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From the Editor’s desk... by John White
VOLUmE 19, ISSUE 04 of 11 PUBLISHER/EDITOR John White john@ptmag.ca PRODUCTION/CIRCULATION Tori Proudley tori@ptmag.ca ADMINISTRATION Donna White donna@ptmag.ca ADVERTISING/MARKETING John White john@ptmag.ca Tori Proudley tori@ptmag.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Madill • Ben Proudley Scott Casey • Mel McConaghy Ed Murdoch • Colin Black Bill Weatherstone Lane Kranenburg PHOTOGRAPHY Ben Proudley • Brad Demelo David Benjatschek wowtrucks.com HEAD OFFICE Ph: 604-580-2092 Toll Free / Fax: 1-800-331-8127 Published eleven times a year by Pro-Trucker Magazine Inc.,
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Understanding Show and Shine Judging I have been to a number of Big Rig Show and Shines and even judged one in Ontario after which I said I would never do it again. At each of these shows there has always been one common factor and that is that it is impossible to make everyone happy. This is quite understandable when you consider how many hours a driver spends John White prepping his or her truck for a show. For some drivers that disappointment demands a reason why they did not win. The easiest answer of course is that the judging was not fair. The winners on the other hand, also quite understandably, usually have quite a different opinion. I have been asked many times how the trucks are judged at a show and after researching things I have found that most organized shows follow a basic pattern close or the same as we do. This is how the main categories are judged at Big Rig Weekends. The judges for Big Rig Weekend work off a score sheet that rates four items on a scale of one to twelve. No one item is more important than the other. The score from all four are added together giving a total score for that category/ truck. We use 3 judges to judge each category. Some judges tend to give high scores and others lower but this does not matter as the same people judge all the trucks in one category. The trucks are scored on: 1. Paint – Imperfections, shine. (Minor paint chips are not counted on working trucks) 2. Body – Lines and fit of components 3. Tires and Wheels – shine, detailing. 4. Overall Appearance – Colour coordination, balance, Chrome etc. (This is the individual preference of the judge – beauty is in the eye of the beholder.) Since this is a working truck show there is one more very important item that helps level the playing field and that is mileage. It is a given that a 2010 truck that has travelled 1,000,000 km cannot compete straight up with a 2017 truck that has only travelled 10,000 km. For this reason we use a sliding scale that adds on or takes away points according to the amount of miles each truck has travelled. If you have up to 20,000 km on your truck – we take away 5 points; 20,000 to 30,000 km minus 4 points; 30,000 km to 40,000 km minus 3 points; 40,000 km to 50,000 km minus 2 points; 50,000 km to 100,000 km minus 1 point. There is no point adjustment on a truck that has 100,000 to 250,000 km.
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If you have 250,000 km to 500,000 km on your truck we add 1 point; 500,000 km to 1,000,000 km add 2 points; 1,000,000 km to 1,500.000 km add 3 points; 1,500.000 km to 2,000,000 add 4 points; 2,000,000 km or more add 5 points This may sound very straight forward but with so many trucks that are very close in points we sometimes have ties. For ties we send out the judges to take another look at what could be up to 3 or 4 trucks in that category and come back to us with a 1st and 2nd place finish. This also can be very difficult as we found at our last BC show where the judges could not decide between two trucks so for the first time we handed out two 1st place trophies for the same category. One thing that I have said many times in the past is that if the only reason you go to truck shows is to take home a trophy then the odds are against you. If you are coming out to enjoy the weekend, meet with old friends and possibly shake the hand of some new ones whose trucks you have seen on the highway, then you will be a winner. As always we are open to any suggestions on how to improve the events if you have any constructive suggestions. Call or e-mail me at 604-580-2092 or john@ptmag.ca For an explanation of Show ‘n Shine categories go to page 34.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
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e Whit e John agazin
ker M Truc Prote
John Whi r Magazine Pro-Trucke
Hello John, I have been pretty quiet for the past year or so. Last time I wrote I was in the tanker business around Alberta. That haul was decimated by the downturn in oil and gas and I returned to the highway as a transporter of transportation (car hauler). About a year ago I went back to a job I really like and joined with a small established carrier out of Cremona, Alberta. So for the past year I have been plying my trade all over western Canada and some of the US of A. As with life, all things will change. Being gone from the highway haul for the past few years has made the change in demographics quite noticeable. There are many more new comers to the industry, many new names on the doors and with this is a general lack of respect for rules and regulation - or a lack of understanding. With the number of collisions and near misses we are seeing on the main roads, there is less ‘lane’ discipline, where the trailers actually stay inside the lines on
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corners, and this applies to small company and large as well. It appears that in the rush to ‘manage’ the drivers by GPS and speed restrictions and ELD’s, compliance has just become a facade for safety and training. As long as all the paper is ‘in line’ at an audit then these fleets must be doing a good job (?) What ever happened to the ‘on road’ observation units, because the RCMP and DOT people don’t have the staff to patrol and enforce much anymore - no one is actually monitoring any of the behaviours or traffic patterns on the roadways. In recent conversations with a few companies, which I have called to give a polite report of “do you have any idea what is going on” - most safety people get ( A) defensive ( B ) obnoxious or just don’t call back. This attitude also carries over to the general population, we have many different cultures where there is no care about others, there is a language barrier and they either don’t understand rules or choose to ignore them. Heaven forbid that we would communicate on a radio nowadays, for anything other than cussing some one out and many homegrown Canadians are the worst. If we can’t get an order for a coffee or a hamburger straight how can we expect people to be able to learn rules of the road and apply themselves to be compliant.
