at this time. Our
next update at one o'clock in breaking news anytime, I'm
Bretty Hopkins's News Radio seven hundred WLW.
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Speaker 2 (26:24):
The free iHeartRadio app is the number one app for
the holiday.
Speaker 13 (26:31):
Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the
rest of the country.
Speaker 14 (26:34):
And the Try State.
Speaker 13 (26:35):
Overnight partly cloudy the low down to thirty two, afternoon
rain Thursday, high fifty six. Friday mostly claudy early than
gradually becoming sunny and colder. Highs only the lower thirties.
Partly sunny Saturday, in a bit of a warm up,
a high of forty eight Nationally from the northwest of
the north central US dangerous winds and heavy snow scene.
Heavy rain is likely over parts of the Pacific Northwest
starting Thursday, while heavy mountain snow continues in the Pacific
(26:58):
Northwest and northern Rockies. Most of the country expected to
see about average temperatures. There's the potential for record tying
or record breaking highs out west and in the New
England States.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Kevin Gordon America struck In Network seven hundred WLW continue
our conversation with Victor Cummings. He is the vice president
of Servicing for Rush Enterprises.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Rush truck centers, which.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Really, I guess in and of itself is one of
the has got to be an extremely challenging job. With
over one hundred and forty service centers around the country,
that has got to really be a huge undertaking for
it is.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
It is. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 9 (27:43):
It is challenging, It can be stressful at times depending
on what's going on in any given day, but it's
also very rewarding. Uh huh, it's I think the most
rewarding aspect of my job is being able to provide
an opportunity for others.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
You know, similar.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Opportunities are provided for me younger in my career. But yeah,
it is. It is a very challenging job. There's the
there's the employee component, and then there's the customer.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Component and the corporate component.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Yeah, that is true, That is true, you know, that's right.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, but it's it is important with the being a
tune with the customer making sure they're happy, and then
of course the employees and make sure they're happy. We
talked about previously about another challenging aspect of the business
is bringing people in, like younger people.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
What that's like. You mentioned that that's a lot more
challenging today.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
Far more challenging for for a number of reasons you
don't have. It's not as common for younger folks to
work with you know, say their dad on a hot
rod in the garage or grow up on a farm.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
It's just it's just not as common.
Speaker 9 (28:52):
And the younger, uh, you know, trades people today are
starting out at somewhat of a disadvantage because of that
lack of experience. On top of that, you know, the
vehicles are are far more complex and the emission systems
are ever changing. So it's it's it's just ongoing learning
and education, and it's tough. It takes a different level
(29:18):
of expertise to diagnose the truck today than it did, say,
twenty thirty years ago. And when we were talking about
the internship program, you know, the main focus there is
really easing that transition from the student school environment to
the dealership environment and you know, giving them a good
smooth transition over time to get used to that environment,
(29:40):
to the people, et cetera, versus just diving into the
cold wall.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well you mentioned, you know, before diving into the cold water,
you said, coming out of trade school, he was thinking, oh,
going in a dealership here.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
How hard could it be?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Right, all of a sudden reality hits you in the
face of the nervous and all that sort of thing.
But now, as far as the younger pe are you
finding more? I guess, I guess maybe I'm just in
the circle of where I'm hearing more and more about
younger people that are turning towards the trades that some
(30:13):
of the other schooling, some of the other stuff just
isn't there or it doesn't peak their attention, and so
that they're turning more towards the trades as a way
of getting into the business world or getting into the workforce.
And I think surprising themselves as to what it's like.
Speaker 9 (30:35):
Well, trades are becoming cool again, eat and it's great
to see. And really that's what you know, keeps this
country going, uh huh, And yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
It's exciting.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
It's exciting to see the enthusiasm from various companies to
really focus in on the importance of trades, you know,
skilled trades.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
And well, as you mentioned about the diagnostics in terms
of the computers involved.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
In the in the.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Systems, and then the operations and the engine emissions control
and that sort of thing that is well beyond what
the you know, turning the wrenches were years ago. This
requires a level of you know, if you're if you're
into the tech end of it or in terms of
computers and so on, there's that for you, if there's
you discover along those lines that you're interested in working
(31:26):
with your hands to a certain extent. And I think
a lot of people realize that when they do that,
there is that sense of accomplishment.
Speaker 9 (31:33):
Absolutely yes, it's and and the technician world has become
uh far more specialized.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Uh huh and uh.
Speaker 9 (31:44):
I can see where you know, you see some of
the younger, uh skilled technicians coming into the business and
and really gravitating towards the computer side of the truck,
the diagnostics and and you know, it's exciting to see
some of the older texts are not as interested in
that part of it. They'd rather work on the mechanical bonus. Well, yeah,
(32:06):
change is always always difficulty. We're speaking again with Victor Cummings.
He is the vice president of vice president of Service Operations.
Now getting back to the show here itself, the twentieth
anniversary and the amount of prizes involved, the amount of
bragging rates. The amount of trophies that we look across
(32:27):
the way and see those, it is absolutely impressive. And
from a recruitment standpoint, this is a recruiting tool that
people say, you know, coming into Rush truck centers, you
have the opportunity to do this, But then once you're there,
here's the opportunity. And then people see how much the
company cares about them competing and putting them in a
(32:48):
position where they can compete for these prizes. Yeah, I
really believe it's a testament to you know, what Rush
is as a company and the value that we have
for our employees.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And it makes me proud to be a part of
all this.
Speaker 9 (33:03):
And my first participation or engagement in this event was
as a supplier, you know, providing equipment and judges for
this event. And I'll never forget the first time it
came and just myself, you know, as a visitor to
see the whole event take place, it was just incredible.
It's quite an event. I've never seen another company put
(33:25):
on anything quite like this. And I don't mean to
brag when I say that I'm bragging about my company,
my employer, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I'm bragging about seeing it because again, I'm this my
first time and I don't hear about this and a
lot of other companies, which piques my attention to begin with,
and then to actually be here and witness it as
something else.
Speaker 9 (33:45):
Yeah, I'd like to make a plug for our CEO,
Rusty Rush.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
He's an amazing individual.
Speaker 9 (33:50):
I've worked for a few other publicly traded companies and
similar in size prior to coming to Rush fourteen years ago,
and I have never encountered anybody in leadership, any leadership role,
and especially at the CEO level that is as engaged
is Rusty. And when you see them on stage and
they're handing out the wards, that's Rusty Rush. And it's
(34:13):
quite an event you're going to You're really going to
enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
I'm really looking forward to it, Yes.
Speaker 9 (34:18):
And so he he's you know, fully supportive of this event.
And our suppliers are amazing. We couldn't do without them.