In my humble opinion, gutless politicians and politically correct Millennials are creating a world of mediocrity with not a lot of concern for where this will lead. So, personally I hope to last out these next few years dodging disaster, planning my trips to avoid the freight vans and hoping the technology for autonomous transporters comes faster than we think. I want to be able to retire and maybe enjoy a trip through the mountains without having some scheduled out of control freighter running someone over in their haste to ‘comply’. Just saying, ya know... Ron Spring Calgary Editor’s note: Our politicians are great at grandstanding for photo shoots and talking the talk about safety, but when it comes down to actually doing something they quickly disappear back into their offices. Then when they do something it is often followed by another action that completely contradicts their reasons for the first thing. Take “green” BC for instance. They brought in a carbon tax partly to reduce the amount of fuel being used and then they increased the speeds on a number of highways which exponentially increased the amount of fuel being used. Don’t hold your breath waiting for
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them to increase enforcement on the highways when less. All other industries, require employees to have 2 they can raise money by fining you at the scales for paid 15 minutes coffee breaks, while truck drivers have no allowance for breaks of any kind. having a marker light out. If drivers, like the rest of Canadians, got 1.5 times the rate after 40 hours, that would mean the standard 70 John I was, recently, reviewing the federal labor laws. I’m week, would require 85 hours pay. To carry this a little wondering if someone would clarify a point that I found further, many advertisements for workers claim $22 To there. Everyone in the Canadian workforce, must be paid $24 per hour. That would mean that a truck driver should overtime after 40 hours of work, except truck drivers. be paid $2040. a week, for running the hiway. When I do Truck drivers are expected to work 60 hours before being the math, I’m making more like $1300- $1500 a week, paid overtime. Does this mean that truck drivers get making my hourly wage more in the $15-16 range. While that works poorly in theory, in reality it becomes reductions in their rent, or groceries, and need wages less than a tradesman or office worker. Maybe the children of less yet. Companies aren’t usually paying pretrip, post truck drivers are happier and healthier, needing parents trip, loading, unloading time, chaining up, border
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Alberta Big Rig Weekend July 14-16 in Nisku, Alberta
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crossings, not to mention road closures, construction delays, accidents and normal traffic slowdowns. When we factor in all these other things, I wonder if we are making minimum wage. I guess, as truck drivers, someone has deemed our lives less relative or important than the rest of Canadians, so it’s OK to treat us different. Thanks for letting me air my concerns. Al Hankel Editor’s note: Unfortunately it will never change until drivers are given a trade classification. John, Recently I broke down on the Coquihalla highway... I blew my upper rad hose. I drive a 2014 Volvo 730. I am absolutely dismayed at the amount of money a certain Volvo dealership wanted for my hose, and then when they found out where I was refused to have it delivered, the parts man said, “call a cab”. Now I was just south of Portia chain up and was totally willing to pay to have my part delivered. But not by cab.... are you kidding me. I called a cab company and it was $400 round trip. Plus the part... That is highway robbery. I asked this Volvo dealership if they knew of anyone closer who could help and the parts man said, “You’re on your own”. I was furious. So there I was stuck on the side of the highway, traffic flying past me doing 120 or better (I assume, cause man
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were they moving). Trying to find someone, anyone that would bring me a hose. I finally found someone and they said they had the one I needed, so I told them where I was and waited almost 1.5 hours for them to come from Hope. After the man arrived and stood and watched as I installed the hose myself and filled the rad and motor with coolant, I gladly grabbed my credit card to pay him, then I saw the bill... $90.00 for the hose and it was not even the rad hose I asked for, but a piece that was 3”x18” long blue silicone hose that anyone can buy at Traction or FGI for less than $10.00 Then he charged me $180.00 labour and he didn’t lift a finger. All I needed from him was the hose as I had everything else. This was not a delivery charge either as he already added that to the bill at $.80 a kilometre. When I questioned the mechanic on the bill he simply said, “l can take the hose back and leave”. Now I won’t say who this is, but I will never use them again. This is upsetting, the extreme over billing and taking advantage of someone is so rampant. Is there no decency and honesty left in this industry. “Oh look, they are not from BC, let’s take them for whatever we can.” They know we don’t have much choice, so the price skyrockets all because we have to keep rolling. Editor’s note: Out of towner price gouging has been a
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mainstay of some businesses for years. It is short sighted though as word soon gets around to the local drivers who have had the same experience themselves when out of town. Many of them will then also refuse to give those local companies their business. The following was posted on our Facebook page: Can’t sleep… I had someone close to me tonight ask me where I lived, my response was simple. I said, “I live in Hope,” meaning the town of Hope. Then I got to thinking that really wasn’t the correct response. I started asking myself, “Where do you live Colin?” And this was my answer... I LIVE in the moment of every single waking hour of my existence! I LIVE to help others and put smiles on their faces. I’m LIVING when I’m on the phone with my boys, just talking with them about life.(favorite ) I’m LIVING when I’m doing long haul tows across Canada and the USA with the tunes cranked and meeting new people from those places. It’s like an exploration. I’m LIVING every time I take myself out of my comfort zone and test myself. See, to me life isn’t about having , it’s about giving. I’ve had the stuff, the house, the boat, the car, the garage full of tools and lawn equipment, so that I could join the rest
of the neighborhood on Sunday cutting the grass…it was fun at the time . Over the last few years my attitude about life has definitely changed, especially with Dad passing . Here was a man who was once a Deacon of a church (before my time) to a man that was Speaker dancing at a Vancouver after hours club just 8 months before his death... (now that’s LIVING in my books.) Miss ya Dad. I look for good in everything, the enjoyment and the memory, I feel alive seeing people happy. To me, that’s living, knowing you put forth your best effort possible. That’s where I live. Does that make sense? It has made me start to think that I really do need to settle down though. Get more routed. Stop being such a Gypsy, like I’ve been for the last 4 years. Time to become more permanent. I want permanent. Of course this doesn’t mean I’m going to stop living. I feel it’s only going to make where I LIVE more balanced. Colin Mclean Jamie Davis Motor Truck Editor’s note: Thanks Colin, great thoughts. ***** The correct way to prepare tofu: 1. Throw it in the trash. 2. Grill some meat.
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IDLE TIME By Scott Casey Scott, our Rig of The Month for May 2003 has written “Ghostkeepers” a book about his years as a gun toting truck driver while serving as a Canadian Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia.
Overboard “Is it just me, or is the world really more violent now?” A friend of mine asked this question the other day following on the heels of yet another terrorist attack. It’s a question being raised frequently now. And at face value it would certainly appear that the world has indeed become a very dangerous place to be. But is it really more dangerous now than say 50 years ago or 100 or 500 years ago? How do we measure the amount of violence to determine if there is more or less? And is the perception of violence a personal thing or is it a societal consciousness? When we take historical violent events and time frames, we can certainly apply them as a benchmark to gauge where the scale is today. There are many tyrannical dictatorships that top the list of violent time frames. Genghis Khan, Ceasar, Napolean, Hitler, and Pol Pot are just a few but certainly the most prolific tyrants, who were responsible for the violent deaths of millions. Each of their regimes
covered different amounts of geography but each similarly decimated the human population through brutal means over the course of 5 to 10 years each. The most renowned, of course, is Hitler and the Nazis. However, as an example, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge killed 1.9 million of his own people in 4 years, from 1975 to 1979. That’s only a few decades ago. That particular genocide occurred in a country covering less geography than Texas State in the USA. Teachers, doctors, and anyone with the ability to lead was executed in droves. Truly horrific and very violent times. Even if we tally all deaths of the Gulf War, The War in Iraq, The War in Afghanistan, and all the related terrorist attacks from 2000 to present day, we are still nowhere near the degree of violence attributed just to Pol Pots’ four years of tyranny in Cambodia. So what is it that makes people of todays western society believe that the world is an inherently violent place; more so than in the past? In my opinion there are only a few reasons which may have led many to this perceived pandemic of brutality. As our ability to send and receive information has sped up with technology, so to, has our ability to move to conclusions. We are processing information quicker than our emotional capabilities allow for, as well as our logical reasoning to make educated decisions. Therefore, we end up with the knee jerk reaction of coming to the conclusion that the world is more violent. When, in fact, it is actually less violent. Take the following war
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death tolls for example. The War in Iraq death toll, estimated just over 1,000,000 World War One death toll estimated 38,000,000 It is said that civilian crime has also reached levels unheard of; that too is false. The perceived increase is relative to the increase in global population. Again it’s perceived as being higher. The actual number of crimes committed per 100,000 is far less than it was at the turn of the century. Lawlessness was far more prevalent in earlier times as there were no police services to stop the barbarity. What we have now is hype, a drug of sorts. Social media, traditional media, and the Internet news, have allowed for near instant viewing of horror. Our minds are continually bombarded with news of violence and it comes with an almost dopamine triggering effect when it registers. It’s my thought that our society is buying into the drug of increased violence. And when you have those dependant on your drug, you ultimately have control. What we have now is a society that has gone overboard with its thirst for information, particularly bloody information. It goes with the adage, “planes that land safely never make the news, and plane crashes sell.” I admit it is difficult to rest easy with all the violence information we are exposed to. But at the end of the day if we take the time to look at the information comparatively, we can find some relief in knowing that the world is actually quite peaceful.
DRIVING THROUGH MY MEMORIES
By Ed Murdoch
Ed has held a commercial drivers license for 65 years and has spent the better part of 50 years on the road. You can get Ed’s new book at www.drivingthroughmymemories.ca Birds do it, marine creatures do it, athletes especially cyclists do it, racecar drivers do it ... we’ve all done it to one degree or t’other! On occasion, when enraged by some idiotic behaviour on the part of the ‘other’ driver’, some of us have even done it with no intent other than to intimidate the offending individual, once it has been determined that one can “take” that other person. Animals do it to save energy and so do humans with the idea of keeping a little extra cash in one’s jeans rather than in the fuel tank. It’s variously called “driving too close”, tailgating, drafting or hypermiling and now it is being legitimized by a trucking industry near you, as “platooning”. We all know that ‘drafting’ close behind a big rig has its benefits, regardless of the danger. That low pressure, calm spot is created by the larger displacing vehicle moving through the atmosphere but what many of us don’t, or didn’t know, was that this behaviour on the part
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of the following driver also benefits the lead trucker by giving him or her a bit of a high pressure boost. In fact the benefit to the following vehicle has been measured by Mythbusters who claim that 100 feet or 30 meters between vehicles will reduce drag by around 40% at 90 kph but gets better as the separation gets shorter and shorter until at 2 feet, less than a meter, the reduction in drag is over 90%. Fuel economy is increased by about 20% at 100 feet and at a white-knuckle 3 meters or10 feet of separation that figure rises to around 45%. It is recommended however that 150 feet or 50 meters is the minimum safe distance to keep at 55 mph or 90 k. That way you are out of his blind spot and you have a much better chance of stopping or avoiding an obstacle. Peloton Technologies of Palo Alto, California, in the Bay Area, is a company established in 2011that develops vehicle automation and connectivity and has taken this phenomenon and applied it to heavy duty vehicles. It was the first company to test commercial truck platooning on public highways and has predicted that real-time platooning will be introduced on America’s road systems by late 2017. That’s this year! By using state-of-the-art collision mitigation systems such as full-time forward-facing radar sensors that can “see” stopped or slow vehicles at a considerable distance ahead, truck platooning of two and maybe three units is emerging as a popular method of improving fuel
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i n fo @ t i m s t r a i l e r re p a i r. c o m economy and safety. The devices will alert the driver to impending danger and even automatically apply the brakes if necessary, presumably creating a safer environment for all road users. In a two-platoon convoy the lead truck is in control but the rear unit reacts instantly to commands, accelerating and braking together in unison at the close approximation of 50 feet apart. Fuel savings of 4.5% for the lead unit and 10% for the one following have been commonly achieved in testing. Peloton has established a cloud-based NOC, Network Operations Center which will approve each platooning activity in its sphere of operation which will be able to tweak the parameters of each individual application to ensure the safest conditions. This communication center will make best use of
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potential platoon candidates by coordinating locations and routing which can be done prior to a trip or while en route and notifying drivers of platooning opportunities as they occur. The NHTSA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is calling for a mandate to have all new cars and light trucksV2V or vehicle-to-vehicle communications capable but Peloton is taking the protocol not only a step further with the platooning experience but is taking it to the trucking industry with enthusiasm while, of course, preparing the motoring public for complete automation in the future. It is inevitable … look how far we’ve come in just a short while. Over the years the trucking landscape has changed quite dramatically from a “drive by the seat of your pants” mentality to one of extreme sophistication. Many of us veterans of the brotherhood now find it lacking in the hands-on, co-operative atmosphere and camaraderie that once existed in the asphalt jungle. I have to confess that in the ‘good ol’ days,’ several of us on a long-haul would cuddle up close to the lead truck and proceed in a convoy of togetherness that defied common sense but you can bet we were all very alert. Perhaps this new initiative will help to drag that togetherness back into the equation but I still wonder how reliable all this advanced engineering & technology will be down the road. I guess we’ll have to wait & see … 10-4!
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TYRES ACROSS THE POND Colin Black lives in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland and has been driving truck for over 40 years. His story shows us once again that the problems drivers face are universal.