It's just the synergy that brings it all together is amazing.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
But and the excitement around the room in terms of
looking at the various suppliers, I mean, it is just
you know, it's one thing to see it on paper,
it's one thing to see pictures. But then it's another
thing to witness it all together and just the sheer
volume of the And it's a testament I don't mean
to when I am bragging about Rush Truck Centers because
(34:51):
the fact that these companies want to support this company
as much as they do to actually show up and
display what they have to various suppliers of Rush truck centers.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
It's incredible.
Speaker 9 (35:05):
It really is the amount of energy in this auditorium
or what have you, convention hall is amazing. And it's
like you say, it's it's it's the company, it's the suppliers,
the competitors and you know, everybody working together for the
same cause.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And uh, it's quite an event. Or I wish you
all the best. Thank you, it is great talking to you.
Thanks for stopping by a talker. Appreciate it, and uh
all the best. And I'll be curious to see later
on tonight at the awards banquet. What is going to
all be about and everything that we.
Speaker 9 (35:38):
Here announce the finalists, uh tonight and then uh the
following evening is actually the wards ceremony.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Actually, as far as what we're doing right now, I
see we will be broadcasting this tonight hopefully, and so
let's actually.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Be Tuesday morning.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, so all of this will be history by this
but again, thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America Trucking Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
News Radio seven hundred WLW, and iHeartRadio Station Guarantee Human
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
HI Hard Radio.
Speaker 10 (36:15):
Run a business and not think Networks seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I have the pleasure of speaking with Robert Lavali. He
is a heavy duty technician from Flagstaff, Arizona. This year
marks the twentieth and competition at not only the competition
at twentieth anniversary of the Textkills Rodeo, but your twentieth
year of competing everyone. Yeah, and prior to this, every
(36:40):
year a finalist and unfortunately not this year. But again,
as you mentioned off air, you never know what the
competition is going to be coming in. You don't know
what the items are going to be and what things
you're going to have to look for.
Speaker 15 (36:56):
Yes, yes, because you might think you're going to be
doing electronic shooting or transmission and you show up and
they have you assembling a ship bar housing for an
emetric transmission.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So all the cramming that you think, yes.
Speaker 15 (37:10):
I mean, all you do is give yourself a headache,
you know, you know, because I mean, like I said,
one year, you'll think you're going to be doing.
Speaker 14 (37:17):
Working on an autoshift component's X Y shift and everything.
Speaker 15 (37:20):
You go there and they're going to have you build
a rear section of transmission or sometimes you get you
focus your skills on the electronic part of it and
you're assembling gears for an onder on eighteen speed transmission.
Speaker 14 (37:32):
Well if you and you've never even seen one before.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And what that speaks to is the fact that the
level of competition just to get here is so top
notch that all of these things that they throw at
you you're able to diagnose, treat basically at the physician
at fix. So the actual is overall you don't necessarily
(38:03):
cram for one particular thing, but basically because.
Speaker 15 (38:06):
If your knowledge you have to be pretty much very
well rounded in your knowledge of what you are testing in,
you know, because you never know, you never know what
it's going to be.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, you know, so it's a surprise. Sometimes it's not
a pleasant surprise exactly.
Speaker 15 (38:23):
Well, it's it's like it's like the they bug the trucks. Also,
they'll bug the trucks, you know, and that's their job,
is a bugget, and our job is to try to
figure out what do they do?
Speaker 3 (38:33):
All right?
Speaker 14 (38:34):
Now there's one year.
Speaker 15 (38:35):
Competition where you try to hook up to a truck
and you couldn't communicate to it or a thing. And
you're like, all right, so is it on my end?
Is it a computer? Is a translator? Is it the truck?
Is it a power issue? And then then after so
you're checking all the fuses and stuff, but what they've
done is you have power on both sides of the fuse.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
Well, what they did, those sneaky guys, they pull.
Speaker 15 (38:57):
The fuse out and they cut the leg off one
side and they put it back.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
You have power.
Speaker 14 (39:02):
So now you're completely thrown off the track, you know,
So you don't know.
Speaker 15 (39:07):
And then then the judges said, did you physically checked
the FUSEE?
Speaker 4 (39:12):
I have power?
Speaker 14 (39:12):
Did you physically checked diffuse? No?
Speaker 4 (39:16):
I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 15 (39:18):
Yeah, And did you hear the judges snicker and stuff?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
You know, They're like, I got you an that It's
one of those things where they dream up these things.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
They say, Oh, well, I guess.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
We figured that the degree of difficulty last year wasn't
so much, so we're really gonna get up this year.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Oh, they were sneaky.
Speaker 15 (39:36):
There was one year I competed in pack car and
they actually welded a fuel line shut because the engine
had a miss. They welded a fuel line shut, so
the line wasn't pulsing, so it.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Wasn't getting fueled to that injector.
Speaker 15 (39:49):
But so you so you had to troubleshoot that by
putting your.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Fingers on the line.
Speaker 15 (39:54):
On every line, you could feel like a little heartbeat
on every line except for one had no heartbeat. So
then you pull the line off and they welded it shut.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Well, okay, which leads me to ask the question, in
the real world, when would you actually encounter that you
wouldn't Okay, you would you know it?
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Really it's their way.
Speaker 15 (40:16):
Of being creative, okay, and thinking about this stuff. I
think they wait, they lie awake at night and thinking
about this fan because I mean, they're they're really good
at what they do. Yeah, and so apparently so they
make us really good at what we do. Okay, we're
speaking with Robert Lavalley. He has a heavy duty technician
out of flag Staff, Arizona. This is his twentieth year
(40:36):
of competition. And going over some of the things that
some of the weird stuff and the odd stuff that
they have thrown at you over the years.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
And I'm sure you've seen a lot of it. You've
seen it all and as far as your career, you've
probably seen a lot of it. And and I can't
emphasize enough just getting here, as you mentioned, is a
significant goal.
Speaker 15 (40:59):
You've already won. Yeah, yeah, you've already won. I mean,
just went in the cash is just is a bonus. Yeah,
we're just getting getting here is a proud is proud
to be here.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Okay, So let's go back wind back through your career.
What got you involved in this line of work to
begin with?
Speaker 15 (41:19):
I didn't have a choice, okay, because I was I
was a teenager, uh huh. And my father had two
trucking companies okay, and so he had me work on
on trucks. He also raced flat track. He also raced
dirt race cars in northern California. Okay, so I had
to work on his race car. Also, I was his
pit crew okay, And I had to work on the
(41:40):
trucks because that's well speaking, I.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Have a sneaky individual. He figured it had some free
labor there.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
Yeah, well, yes, yes.
Speaker 15 (41:50):
And there would be times when I'd be working on
a race car and if I had a question by something,
you know, I'm fifteen years old, and he'd be sitting
inside the house he said, get back out there and
figure it out.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Well, which is kind of to a certain extent, good training.
Speaker 15 (42:05):
Because that's how that's how you become self taught. Yeah,
you know, sometimes you have to think through the situation.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
You can't.
Speaker 15 (42:11):
You can't just run to somebody and ask somebody. Sometimes
you guys sit back and just.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
You know, skills are applicable to other areas. I mean
throughout your life. You have certain things. You have a
plan A, you have a plan B, and you say, okay,
well Plan B isn't working, So then you move to C, A, D,
and some instance, as.
Speaker 15 (42:29):
You get all the way to G, you're still thinking
outside the box.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yeah, I hate that term. It's one of those things
that it's used way too much.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
With robbery.
Speaker 15 (42:41):
There are situations, you know, where you it's something completely
different than what that what you think is, and so
to keep a job from going all, you know, way
out and left field, and you kind of have to
try to narrow it down and focus on what it
is that you're that you're trying to accomplish exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Speaking with Robert Lavalley, he is the heavy duty technician
for flag Staff, Arizona. Again, twentieth year of competition and
what have you have you seen?
Speaker 4 (43:09):
What?
Speaker 3 (43:09):
What? What about the.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Level of competition, the younger people that you're that you're
seeing coming up through the right, It's tough.
Speaker 15 (43:16):
The reason being why it's tough is because in flag
Staff we have nine technicians uh huh, so we are
most of us. We are bumper to bumper, uh huh.
One day we'll be working on an engine. Next day
we'll be doing a transmission or a differential, or suspension
or or after treatment. Because there is never We do
not specialize. We do not have one specialty. Even though
(43:38):
I'm certified in everything, but I never know what whatever
the next work order is, That's what I'm doing, okay,
because they don't they don't.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
Say, okay, well, okay, well.
Speaker 15 (43:49):
Let's see you just do transmission. So you just hold
off until we get you a transmission job. It's whatever
comes out next. And the people here that I compete against,
these are the bigger shop guys.
Speaker 14 (44:00):
That's all they do. This is the bread and butter.
That's their niche.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
And for you to be competitive with that and and
be on the finals year after year after year as
a testament to you and your quality and the fact
of your overall knowledge, so that you know being I
hate to say jack of all trades, but you have
to know a lot of things and have a wealth
of knowledge in order to accomplish that.
Speaker 15 (44:21):
That's the reason why I've competed in Pathhart and I've
also qualified for Alison along with it, and also and
and I've also I also do Caterpillar too well.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Talk about a job that every day you don't know
what you're going to encounter. It's every day is a surprise.
It's like, well, let's get let's get into the shop
today and find out what's behind door number three.
Speaker 15 (44:40):
Yes, it's always nice when you get a big job
because when you call it back to work in the morning,
you know that you're doing an inframe. But when you're
doing you know, like after treatment stuff, you go back
in the morning, you're like well, wonder what today is
going to bring. Yeah, but it's also it takes away
the monotony of the job also because every day is
a challenge every day every day.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
That's fantastic. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you.
Any words of encouragement to people that are thinking about
getting into the business, how somebody would we.
Speaker 15 (45:10):
Really need more technicians to come into this field. We
have more or less old people retiring than we have
young bucks coming into the business.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
And it is a good career for people that may
not necessarily think in terms of that area.
Speaker 15 (45:24):
It's something for them to think about. Well, this business
is becoming so challenging now. So just like a new
Peterbilt has fourteen computers on it, uh huh okay, and you.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Never thought you were going to be a computer specialist.
Speaker 15 (45:37):
No, I started on mechanicals on there. I guess this
entire transition all right, Robert, has been a pleasure talking
to you. All the best to you and keep at
it again. My guest, Robert Lavalley, heavy duty Technician, flag
Staff Arizona twentieth Competition.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Been here from the beginning, from day one.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah, I'm Kevin Gordon, America's struck a network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (46:01):
News, Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
We are hearing from the other children of Rob and
Michelle Reiner following their deaths, with the top of the
hour report
This is America's trucking network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome aboard, thanks for tuning in. The Rush Enterprises twentieth
Anniversary Tech Skills Rodeo at the Gaylord Opperland Resort and
Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee is in the rearview mirror.
The cost of this competition was three million dollars to
put this on, paid for by four hundred and forty sponsors.
(00:30):
In addition to all of that, it was a trade show,
so all of these sponsors brought their equipment, brought their trucks.
Peterbilt had three of their tractors there to display the
different cabs and so on. International brought two of theirs.
There was Commons that brought their engines, a trailer that
(00:53):
had engines in it. Allison Transmissions had a big van
there that had their different transmissions in there. It was
basically all of their wares, all these different boosts, displaying
all the merchandise that they had from Valvelene to Lucas.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Oil and so on. It was an amazing event.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Now as far as the war, talk about a whirlwind
of activity.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
My goodness.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
We arrived here in Nashville on Saturday, after escaping Snowmageddon
and Cincinnati. The event started on Sunday morning with out
of the Collision Center in Smyrna, Tennessee, at.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Their body shop out there.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
That started at nine am, and then around noonish there,
about one o'clock or so, I had to rush over
onto the Convention Center and figure out a way of
getting in there in order to get the booth set
up so that we could broadcast from there on Monday.
So we got that taken care of, and then at
(02:03):
seven o'clock we all met and went on the General
Jackson boat, the river boat to tour the Tennessee River
and see the Nashville skyline. Unfortunately, it was not the
warmest thing. I think it was. Might have set a
record in Nashville that it started off at eighteen degrees
(02:25):
and then by the time the cruise was over, the
temperature was down around five degrees with about negative numbers
as far as windshchill factor. That Monday morning started off
at eight am conducting interviews, show closed at three pm.
Seven pm, we had a media dinner with the people
(02:46):
from Rush and talking about the event and met some
of the folks that were part of the media crew.
That Tuesday morning, we started off at six thirty am,
back to the booth, show shut down at three pm,
got all packed up, got everything down, went to a
four o'clock press conference with Rusty Rush, the CEO of
(03:09):
Rush Truck Centers, and then at five forty five, and
he had some interesting comments and probably in a later
show we'll talk about some of his comments on the
state of the industry, how Rush Enterprises is doing. And
so on five forty five we had a cocktail hour
and a six thirty the dinner, an award ceremony which
(03:29):
didn't end until ten thirty. So it was basically every
day from Sunday morning until Tuesday morning.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Actually Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Everything started around from about six o'clock in the morning
till well after midnight. So it was a very interesting time.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Now at this.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Rodeo, over three thousand technicians tested to qualify the top
performers made it to Nashville well over two hundred participants.
So Rush Enterprises brought all these people and their spouses
to this convention and the convention center at opry Land
Resort and Convention Center. Three days of competitions. The awards
(04:12):
ceremony was I got to tell you it was beyond expectations.