Intelligent People It’s coming up to the two-year mark in my retirement, and I still don’t miss the trucking life, well, not the modern trucking life anyway. When it’s cold, wet, and windy outside it’s good to know I can just close the curtains and put the kettle on. Oh, I still like to look at trucks and go to shows, and if I see a nice-looking truck on the road I’ll watch it as it passes by. But now I can drive anywhere I want in my car and know there’s no deadline for me to get there. If I come up against any hold-ups on the road I can either pull off the road and wait till it clears, or take a completely different route. The other day, my wife and I got an invite to visit relatives in England, it’s about a six-hour trip to Melton Mowbray, so we got up early on Saturday to try and miss as much of the weekend traffic as possible. The trip south was uneventful, no serious holdups, and no bad weather, and as usual we were treated like VIP’s by my wife’s brother in law Phil. In fact, my car lay un-used from
Saturday until the Thursday when we were leaving as we’d been chauffeured around in Phil’s car. We left Melton just after 7 in the evening to try and miss the rush hour traffic. As we’d come down the east of the country on the A1, we decided to go home up the M6 on the west side. Going back up the M6 had the added bonus of, if things went to plan, stopping in at my trailer swap point to blether to my old buddies. I got a good run up and landed in at the industrial estate right on time, the English driver was running 15 to 20 minutes late due to road works, so by the time he came in I had got all the depot gossip from my Scottish buddy. My replacement is of the same opinion as me, he can’t wait to retire, he’s got about 6 months to go and it can’t come quick enough. My wife and I hit the road again, only another 3 hours or so till we were home. As we drove up the highway I noticed that there were no headlights coming south. I started to prepare myself for maybe an accident closing off the southbound highway and rubberneckers slowing us on the northbound side. I saw the flashing amber lights in the distance, as I got closer I saw it was no accident, but the highway repair men re-surfacing the road. Some “intelligent” desk jockey thought it would be a good idea to completely close down the main southbound highway to re-surface it. With three lanes and the emergency shoulder to play
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with the sensible thing to do would’ve been to close two lanes at a time. Then I came to the diversion, all the southbound traffic was going up an off slip, over the highway, and down a small back road that ran parallel with the main highway. That’s three lanes funnelled down into one, it was mostly trucks of course, with the odd car and van thrown into the mix. I knew that road well, over the years I’d used it as a diversion when major accidents closed the road, but never because they were putting down new tar. The powers that be had obviously given no thought to drivers running out of driving time and having to take extra breaks to get home, or not getting home at all. Not to mention companies getting fined for late deliveries and the human cost when blood transfusion and organ donor transport vehicles, that I’ve often seen on the road, don’t make it on time. As I drove north, the southbound queue, as you can imagine, went on for miles. I’ve watched a few episodes of Highway thru Hell on TV, and the thing that is up near the top of the list when some big accident closes the Coq’ or whatever road, is the thought that this closure is costing the economy of the country money. To get the road open again and traffic flowing is the highest priority, unlike the intelligent people in our highways agency team, who don’t seem to care about the knock on effect a closure like that will have. I think my buddy Mick hit the nail on the head
when I said, why would they disrupt a major road like that? “Because they can, Colin,” he said, “Because they can.” Just one more reason I’m thankful to be away from it all.
Farmer John
*****
Farmer John once lived on a quiet rural highway but as time went by, the traffic slowly built up and eventually got so heavy and so fast that his free range chickens were being run over, at a rate of three to six a week. He called the local police station and said, “You’ve got to do something about all these people driving so fast and killing all my chickens.” So the next day the policeman had the Council erect a school crossing sign. Three days later Farmer John called the policeman and said, “The school crossing sign didn’t help, if anything they seem to be going even faster!” So they put up a ‘SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY’ sign. That didn’t help either so the farmer called and said, “Your signs are no good. Can I put up my own?” In order to get him off his back the officer agreed. The phone calls to the Police Station stopped, but curiosity got the better of the Officer, so he thought he’d go out and take a look at the sign. When he got there he saw the farmer’s sign, ‘NUDIST COLONY’’ Slow down and watch for chicks!’
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By Greg Evasiuk We have profiled over 150 Rig of the Month drivers going out as a birthday present to Rick Evasiuk from his over the last 18 years but this is the first one that has son Greg. Here is Rick’s story as related by Greg. Happy been done without the knowledge of the driver. It is Birthday Rick!
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Rick in 1981
Rick & Jane Evasiuk
This is the story of the man I proudly call Dad, Rick Evasiuk. In the 41 years of my life I have heard some of these old truckin’ stories enough times I could call them my own. It’s not that there’s only a few either, in his fifty years on the road Dad has forgot more stories and trips than many people will ever make. He’s also shared tons of memories of his own Dad’s stories of trucking and working in Northern Alberta. My grandpa Nick started as a Watkins Salesman and later started a trucking
company that has endured over 60 years. In the early 1950’s my grandfather owned a small trucking company called Nick’s Truck Service. Grandpa hauled livestock and general freight to supply the small towns northwest of Edmonton on what is now highway 43. He would often have whole shopping lists for people to bring back from the city. In those days a round trip to the big city from Mayerthorpe could take anywhere from a whole day to several days. There was no pavement to
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speak of and during the wet months some sections of the road were almost impassable. Grandpa Nick would sometimes spend all night once his old Mack was chained up just pulling people up the Sangudo Hill. I remember hearing this story thinking wow towing all those trucks and cars, man you’d make nothing but money but he never charged anybody. Grandpa Nick just loved to help people. Having the trucks around and his Dad on the road it was only a short time before Rick got his start driving. At the ripe old age of 4 he and his older brother Dave were playing in one of grandpa’s trucks he had sitting near the fence. One of the boys bumped the starter by accident while simultaneously pressing the throttle! The old truck lurched forward and with little Ricky hanging on to the wheel the truck proceeded to run over said fence! When grandpa saw what happened he just shook his head muttered under his breath and set to work fixing the fence, that was his nature, nothing really ever rattled him or made him visibly angry. In 1958 with oil having been discovered near Judy Creek and all of the sawmilling going on around Whitecourt, grandpa decided business would be better in Whitecourt. His partner wanted to stay on in Mayerthorpe though so Nick sold off part of the company to Norm Patrick and moved the rest to Whitecourt which is now over 4 times the size of Mayerthorpe. In 1963 he changed the name to Whitecourt Transport which is still the name today. Nick was a hands on business owner, driving, working on the dock and doing whatever he had to get the job done. It was no different for Dad and uncle Dave as they worked unloading freight, swamping and occasional driving. One such occasion came when grandpa had booked 2 Cats to haul, one was heading out down south of Robb and the other to Blueberry Mountain. The problem arose when his driver didn’t show up. Both Cats had to go and everyone else was out hauling already. Soon Nick was heading south to Robb and 16 year old Rick was heading north hauling his first Cat! Most people now won’t send their teenage driver out of the city limits in a four wheeler let alone head out into the bush with no cell phone and 120,000 lb rig! Needless to say when Dad went for his license he borrowed a truck and was able to drive himself 60 miles to Edson ( the closest DMV at the time) to do his driving test. When young Rick wasn’t helping his Dad he was busy with school and athletics. He played hockey, basketball, and ran track. Although the family business was trucking Rick decided he wanted to become a Phys Ed. teacher. After graduating high school he went off to the U of A to become a school teacher, at the same time my Mom (Jane) had left for Edmonton to become a dental assistant. The two had been friends for a few years and started dating while standing up at my aunt PAGE 22