The food was great. Over eight hundred people attended, the spouses, executives, participants,
Over nearly three hundred thousand dollars in checks were awarded,
and just mind boggling as far as that they were
issuing prizes in different divisions the parts leasing, Rising Star,
(04:37):
body Shop, Medium Duty, heavy duty truck sales, and then
they had the Reserve Champion, the Grand Champion, and then
they awarded the All Around Grand Rodeo Champion. I'll get
to him in a moment, but the sheer size of
the number of people that participated in this, and the
actual checks that were issued, and the awards ceremony, naming
(05:00):
every one of the people, having them come up on stage,
getting their picture taken, and so on. The All Round
Grand Champion Rodeo Champion Dom McConnell of Rush Truck Centers
in Orlando, South took away the top prize eighteen thousand
and five hundred dollars. Now, talk about an interesting story.
This was his third attempt at the rodeo. In the
(05:24):
two previous he had not even made the finals, and
this time around, not only did he win, but he
became the Grand champion last year at the convention and
the awards ceremony, it was down in San Antonio, so
along the river walk down there. He and his fiance
(05:44):
or and his girlfriend got engaged down there. And so
at the last Truck Rodeo Awards ceremony or that period,
he got engaged. And he's as of well, the awards ceremony,
about seventeen days from now, he and his wife and
his fiance are going to get married. So talk about
a whirlwind for him. And it was interesting talking to
(06:07):
him after the ceremony. We had an opportunity to interview
him directly a couple of people from the media, and
it was interesting to listen to him talk about how
his approach to the show was or to the competition.
He said in the past he tried to like go
buy the book. But when you're a technician and you
(06:28):
know what you're doing and you have the experience, you
generally have an idea.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
It's not like you know, a.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Cookbook where you have to start off at step one,
step two, and you know, just follow those right down
the line. A lot of the initial things are in
your head and you just go and do it. And
then based on a little bit of intuition and because
you've studied and he talks about he talked about how
he actually takes the stuff home with him, studies the manuals,
(06:58):
reads about him over the week, weekend, does stuff in
terms of basically continuing education in his spare time. So
this kid, twenty six years old, third competition, this has
won the overall championship. But here is this guy at
twenty six years old, a student of what he's his craft,
(07:21):
and he's just so dedicated to that. And it was
great to see him win that award and to talk
to him afterwards. But it was an amazing situation, and
we had a great conversation with him, and the fact
that I can't emphasize enough here he is twenty six
years old, competed three previously, this was his third competition,
(07:43):
had never placed into the finals, and comes up the
grand champion. And as he talked about it, was he
kind of I asked him about it because he said
the way he put it was I just kind of
let my instincts take over and based on what my
knowledge was, I just went into that. And along the way,
(08:07):
as the judges were coming along, he was explaining to
them what he was doing, which I asked him if
that was kind of a new technique. He said, I
don't know. He said, I've heard other people may have
done that, but he said, I made an effort to
make sure that they knew what steps I was doing,
because part of the competition is they look at how
(08:29):
your approach to that is as opposed to not only
diagnosing the problem and so on. So explaining everything that
he was doing all along the way probably was the
thing that got him the highest score. And then of
course winning or eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
That's going to be a nice present.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Now at the banquet, they always every year Rusty Rush
and Rush Enterprises has a surprise guest. This year it
was Clint Boyer, who was car driver and commentator for
Fox and Nascar on Fox, and he got up and
had a few words to say, and it was very interesting.
(09:10):
And then he's standing up there talked with Rusty and
all of a sudden he says, and oh, by the way,
there's somebody else here you might know, and he introduces
Jeff Gordon, a stock car racing legend and chairman and
vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody was like what they
were all of a sudden all that you can see
(09:30):
all the people at the banquet tables all of a
sudden turning their heads to where Jeff Gordon was sitting.
And then of course after the bank, once it was over,
everybody was just flocking to him. Fortunately they were at
the table right in front of us. So I went
over and finally got to meet my younger brother Jeff.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
So it was interesting.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I mentioned to him, how many people are asking me,
are you related to Jeff Gordon. So anyway, it was
a lot of fun. The Gaylord opery Land Hotel and
Resort is just if you've never been been there, you've
got to go. It is just the a trims, the walkways,
the sheer volume of what is there and everything.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I've talked about that over the last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And by the way, if you missed any of that
stuff that we talked about over the last few days,
check out a podcast brought to you by Rush Truck Centers. Well, folks,
well I'll tell you it was just absolutely a fantastic day.
I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I need this is the briefing report on America's Trucking
Network on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
One of the aspects of the lawsuit between twenty three
eleven in Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR and their trial
was NASCAR was concerned about the racing series SRX over
the last few years. Daylernhard Junior and his sister Kelly
on Dirty Moe Radio podcast says NASCAR's concerns were out
of this world.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
To hear that they were even remostly the least bitten
threatened is so wow, surprising to me because they're this
giant that's NASCAR and SRX is just this little thing.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
You know, It's take years to recreate what NASCAR is.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
Yeah, and they were like, there's twelve cars, right, they're
just barely getting by financially. They're tearing up so much.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
They had no idea.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
It's gonna tear up all that. Yeah, and you know,
in the end, they couldn't make the money work. SRX
went away because it's expensive to operate and the money
that you know, the network, the viewership numbers didn't justify
the TV contract and the KIV contract couldn't afford the series,
and so it just financially didn't really work. You know,
(11:43):
I am surprised by some of the comments that I
read from Phelps, I mean sorry, from O'Donnell and a
couple of other people about man, we gotta go, we
got to put an end to this, or we gotta
you know, we gotta go take a look at this.
Speaker 7 (11:54):
And again to me, yeah, why are we worried?
Speaker 5 (11:59):
JR Motorsports also revealed a mouth watering new sponsor on Tuesday,
Dale Earnhardt Junior announced a multi year, multifaceted partnership between
JR Motorsports and restaurant Arby's. The fast food chain will
be the primary sponsor for eight NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts
Series events in twenty twenty six, and will also hold
a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
This is the reasing report on America's drugging network on
seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
For a t N.
Speaker 8 (12:34):
Kids, they are just different than us, They have no inhibitions.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Will also hold a personal service agreement with Earnhardt Junior.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
This is the wreathing report on America's trucking network on
seven hundred WLW SAG Dennison for a t N.
Speaker 8 (12:55):
Kids. They are just different than us. They have no inhibitions,
consider silverware optional, and can find fun anywhere. When kids
get really sick, they're different than us too. That's why
the Leukemia and Nomphoma Society is introducing the Deer to
Dream Project, with the largest global clinical trial for kids
with plumbings.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
He is vice president of Servicing for Rush Truck Centers
and one of the very important components of this is
the tech skills and the servicing end of that. So
kind of give us a little description of that.