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and uncle’s wedding in 1969. Dad was successfully on the track team, involved with the gymnastics team and that would be where this truckin’ story ends if not for a negligent cabby. Rick was out doing a training run when a cab hit him while crossing the road. With his leg in a cast broken and all of his courses but one dependant on his athletic ability he was forced to return to Whitecourt. Rick went back to trucking for his Dad and soon Jane moved back to town too. They were married on June 24, 1972 in the United Church in Whitecourt. In the spring of that same year, Dad bought his first truck and started his own trucking company. He had landed a job with the forestry hauling gravel and had bought a new GMC 9500 with a 427 gas pot and 5 and 4. The truck worked fine for just hauling pebbles with the box on it but come winter he had to put on a fifth wheel and find other things to do. One of those jobs was moving Nodwells back and forth across the river for a seismic company. Dad says he would fill the tanks on the truck and strap a 45 gallon drum on the frame rails to head out for the night. He would load up 2 of the machines somewhere near the end of the heavy sound road then make what would be about a 45 mile loop to get them to the other side. After unloading he would repeat the process with the other 2 Nodwells then head home. Before Dad could do that though he would have to hook his airline up to the fitting he had on the 45 gallon drum and pressure feed that fuel into his other two tanks. All told his whole
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night would have him cover about 180 miles and he needed over 200 gallons of gas to make it! Giving up on having his own trucking business in August of 1974, Dad and Mom moved to the Okanagan to try something completely different, janitorial service. They partnered with friends and started Sana-kleen Janitorial services. I am still not sure what prompted them to go that route but I really admire the courage to break out into a totally new industry in an entirely new place. Once again Rick’s trucking career could have ended but in April of 1976, about a month after I showed up, Mom and Dad returned to Whitecourt. Things were booming in forestry back in Alberta and they missed home. My uncle Dave and Dad’s uncle Phillip had bought Whitecourt Transport from my Grandpa Nick so Dad went back to partner up with them. During the 60’s and 70’s as some of you might remember trucks in the north were a bit different. You didn’t usually buy a truck that was ‘spec’d’ as a logger or a highway truck or a winch truck; you bought a truck and changed the rigging to suit whatever job was busy at that particular time. Dad says there were times where they spent more days changing rigging than they did actually working! By ’76 when he got back to trucking, Whitecourt Transport was pretty well out of the oil patch and focussing more on contract hauling and forestry. One of these forestry jobs was the log haul for
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Millar Western Industries. At that time the bridge over the McLeod River was covered and too low and narrow for loads of logs to come over so the Mill would put in an Ice bridge across the rivers and the trucks were able to haul off highway. Of course the trucks were paid by the ton and with no government controls to worry about there were some huge loads brought in. The biggest load to cross the old Millar scale, as legend has it, was 214,000 lbs! It took poor Dewey 3 days to get to the mill though as the old 38,000 rears made him change 4 axles on the way in! Rick was luckier than most as he had a real log truck by almost any standard, a 1974 Hayes Clipper with SQ 44,000’s a 400 Cummins and 5 and 4. He said he used to load it up almost to the top of the stakes climb up put in 2ft cheater pipes and throw more wood on. It doesn’t hold the “record” load slip but that truck regularly hauled over 190,000 and never took more than a day to get to the mill! I saw that truck in the mill at Alpac in Athabasca in 2000 still hauling logs - damn Hayes made a good truck. Dad gave up hauling logs just after my brother was born in 1979. He was having a really good day, one of those where everything was just clicking. As he was crossing the river with his 2nd load of the day he was thinking if things kept rolling he would be able to get a 4th load in. Getting ready to trip the stakes after he popped his wrappers off he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Rick moved his head back but not quite MY
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enough to avoid the log that was falling off the top of his load! It dropped him immediately and he had blood in his eyes. The loader man rushed over and helped him up and into his pick-up to take him to the hospital. Dad says all he was thinking on the way up the hill to emergency was “Well I won’t get 4 now but if they can stitch me up quick and set my nose I can still get 3!” That was a bit optimistic, with a broken nose and a broken neck he was lucky to be walking out of the hospital. With 2 young boys and a wife at home Rick decided to focus on less risky aspects of trucking. In 1980 Cummins Alberta had a fuel economy contest to coincide with the introduction of the Formula 350 and 400 engine. They invited customers to bring their own trucks regardless of the make or model to take part in the challenge. Trucks were set up with a standalone fuel tank that was strapped to the frame and hooked into the main fuel line. This tank was filled with fuel and weighed before and after the truck completed the timed test loop. There were separate categories for tandem and B-train and the grand prize for the B-train category was a trip for 2 to Hawaii. Whitecourt Transport sent a Mack R model with a 300 plus and an L9000 Ford with a 380 Cat. Each truck was able to run twice albeit with different drivers. After the first day neither truck was anywhere near contention and Rick was set to run the little Mack as
the last truck out. One of the new 400 Formula’s was way out in front and the owner had brought his wife and family down to be at the awards ceremony. Dad headed out onto the course with a bit of an achy head from the spring break-up party the night before. With no one close to the new Cummin’s numbers the owner was pushing the organizers to present his prize, the only truck left on the course was that blue Mack so he was sure to win. I wish I could have been there to see the look on the guys face when they measured the fuel for Dad’s truck and found he was almost 10 gallons less than the other guy! I’m not sure what second prize was but Dad always jokes that it’s probably the only time anyone won a trip to Hawaii for having a hangover! My Grandpa Nick had retired to Kelowna in the early ‘70’s and returned to Whitecourt not long after my brother was born. He was always hanging around the shop looking for something to do. I still remember riding with him and Grandma and my brother into the city to drop off a trailer while they were looking after us. Nick just loved to truck, I still hear stories to this day from old timers about how he helped them out on the side of the road or taught them how to put their chains on. He was doing someone a favor by running in to get the late freight van in October of 1981 when he was involved in a head-on collision near Gunn. He went into a comma and never recovered. My Dad decided shortly