Speaker 9 (13:27):
Well, we we start the whole process with online testing,
so that we we test each technician for their their
technical skills, you know, via an online test, and the
top qualifiers come to this event and compete for you know,
cash and prizes if you will.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So there is a qualifying event just even guest here
in the first place.
Speaker 9 (13:51):
We start the testing process July August, you know, months
ahead of time. It's quite an under taking if you
think about it. We have close to three thousand technicians.
Most of them do enroll or enlist for the uh
for the testing, and it's it's quite.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
An effort to get through all of that uh huh.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So do you, I guess you guys, encourage them to compete.
Speaker 9 (14:18):
Absolutely absolutely, and and you know, we'll hold calls and
we'll send out e blast communication and we'll work through
the managers as well.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
There are you know, a number.
Speaker 9 (14:28):
Of individuals in any given year, especially some of the
new hires that are apprehensive, nervous. One fear is or
concern is that if they don't don't do well on
the test, it'll be posted for everybody to see.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Test results are anonymous. We do not post that.
Speaker 9 (14:43):
We just post basically who are the top qualifiers in
order of scoring in the testing. But we we don't
do anything to shame or embarrass anybody. And so it
takes a little coaching to talk through that. And I
will say that U past competitors that talk with the
tax at the shop or what have you, they are
(15:05):
no doubt they're the most are they They're the biggest
contributor to eliciting excitement around the rodeo and participation.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Rodeo ambassadors, so to speak. Yeah, get everybody interested. And
I guess and I guess you know, in any environment
there's always a certain competition within the group itself. And
so to encourage that and and to promote that is amazing.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
It is amazing, it really is. And you'll find the
competitors here are all very you know, they're they're celebrating
for their peers that win, you know, they're most of
the folks that come are very humble and and they're
happy for their their peers when they win.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And it's it's just an exciting event all the way around.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It is now describe because this is this is a
great opportunity or great thing about as far as Russia
is concerned about employee retention, the fact that you guys
reward people for competing, the amount of prizes involved, and
the fact that you care about the employees and their success.
Speaker 9 (16:18):
Yeah, we absolutely do and this this event is a
testament to our commitment to our employees. And I don't
know how how and depth you've discussed us with others.
I mean, this started as an event for technicians and
there were approximately forty competitors twenty years ago, and the
(16:38):
whole event has evolved to go well beyond that to
include our revenue generators within the dealership group. So that's
that's parts people, it's after market sales, truck sales, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So there's a lot of energy, a lot of discussion
in almost every level of the corporation. Yes, which is
great because now you've got the rev new generation side,
the parts people, the start of saying, the collision people,
all those involved in terms of the competition, so every
level of the company people are competing.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
For these various prizes. We're speaking with.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Victor Cummings, vice president Operations for Rush Truck Centers, and
I am blown away by this. This is the first
time I've been here, and I've read about it. I've
read about it in the trade magazines and thought what
a great program this is, but to actually see it
live is beyond words.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, I'm honestly, I'm blown away too.
Speaker 9 (17:34):
I'm humbled to work with such a very high caliber
how excuse me, high caliber level of people and you know,
just humble folks that really care genuinely for our employees,
and the the amount of effort and collaboration it takes
to put this together is really something else. When we
back up at the end of this event and head home,
(17:57):
our first rodeo meeting is the first week of every month.
We start very next month planning for the following year.
So this is a year round project. It's quite a
wind up coming out here to Nashville. This is our
twenty year anniversary. That's why we're here. This is where
it started. And we were actually quite nervous about it,
(18:18):
just just the logistics and the number of people, what
it takes to put this together. And the venue is
a place we've never been for the rodeo. Right, So
I'll tell you it's been the smoothest so far, and
it's exciting. And the competitors I've talked to, the suppliers
I've talked to, are thrilled about the venue, just the
energy behind it, and you know, the scope of the
(18:41):
event itself.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It corrects me proud.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And what's interesting too is the fact that because of
the logistics, you got to make sure that you bring
everything with you. It's not like, Okay, we're in San Antonio.
It's close to home and if I forget something, I
just go, yeah, call somebody and say, hey, can you
bring this over? I mean everything is that whole checklist
and everything along those lines is very important. Now, we
had talked about talked briefly off air about how you
(19:07):
came into this and how this works in terms of
bringing people up through the ranks and the programs that
you have. I mean, not only are you dealing with
people that are that are been in the business for
years in terms of technicians and hiring them, because are
also in the process or during the process of developing
(19:28):
people to come into the trade.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
That is correct.
Speaker 9 (19:32):
You know, we have one group that competes and they're
called the Rising Star. Uh those are level one, level
two techs that are new with Rush, and we want
to be all inclusive. We want the new hires and
the lower level techs to have that rodeo experience as well,
and we want it to be fair in terms of competition.
(19:52):
So it is a separate course or competition if you will,
from you know, the rest of the technicians and they
can only compete and Rising Star once. So once you've
done that, then you have to step up to the
big leagues.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So you get through the Triple A ball team and
now you're into the big lit up to the show,
so to speak. Well, that's cool, that's that's very interesting. Again,
we're speaking with Victor Cummings. He is vice president of
Servicing for Rush Truck Centers and one of the things
we talked about too, was how in developing people even
(20:29):
at the at this trade school level. And you had
a very interesting story that we were talking about as
far as what your experience was coming out of that
and the environment into the actual dealership.
Speaker 9 (20:41):
Yes, sometimes I have to hit the pause button, kind
of rewind and think back to what I experienced, what
I felt when I came out of trade school hired
on with a cat dealership. The first especially the first
couple of weeks on the job was very stressful, is intimidating.
You know, I really had no idea what I was stept
and into. I know I wanted to pursue the trade,
(21:02):
but was just a beginner, a rookie if you will.
And so we've developed a internship program to work with
the trade schools to give them that opportunity to get exposure,
to get their foot in the door prior to actually
coming on you know, on board. Full time internship program
is really something like being a part time Level one
(21:23):
tech and uh, if you like, I can kind of
give you a quick overview of how it's structured and
or what you know, why we do what we do.
So we we partner with a sc accredited trade schools
and we have a set like fundamentals training if you will.
And and OIES have given us permission to allow the
(21:44):
trade school students to take the online training. So we
define here are here basically the fundamentals to kind of
get your head around, you know, just the basics of
what we do at our dealership and the product, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
They need to do that on their own time.
Speaker 9 (22:02):
It's part of their curriculum, and then once they complete
that training, we bring them into the dealership for approximately
twenty hours of shadowing.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
So we really want.
Speaker 9 (22:12):
Them to experience and see from cradle to grave the
whole repair process, meaning from when the truck pulls into
the gate to when the truck leaves the gate. So
there's the write up process, there's the dispatch to the technician,
the parts ordering process, working with the back counter, pulling
the parts out of the warehouse, and anything involved in
(22:36):
supporting the tech to get that truck back on the road.
And we find that that really does a lot to
kind of give them a perspective and a better understanding,
and it empowers.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Them to speak up when something doesn't make sense.
Speaker 9 (22:49):
We allow anywhere from six months to a year to
complete the program. So they do this while they're going
to school, and we're very flexible around the hours that
they work.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
If it's a couple hours of night Monday.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
Through Friday, all day Saturday, whatever works best or accommodates
their schedule is what we do to work with them
to allow them, you know, the flexibility to complete the program.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Very good.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Now, are you finding the younger people that it's it's
the recruiting process itself easier or is it even more difficult.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
It's far more challenging than it's been.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Tell you what, let's take a quick break and we
can pick this up on the other start. All right, thanks,
I'm Kevin Gordon, america'struck A Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
News Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
A primetime speech from the White House, and President Trump
is making his case to the country with the twelve
thirty report. I'm Bretdy Hopkins. Breaking Now. Trump highlighted in
his first eleven month in office in his speech last night,
(23:54):
saying prices are coming down while blaming President Joe Biden
for inflation and immigration. He also announced a Warrior dividend
for military members ahead of Christmas.
Speaker 10 (24:05):
President just there said that prices are coming down and fast,
but the latest government data actually shows that consumer prices
are up three percent compared to a year ago, and
that trend isn't going in the right direction. That same
data showing that prices have been ticking up for the
past five months.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
ABC's Mary Bruce now the latest forecast from the Train
Heating and Cooling Weather Center on US Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 11 (24:32):
As we start your Thursday, the wind begins to pick
up with temperatures in the upper thirties and low forties.
Likely try to start things, but in the afternoon scattered
rain of rives, maybe even a few rumbles of thunder.
Late in the day. It will also be windy with
a high near fifty three. Cold air push us in
at night, dropping US to twenty three by Friday morning,
with a few snowflakes possible overnight. From your severe Weather station,
(24:52):
I'm nine first Warning meter REBLOGUS Mark Stitz News Radio
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (24:57):
Thirty eight degrees Right now in the Tri State, Duke
Energy is saying new technology is sharply reducing power outages
across the states of Ohio and Kentucky. The utility says
it's smart grid and self healing technology prevented nearly four
hundred thousand outages this year, saving about one point four
(25:17):
million hours of lost power. The system automatically reroots electricity
when lines are damaged, often limiting outages to brief flickers.
Duke says more than three quarters of customers in the
region now benefit from the upgraded grid. I'm Travis Laird
News Radio seven hundred WLW. In the meantime, security is
(25:37):
being increased up at Ryle High School this week out
of abundance of caution after a threatening message was found
scribbled on a wall, and police have not yet been
able to determine the message credibility at this time. Our
next update at one o'clock in breaking news anytime, I'm
Bretty Hopkins's News Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 12 (25:55):
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with dozens of apps that don't talk to each other.
One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting.
That's software overload. ODU is the all in one platform
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fully integrated and easy to use, and built to grow
with your business. Thousands have already made the switch. Why
(26:18):
not you try ODO for free at odoo dot com.
That's od dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
The free iHeartRadio app is the number one app for
the holiday.
Speaker 13 (26:31):
Here's your trucking forecast for the Try State and the
rest of the country.
Speaker 14 (26:34):
And the Try State.
Speaker 13 (26:35):
Overnight partly cloudy the low down to thirty two, afternoon
rain Thursday, high fifty six. Friday mostly claudy early than
gradually becoming sunny and colder. Highs only the lower thirties.
Partly sunny Saturday, in a bit of a warm up,
a high of forty eight Nationally from the northwest of
the north central US dangerous winds and heavy snow scene.
Heavy rain is likely over parts of the Pacific Northwest
starting Thursday, while heavy mountain snow continues in the Pacific
(26:58):
Northwest and northern Rockies. Most of the country expected to
see about average temperatures. There's the potential for record tying
or record breaking highs out west and in the New
England States.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Kevin Gordon America struck In Network seven hundred WLW continue
our conversation with Victor Cummings. He is the vice president
of Servicing for Rush Enterprises.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Rush truck centers, which.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Really, I guess in and of itself is one of
the has got to be an extremely challenging job. With
over one hundred and forty service centers around the country,
that has got to really be a huge undertaking for
it is.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
It is. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 9 (27:43):
It is challenging, It can be stressful at times depending
on what's going on in any given day, but it's
also very rewarding. Uh huh, it's I think the most
rewarding aspect of my job is being able to provide
an opportunity for others.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
You know, similar.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Opportunities are provided for me younger in my career. But yeah,
it is. It is a very challenging job. There's the
there's the employee component, and then there's the customer.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Component and the corporate component.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Yeah, that is true, That is true, you know, that's right.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, but it's it is important with the being a
tune with the customer making sure they're happy, and then
of course the employees and make sure they're happy. We
talked about previously about another challenging aspect of the business
is bringing people in, like younger people.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
What that's like. You mentioned that that's a lot more
challenging today.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
Far more challenging for for a number of reasons you
don't have. It's not as common for younger folks to
work with you know, say their dad on a hot
rod in the garage or grow up on a farm.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
It's just it's just not as common.
Speaker 9 (28:52):
And the younger, uh, you know, trades people today are
starting out at somewhat of a disadvantage because of that
lack of experience. On top of that, you know, the
vehicles are are far more complex and the emission systems
are ever changing. So it's it's it's just ongoing learning
and education, and it's tough. It takes a different level
(29:18):
of expertise to diagnose the truck today than it did, say,
twenty thirty years ago. And when we were talking about
the internship program, you know, the main focus there is
really easing that transition from the student school environment to
the dealership environment and you know, giving them a good
smooth transition over time to get used to that environment,
(29:40):
to the people, et cetera, versus just diving into the
cold wall.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well you mentioned, you know, before diving into the cold water,
you said, coming out of trade school, he was thinking, oh,
going in a dealership here.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
How hard could it be?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Right, all of a sudden reality hits you in the
face of the nervous and all that sort of thing.
But now, as far as the younger pe are you
finding more? I guess, I guess maybe I'm just in
the circle of where I'm hearing more and more about
younger people that are turning towards the trades that some
(30:13):
of the other schooling, some of the other stuff just
isn't there or it doesn't peak their attention, and so
that they're turning more towards the trades as a way
of getting into the business world or getting into the workforce.
And I think surprising themselves as to what it's like.
Speaker 9 (30:35):
Well, trades are becoming cool again, eat and it's great
to see. And really that's what you know, keeps this
country going, uh huh, And yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
It's exciting.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
It's exciting to see the enthusiasm from various companies to
really focus in on the importance of trades, you know,
skilled trades.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
And well, as you mentioned about the diagnostics in terms
of the computers involved.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
In the in the.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Systems, and then the operations and the engine emissions control
and that sort of thing that is well beyond what
the you know, turning the wrenches were years ago. This
requires a level of you know, if you're if you're
into the tech end of it or in terms of
computers and so on, there's that for you, if there's
you discover along those lines that you're interested in working
(31:26):
with your hands to a certain extent. And I think
a lot of people realize that when they do that,
there is that sense of accomplishment.