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Alberta Big Rig Weekend July 14-16 in Nisku, Alberta
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after that to get off the road. Rick had already been doing much of the maintenance at WTL and always worked on his own vehicles so he successfully challenged the Heavy Duty Mechanic exam and became a journeyman. With the company growing and regulations changing Dad became the maintenance manager ( a title my brother Brett holds today ). For most of my pre-teen and teen years my Dad presided over the shop at Whitecourt Transport, which was great for my brother and I because he worked regular hours and was always there. Not to mention we got to learn all about how to fix trucks, drive trucks and run equipment. Dad had always had a passion for all things motorized especially snowmobiles. He has been a member of the Whitecourt Trailblazers for over 25 years even serving a stint as president. While we were in our teens Dad started a company called Golden Triangle Performance that he housed right next door to the shop. It began as a way to get parts at a low price for him and his friends. Before long we were building mountain sleds from the ground up and drag sleds for ice and grass. Much like my grandpa, my Dad loves to help people and we always had someone’s snowmobile in our shop that just needed some help to get it going. There was always a deal to help get a friend going or loaning parts to some stranger in town for the weekend so they’d be able to
have fun. Eventually it was eating up too much of his “spare” time and there was increasing competition from mail order so Dad closed up shop. While it lasted my brother and I made some great friendships and learned a ton about small engines and small business. I worked at Whitecourt Transport on and off from the time I was nine until I graduated and when we were about 16 my friend Shane started working there too. We used to come in after school and help with freight deliveries and grease trucks and change oil on the weekends. Pulling wrenches has never interested me but Shane took to it right away as did my little brother. Shane worked for a large fleet and one of the large dealerships before coming back to WTL as a journeyman. Dad was getting restless and tired of the paperwork that goes with being in management so he trained Shane up to be his replacement and went back to trucking. We had by this time begun hauling sawdust to drilling rigs and had a side business hauling equipment, so having an extra experienced hand in the bush was welcome. I had gone to college for Business and came back to trucking too (it didn’t take getting hit by a cab to get me back) however I had been spending my winters hauling logs and only working for family in the summer months. Around the time Dad went back to driving I came on full-time as well. One of the greatest experiences I’ve had is being able to work alongside my father. We’ve
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trucked out to the coast together, hauled Cats, been up to our you know what’s in mud and done that all side by side. It was always great to know that I had 40 years of trucking knowledge right there to help if I ran into trouble. My brother rejoined the company in 2006 and for awhile we all worked together and sometimes even all 3 ran together. In 2010 I left the family business and went out on my own. I had my own trucks in logging and the oil patch. When things got tough in Alberta I ran north to Yellowknife for awhile and then south around the lower 48. Having 2 teenagers it was only a short time before my wife and I discussed me getting off the road. I was lucky enough to land my dream job selling trucks at Nortrux. For someone who is a truck nerd, it is a perfect job being able to talk trucks all day and get paid for it! Rick always wanted to have a showpiece truck that he could work and he found it in 2008, a 1982 KW W900A longnose with a KTA600 Cummins. It came from BC and had been completely restored from the ground up. Dad drove it that way for a few summers and decided to give it a little longer legs, the ole 4.56’s worked great if you’re hauling heavy in the mountains but for a semiretirement job it needed more. Well as with most of my father’s projects what started with a gears swap turned into full suspension and rear end change, interior and wiring upgrades and a long list of other things. We hope
to have it done in time for the Big Rig Weekend in July. Dad is like his father before him, not good at staying retired! He still helps out at WTI whenever they need his help although he tries to stick to the highway and he recently started helping me out at Nortrux shuttling trucks between branches and across Canada on dealer transfers. He is also big into overlanding in his old Land Cruiser or his latest project the FLexus! Dad loves building new pieces for his 4x4’s in his shop and putting them through their paces out in the back country. I’m sure its what keeps him young at heart and will for years to come. There’s many more stories I could tell and I’m sure he’ll give me a hard time for having missed a couple but John has plenty more to fit in these pages. As a man I couldn’t ask for a better role model; my Dad is as honest, hard working, generous and smart as they come. Its easy to see why he and my Mom have been married for 45 years, he’s a great friend. *****
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Alberta Big Rig Weekend July 14-16 in Nisku, Alberta
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Citizen’s Arrest A friend of mine and I loaded in Alberta and delivered in Laredo, Texas. After washing out and reloading with melons for Vancouver we were out of hours for the day so we ended up going to the truck stop and leaving the next morning. We ran all day with no problems and ended up at Amarillo where we fueled up and then went for a shower and supper then headed back to our trucks that were parked side by side in the middle row. As we came in sight of my truck, a new Western Star, we noticed two men, one big guy on his knees installing a set of plates on my truck and another smaller guy with a “slim jim” trying to jimmy my door. Without hesitation Norm said I got the big one and charged. I headed for the one on my step and as he seen me coming he jumped down and turned to run just as I hit him with a shoulder tackle, that my old high school couch would have rated a ten, and I face planted him into the pavement. Norm meanwhile had hit his man
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with his bag and that one was down and out for the count. I picked myself up and then to make sure my guy stayed where he was I sat down on him and grabbed one of his arms and shoved it up behind his back and tried to touch the top of his head. Norm did the same with his guy and both started hollering for help. Within seconds we had four big truckers standing around who took a look and realized what was happening and were ready to help in any way. One big dude wearing a cowboy hat said I’ll be right back and thirty seconds later came back with about a hundred feet of 1/4 inch rope and in seconds he had these two guys trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey with their hands behind them and their feet attached to their hands. Meanwhile another driver had been on the phone and informed us that “The Man” was on his way. Well this was just too good to pass up so I asked the drivers if anyone had any 1/2 inch rope and less than a minute later I had a whole coil of the stuff. One of the drivers mentioned that a truck had been stolen from this same truck stop a few days before and asked if we should give out a little payback. Meanwhile me and the rope had got to work and I now had two perfect 13 coil hangman’s nooses made and mentioned that since there were no tall trees handy that a light pole would have to suffice. While we stood around deciding which pole to use and our captives were trying to talk us out of Vigilante Justice two
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EIGHT MOBILE TRUCKS ON THE ROAD TO SERVE YOU BETTER 1464 SPITFIRE PLACE • PORT COQUITLAM BC V3C 6L4
SHOP 604-468-4300 FAX: 604-468-4301
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mAy 2017
CALLING ALL
PRO-TRUCKER mAGAZINEe
OWNER OPERATORS!