Speaker 9 (31:33):
Absolutely yes, it's and and the technician world has become
uh far more specialized.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Uh huh and uh.
Speaker 9 (31:44):
I can see where you know, you see some of
the younger, uh skilled technicians coming into the business and
and really gravitating towards the computer side of the truck,
the diagnostics and and you know, it's exciting to see
some of the older texts are not as interested in
that part of it. They'd rather work on the mechanical bonus. Well, yeah,
(32:06):
change is always always difficulty. We're speaking again with Victor Cummings.
He is the vice president of vice president of Service Operations.
Now getting back to the show here itself, the twentieth
anniversary and the amount of prizes involved, the amount of
bragging rates. The amount of trophies that we look across
(32:27):
the way and see those, it is absolutely impressive. And
from a recruitment standpoint, this is a recruiting tool that
people say, you know, coming into Rush truck centers, you
have the opportunity to do this, But then once you're there,
here's the opportunity. And then people see how much the
company cares about them competing and putting them in a
(32:48):
position where they can compete for these prizes. Yeah, I
really believe it's a testament to you know, what Rush
is as a company and the value that we have
for our employees.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And it makes me proud to be a part of
all this.
Speaker 9 (33:03):
And my first participation or engagement in this event was
as a supplier, you know, providing equipment and judges for
this event. And I'll never forget the first time it
came and just myself, you know, as a visitor to
see the whole event take place, it was just incredible.
It's quite an event. I've never seen another company put
(33:25):
on anything quite like this. And I don't mean to
brag when I say that I'm bragging about my company,
my employer, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I'm bragging about seeing it because again, I'm this my
first time and I don't hear about this and a
lot of other companies, which piques my attention to begin with,
and then to actually be here and witness it as
something else.
Speaker 9 (33:45):
Yeah, I'd like to make a plug for our CEO,
Rusty Rush.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
He's an amazing individual.
Speaker 9 (33:50):
I've worked for a few other publicly traded companies and
similar in size prior to coming to Rush fourteen years ago,
and I have never encountered anybody in leadership, any leadership role,
and especially at the CEO level that is as engaged
is Rusty. And when you see them on stage and
they're handing out the wards, that's Rusty Rush. And it's
(34:13):
quite an event you're going to You're really going to
enjoy it.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
I'm really looking forward to it, Yes.
Speaker 9 (34:18):
And so he he's you know, fully supportive of this event.
And our suppliers are amazing. We couldn't do without them.
It's just the synergy that brings it all together is amazing.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
But and the excitement around the room in terms of
looking at the various suppliers, I mean, it is just
you know, it's one thing to see it on paper,
it's one thing to see pictures. But then it's another
thing to witness it all together and just the sheer
volume of the And it's a testament I don't mean
to when I am bragging about Rush Truck Centers because
(34:51):
the fact that these companies want to support this company
as much as they do to actually show up and
display what they have to various suppliers of Rush truck centers.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
It's incredible.
Speaker 9 (35:05):
It really is the amount of energy in this auditorium
or what have you, convention hall is amazing. And it's
like you say, it's it's it's the company, it's the suppliers,
the competitors and you know, everybody working together for the
same cause.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And uh, it's quite an event. Or I wish you
all the best. Thank you, it is great talking to you.
Thanks for stopping by a talker. Appreciate it, and uh
all the best. And I'll be curious to see later
on tonight at the awards banquet. What is going to
all be about and everything that we.
Speaker 9 (35:38):
Here announce the finalists, uh tonight and then uh the
following evening is actually the wards ceremony.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Actually, as far as what we're doing right now, I
see we will be broadcasting this tonight hopefully, and so
let's actually.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Be Tuesday morning.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, so all of this will be history by this
but again, thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
I'm Kevin Gordon, America Trucking Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
News Radio seven hundred WLW, and iHeartRadio Station Guarantee Human
seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
HI Hard Radio.
Speaker 10 (36:15):
Run a business and not think Networks seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I have the pleasure of speaking with Robert Lavali. He
is a heavy duty technician from Flagstaff, Arizona. This year
marks the twentieth and competition at not only the competition
at twentieth anniversary of the Textkills Rodeo, but your twentieth
year of competing everyone. Yeah, and prior to this, every
(36:40):
year a finalist and unfortunately not this year. But again,
as you mentioned off air, you never know what the
competition is going to be coming in. You don't know
what the items are going to be and what things
you're going to have to look for.
Speaker 15 (36:56):
Yes, yes, because you might think you're going to be
doing electronic shooting or transmission and you show up and
they have you assembling a ship bar housing for an
emetric transmission.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So all the cramming that you think, yes.
Speaker 15 (37:10):
I mean, all you do is give yourself a headache,
you know, you know, because I mean, like I said,
one year, you'll think you're going to be doing.
Speaker 14 (37:17):
Working on an autoshift component's X Y shift and everything.
Speaker 15 (37:20):
You go there and they're going to have you build
a rear section of transmission or sometimes you get you
focus your skills on the electronic part of it and
you're assembling gears for an onder on eighteen speed transmission.
Speaker 14 (37:32):
Well if you and you've never even seen one before.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And what that speaks to is the fact that the
level of competition just to get here is so top
notch that all of these things that they throw at
you you're able to diagnose, treat basically at the physician
at fix. So the actual is overall you don't necessarily
(38:03):
cram for one particular thing, but basically because.
Speaker 15 (38:06):
If your knowledge you have to be pretty much very
well rounded in your knowledge of what you are testing in,
you know, because you never know, you never know what
it's going to be.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, you know, so it's a surprise. Sometimes it's not
a pleasant surprise exactly.
Speaker 15 (38:23):
Well, it's it's like it's like the they bug the trucks. Also,
they'll bug the trucks, you know, and that's their job,
is a bugget, and our job is to try to
figure out what do they do?
Speaker 3 (38:33):
All right?
Speaker 14 (38:34):
Now there's one year.
Speaker 15 (38:35):
Competition where you try to hook up to a truck
and you couldn't communicate to it or a thing. And
you're like, all right, so is it on my end?
Is it a computer? Is a translator? Is it the truck?
Is it a power issue? And then then after so
you're checking all the fuses and stuff, but what they've
done is you have power on both sides of the fuse.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
Well, what they did, those sneaky guys, they pull.
Speaker 15 (38:57):
The fuse out and they cut the leg off one
side and they put it back.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
You have power.
Speaker 14 (39:02):
So now you're completely thrown off the track, you know,
So you don't know.
Speaker 15 (39:07):
And then then the judges said, did you physically checked
the FUSEE?
Speaker 4 (39:12):
I have power?
Speaker 14 (39:12):
Did you physically checked diffuse? No?
Speaker 4 (39:16):
I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 15 (39:18):
Yeah, And did you hear the judges snicker and stuff?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
You know, They're like, I got you an that It's
one of those things where they dream up these things.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
They say, Oh, well, I guess.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
We figured that the degree of difficulty last year wasn't
so much, so we're really gonna get up this year.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Oh, they were sneaky.
Speaker 15 (39:36):
There was one year I competed in pack car and
they actually welded a fuel line shut because the engine
had a miss. They welded a fuel line shut, so
the line wasn't pulsing, so it.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Wasn't getting fueled to that injector.
Speaker 15 (39:49):
But so you so you had to troubleshoot that by
putting your.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Fingers on the line.
Speaker 15 (39:54):
On every line, you could feel like a little heartbeat
on every line except for one had no heartbeat. So
then you pull the line off and they welded it shut.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Well, okay, which leads me to ask the question, in
the real world, when would you actually encounter that you
wouldn't Okay, you would you know it?
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Really it's their way.
Speaker 15 (40:16):
Of being creative, okay, and thinking about this stuff. I
think they wait, they lie awake at night and thinking
about this fan because I mean, they're they're really good
at what they do. Yeah, and so apparently so they
make us really good at what we do. Okay, we're
speaking with Robert Lavalley. He has a heavy duty technician
out of flag Staff, Arizona. This is his twentieth year
(40:36):
of competition. And going over some of the things that
some of the weird stuff and the odd stuff that
they have thrown at you over the years.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
And I'm sure you've seen a lot of it. You've
seen it all and as far as your career, you've
probably seen a lot of it. And and I can't
emphasize enough just getting here, as you mentioned, is a
significant goal.
Speaker 15 (40:59):
You've already won. Yeah, yeah, you've already won. I mean,
just went in the cash is just is a bonus. Yeah,
we're just getting getting here is a proud is proud
to be here.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Okay, So let's go back wind back through your career.
What got you involved in this line of work to
begin with?
Speaker 15 (41:19):
I didn't have a choice, okay, because I was I
was a teenager, uh huh. And my father had two
trucking companies okay, and so he had me work on
on trucks. He also raced flat track. He also raced
dirt race cars in northern California. Okay, so I had
to work on his race car. Also, I was his
pit crew okay, And I had to work on the
(41:40):
trucks because that's well speaking, I.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Have a sneaky individual. He figured it had some free
labor there.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
Yeah, well, yes, yes.
Speaker 15 (41:50):
And there would be times when I'd be working on
a race car and if I had a question by something,
you know, I'm fifteen years old, and he'd be sitting
inside the house he said, get back out there and
figure it out.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Well, which is kind of to a certain extent, good training.
Speaker 15 (42:05):
Because that's how that's how you become self taught. Yeah,
you know, sometimes you have to think through the situation.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
You can't.
Speaker 15 (42:11):
You can't just run to somebody and ask somebody. Sometimes
you guys sit back and just.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
You know, skills are applicable to other areas. I mean
throughout your life. You have certain things. You have a
plan A, you have a plan B, and you say, okay,
well Plan B isn't working, So then you move to C, A, D,
and some instance, as.
Speaker 15 (42:29):
You get all the way to G, you're still thinking
outside the box.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yeah, I hate that term. It's one of those things
that it's used way too much.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
With robbery.
Speaker 15 (42:41):
There are situations, you know, where you it's something completely
different than what that what you think is, and so
to keep a job from going all, you know, way
out and left field, and you kind of have to
try to narrow it down and focus on what it
is that you're that you're trying to accomplish exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Speaking with Robert Lavalley, he is the heavy duty technician
for flag Staff, Arizona. Again, twentieth year of competition and
what have you have you seen?
Speaker 4 (43:09):
What?
Speaker 3 (43:09):
What? What about the.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Level of competition, the younger people that you're that you're
seeing coming up through the right, It's tough.
Speaker 15 (43:16):
The reason being why it's tough is because in flag
Staff we have nine technicians uh huh, so we are
most of us. We are bumper to bumper, uh huh.
One day we'll be working on an engine. Next day
we'll be doing a transmission or a differential, or suspension
or or after treatment. Because there is never We do
not specialize. We do not have one specialty. Even though
(43:38):
I'm certified in everything, but I never know what whatever
the next work order is, That's what I'm doing, okay,
because they don't they don't.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
Say, okay, well, okay, well.
Speaker 15 (43:49):
Let's see you just do transmission. So you just hold
off until we get you a transmission job. It's whatever
comes out next. And the people here that I compete against,
these are the bigger shop guys.
Speaker 14 (44:00):
That's all they do. This is the bread and butter.
That's their niche.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
And for you to be competitive with that and and
be on the finals year after year after year as
a testament to you and your quality and the fact
of your overall knowledge, so that you know being I
hate to say jack of all trades, but you have
to know a lot of things and have a wealth
of knowledge in order to accomplish that.
Speaker 15 (44:21):
That's the reason why I've competed in Pathhart and I've
also qualified for Alison along with it, and also and
and I've also I also do Caterpillar too well.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Talk about a job that every day you don't know
what you're going to encounter. It's every day is a surprise.
It's like, well, let's get let's get into the shop
today and find out what's behind door number three.
Speaker 15 (44:40):
Yes, it's always nice when you get a big job
because when you call it back to work in the morning,
you know that you're doing an inframe. But when you're
doing you know, like after treatment stuff, you go back
in the morning, you're like well, wonder what today is
going to bring. Yeah, but it's also it takes away
the monotony of the job also because every day is
a challenge every day every day.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
That's fantastic. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you.
Any words of encouragement to people that are thinking about
getting into the business, how somebody would we.
Speaker 15 (45:10):
Really need more technicians to come into this field. We
have more or less old people retiring than we have
young bucks coming into the business.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
And it is a good career for people that may
not necessarily think in terms of that area.
Speaker 15 (45:24):
It's something for them to think about. Well, this business
is becoming so challenging now. So just like a new
Peterbilt has fourteen computers on it, uh huh okay, and you.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Never thought you were going to be a computer specialist.
Speaker 15 (45:37):
No, I started on mechanicals on there. I guess this
entire transition all right, Robert, has been a pleasure talking
to you. All the best to you and keep at
it again. My guest, Robert Lavalley, heavy duty Technician, flag
Staff Arizona twentieth Competition.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
Been here from the beginning, from day one.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah, I'm Kevin Gordon, America's struck a network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (46:01):
News, Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
We are hearing from the other children of Rob and
Michelle Reiner following their deaths, with the top of the
hour report
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