Monarch is now looking for Class 1 Owner Operators to run our Western Canada Van Division, US Van Division or AB Cartage Division!”
Owner Operators
• Competitive Rates • No Start Up Costs • Fuel Surcharge Adjusted Weekly • Paid Plates • Discounted Fuel Cards Supplied • Low Insurance Rates • Safety And Referral Bonus Programs • Paid Twice Per Month By Direct Deposit • Paid Loaded And Empty • Dry Van Freight Only • Health Benefits Plan Available • Paid Tolls, Bridges, Faxes • Cell Phone Allowance • Paid Border Crossing Transponder
Company Drivers
• Earn Up To .46¢ Per Mile • Operate In Western Canada Only • Newer Equipment • Benefits Package • Flexible Schedules • Paid Every Second Friday • Safety And Referral Bonus Programs • Cell Phone Allowance • Paid Vacation
We require your professional and positive attitude, a minimum of 2 years OTR experience.
Join our team today & ask us about our new sign on bonus! Please contact recruiting@monarchtransport.com or call Michelle or Ken at 1-800-661-9937
Monarch Transport (1975) Ltd. mAy 2017
Alberta Big Rig Weekend July 14-16 in Nisku, Alberta
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PRO-TRUCKER mAGAZINEe
Sheriff’s cars pulled in. The two Deputies took in the scene in a glance and in seconds had the two boys handcuffed and in the back of their cars. About that time another Sheriff’s car pulled in and he proceeded to take notes and collected the “slim jim” and the New Mexico plates they had hung on my truck. He then did his investigation while I checked over my rig to make sure all was well. The Sheriff talked to both the bad guys and came back to us laughing his head off. Said he had never had two guys that wanted to go to jail so bad because they didn’t want any part of trucker justice. We all went our separate ways and Norm and I delivered our loads in Vancouver on time and headed out on another run. Funny thing though I never heard of another truck ever getting stolen from that truck stop. *****
Trucking Industry Facts
How Many Trucks Are There In Canada? There are 700,000 trucks across the nation, 420,000 of which are used to carry freight commercially. The remainder can be found in the hands of governments, utility companies and farmers and occasionally haul commercial goods such as machinery and equipment. About 500,000 are straight trucks and the remaining 200,000 are truck tractors.
T r uc k Wes t C ollision ICBC Repairs • Sandblasting Full Truck Collision Services Frame Straightening Custom Painting Painting
Head Office Langley 604-888-8788 9737-197B Street
Abbotsford 604-854-8779 #8-31059 Peardonville Road
EMAIL: truckwest@shaw.ca WEBSITE: truckwestcollision.com PAGE 32
Hiring Qualified O/Ops & Drivers Drivers 70-80 CENTS PER MILE!
Super B & tridem step 2 yrs exp & acceptable abstract Western Canada & USA Some dedicated runs
Call Al 604-882-7623 DELIVERING THE GOODS, SAFELY By Lane Kranenburg Lane is a former driver, fleet owner and former Executive Director of the AMTA Our Electricity and Coal The cost of electricity in Western Canada is about to increase significantly. Why you say? Well our geniuses in government have dictated that the current source of our power gas and coal fired generators, will be replaced by solar panels and windmills. The methods of producing our electric needs will require many thousands more windmills, and the Chinese had better start making solar panels very quickly. We have all read about the power costs in Ontario and Quebec, due to very faulty legislation introduced by both governments, people have had to remortgage their homes, take out loans, and the less fortunate have had to choose between feeding their families or have power to heat and light up their homes. The Alberta politicians have decided that all coal fired generating plants close and be replaced by alternate means as they have decided that these coal fired plants are damaging our environment. I have been told that the emissions by the Alberta coal plants are at a minimum due to the filtering of the emissions, and converting them to gas powered plants would virtually eliminate harmful output. • Now just a bit of information about what is happening in the rest of the world regarding coal fired generating plants: • The European Union has 468 plants building 27 more to a total of 495 plants • Turkey has 56 plants and building 93 more to a total of 149 • South Africa has 79 plants building 24 more to a total of 103 • India has 589 plants and building 446 more to a total of 1036
Check out our website for back issues of Pro-Trucker Magazine at www.pro-truckermagazine.com
mAy 2017
PRO-TRUCKER mAGAZINEe
604-746-9975
DIFFERENTIALS ROCKWELL MERITOR EATON DANA SPICER PARTS | SERVICE | NEW | EXCHANGE
POWERTRAIN SPECIALISTS EATON | FULLER | DANA | MERITOR
TRANSMISSION DIFFERENTIAL VIBRATIONS DRIVELINE FLYWHEEL CLUTCH PTO’S PARTS | SERVICE | NEW | REBUILD
TRANSMISSION COASTLINE TRANSMISSION IS CERTIFIED BY EATON ROADRANGER DRIVETRAIN SYSTEMS ON THE THEORY OF OPERATION, FAULT CODE DIAGNOSTICS AND REPAIR OF GENERATION III EATON FULLER AUTOSHIFT TRANSMISSION PRODUCTS AND DANA DRIVE AXLES.
CLUTCHES Eaton Easy Pedal Clutches
NEW & REMAN EXCHANGE UNITS
KEEP YOUR RIG ROLLING WITH A COASTLINE REMAN We Stock Over 100 New and Remanufactured Transmissions and Differentials
9-30991 Peardonville Rd. Abbotsford, BC Phone: 604-746-9975 Toll Free: 1-888-686-4327
mAy 2017
Alberta Big Rig Weekend July 14-16 in Nisku, Alberta
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• Philippines has 19 plants building 60 more to a total of 79 • South Korea has 58 and building 26 more to a total of 84 • Japan has 90 plants and building 45 more to a total of 135 • China has 2363 plants and building 1171 more to a total of 3534 • United States of America as of 2012 has 557 plants and according to President Trump there could be many more coming. But in Alberta the NDP will shut down our 5 plants to save the planet!!! What do the Alberta NDP think, that our five plants shut down will really matter on a global scale? It will however result in a massive increase in the cost of the delivery of power to all the homes and businesses that are depending on this very needed natural resource. It is interesting that our politicians listen to the so-called experts on our environment that back in the late eighties and early nineties predicted a global cooling that would result an ice age, several years later when the climate warmed slightly they called it global warming, now with the changes being unpredictable they make their case on the current term “climate change” WOW what brilliance we are subject to! As indicated before it takes very much training to become a truck driver, however it takes no training to become a politician, and it certainly shows in the product of their work!
MARILYN TAYLOR IS OUR COMMERCIAL TRUCKING SPECIALIST!
Marilyn has over 25 years experience in providing insurance for Owner Operators & fleet transport companies operating in Canada & the U.S.A. www.diamondinsurance.ca
Open 6:00 am to 7:30 pm mon to Fri 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturdays
CANYON CABLE 1988 LTD. 930-6th Ave., Hope, BC 604-869-9036 Toll Free 1-800-588-8868 We have 3 Major Categories: 1. Owner Operator – Owns 5 or less trucks and must be used commercially. 2. Company Truck – Owns 6 or more trucks and must be used commercially. 3. Non-Working – Antiques (25 years & older), Show Trucks, trucks with permits and new trucks with very little mileage or have not yet been used commercially. (Our discretion) Owner Operator Sub-Categories: (Pick one) 1. Day Cabs 2. Sleeper Units 3. Truck Trailer Combo Company Sub-Categories: (Pick one) 1. Bob Tail 2. Truck Trailer Combo The following Sub-Categories are combined, Company trucks & Owner Operators: (Pick one) 1. Cab Over Engine 2. Specialty Truck 3. Tow Truck Having a specialty trailer does not qualify for the Specialty category. This is for other trucks ie: Gravel, Crane, Logger, etc. Non-Working Trucks: (Pick one) 1. Antique (must be 25 years old or more) 2. Show Truck There are 3 optionals in each Major Category and a Fleet category for Company Trucks only. 1. Best Interior 2. Best Lights 3. Best Paint 4. Best Company Fleet – must have 3 or more working trucks entered at the show We reserve the right to add or change categories as required. *****
Career Outlook
Phone: 403.278.1129 • Fax: 403.278.8307 Email: marilynt@diamondinsurance.ca PAGE 34
According to Statistics Canada the occupation of truck driver is the most frequently cited occupation of Canadian men. Over 227,000 Canadians are truck drivers making it one of the top occupations in the country.
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ABBOTSFORD 604-852-5848 #100-663 Sumas Way
mAy 2017
SURREY 778-394-2665 13087 116th Ave.
Alberta Big Rig Weekend July 14-16 in Nisku, Alberta
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINEe
The Ballad of Texas Red We were sitting at a truck stop a couple months ago; A few of us old-timers: there was me, and Fred, and Joe, And a guy that Joe was training; they called him Texas Red, He was an older trainee with lots of gray upon his head. Now Red had spent about thirty years stocking shelves in a grocery store, Then his wife ran off and left him, so Red went out to look for more. He figured he could find it on the highway with a rig, To hear him talk about it, he was going to make it big. He asked a couple of questions about how it was ‘back when,’ We had all started trucking with iron trucks and men. I told him about Alaska, the land of the Midnight Sun, And all the tricks that we had learned up on that northern run. We talked about the wrecks we’d seen; all the drivers we had met, Some of them were dead and gone, but some were trucking yet. We talked about the old rigs: pre-jakes and five by fours; And how the old suspensions could shake you out the doors, We talked about the Gypsy days of dodging around the scales, About the drivers we had known that spent some time in jail. We talked about some drivers who had burnt out on some pills, About others who had lost the groove coming down some hills. Finally we called it quits, for it was time to go; We knew that we would meet again somewhere along the road. The time we had spent together we would do another time, When fate put us together, further down the line.
Continued on the next page...
by Dave Madill Dave Madill was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 and he has been entertaining us with his poetry ever since. Dave has published three books of poems that are available by special order through Chapters Book Stores or amazon.com
may 2017
Alberta Big Rig Weekend July 14-16 in Nisku, Alberta
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....Continued
I was heading west the other day, down around San Antone, I was running hard and feeling bad, I’d been running on my own; I pulled into a truck stop for a coffee and something to eat, I walked up to the counter and took myself a seat. Just then I thought I heard a voice, that I thought I recognized, I turned and saw old Texas Red, and another bunch of guys. Old Red, he really looked the part, buckle, boots and hat; An old coat that said Auto-car; now, where did he find that? He told those guys about Alaska and the roads of ice and snow, And all the tricks he taught us at fifty-two below. He told about the wrecks he’d seen and all the drivers he had trained, He started giving handles, and even naming names. He told them of the bad boys, who had ducked and dodged the scales, And how the Bears had caught the boys, and threw them into jail. He really had them going; they hung on every word, The waitress even looked at him like a cat that had seen a bird. Then finally he got up and said, “I’ve got to go.” As he went out through the door, one kid said, “There goes a pro.” Now, boys, if you’d like some advice or some help fixing your load, There are a lot of guys around who have been out on the road. But bad advice can kill you; yes, you could wake up dead – If you listen to the wrong ones like that liar, Texas Red. We will not volunteer advice, but we’ll help you if you ask, You see, we were once just like you, sometime in the past.
by Dave Madill Dave Madill was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 and he has been entertaining us with his poetry ever since. Dave has published three books of poems that are available by special order through Chapters Book Stores or amazon.com PAGE 38
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N ‘N SHI
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ALBERTA
W SHO
Presented by:
Partial Proceeds are being donated to:
July 14th to 16th
Blackjacks Roadhouse Nisku, Alberta
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