10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

COVER FEATURE - JANUARY 2005

CHANGE IS GOOD
Seizing Opportunities Has Kept This Company Strong

By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

Change can be good. Especially when you are able to identify a trend coming and change your operation in time to take full advantage of it. So is the story with George Trucking of Bakersfield, California. Being smart enough (and willing) to adapt with the changing times has kept this medium-sized company at the top of the heap for over 40 years. And they’re not through yet, as the third generation takes the helm and steers the company in yet another new direction - hauling mud of all things.

Today, the company is ran by brothers Jason and Travis George, both in their early thirties, who took over when their father Leon died in 2001. Contrary to popular belief, there’s no “George” at George Trucking, but many folks still want to call the boys George. The company was started back in 1961 by the boy’s grandfather, Harry George. Back then, the company was Harry L. George Trucking. Later, it became Leon George Trucking, and then, in 2002, the boy’s decided to incorporate and simply call it George Trucking Inc. Mom (Peggy) still signs all the checks, but the two young boys now run the entire operation.

Harry George began his trucking career in the late 1930s, but it wasn’t until 1961 that he finally started his own company. He had just moved to California from Texas and began hauling construction materials. In those days, crews across the state were busy building and improving the highways of California and construction was booming. Harry’s son Leon had just got out of the Air Force and was looking around at what he might like to do. Harry offered to sell his son a truck so he could help him keep up with all the work. Leon accepted his dad’s offer and Leon George Trucking was born.

Laying asphalt had always been done with an end dump, but now the bottom dump was taking center stage. As brand new technology, bottom dumps were much more effective at laying asphalt and gravel. Harry and Leon could see that trend coming, so they bought a couple sets of bottom dumps and off they went. From Los Angeles to Barstow to the Bay area, they went where the work was. “Those were crazy days back then,” Peggy (Leon’s wife) recalled. For ten years, the four of them (Harry & his wife Ann and Leon & Peggy) traveled together and lived like trucking gypsies. They helped lay much of Interstate 5 and 58, including parts of the famous “Grapevine” (Tejon Pass). They were also involved with some of the construction of Candlestick Park in San Francisco, which is probably why Leon was such a die-hard 49’ers fan.

In 1969, Leon and Peggy’s first son Jason was born. A few years later, Travis came along. Mom continued to go out on the road with Leon (and the boys), but once they started school, she pretty much had to stay home. In the mid-1970s, Leon started getting tired of being out on the road and began taking more local work in and around their home in Bakersfield. Construction work had slowed considerably due to the gas crisis and nationwide recession of the late 1970s. But a new opportunity was waiting just around the corner.

In 1978, Leon (who’s CB Handle was “Big Iron”) landed a contract from Tennaco Oil that lasted for almost eight years and proved to be very fruitful. Under the contract, Leon not only hauled all of the construction materials to each site where Tennaco was to place an oil rig, but also built the pad for it to sit on and all of the necessary access roads. By now, Leon and Peggy had three trucks. Harry was slowing down, approaching retirement, so Leon was taking the reigns. In 1980, Leon and Peggy bought a 20-acre parcel on the outskirts of Bakersfield. Today, the company still resides on that site. They built a big shop and continued to grow, little by little, one truck at a time. But more change was coming.

As the Tennaco contract came to an end, the company focused again on construction-related work, pulling bottom dumps and end dumps. Then in 1994, Leon was given the opportunity to start hauling potatoes. Once again, construction was slow and he saw the writing on the wall - everybody has to eat. This new venture re-energized Leon and the entire company. They bought out a local hauler and acquired five more trucks and ten sets of trailers. The contract for the deal, as all of Leon’s contracts, was scratched out on a napkin at a local coffee shop. The company’s focus was now shifted to potatoes.

Hauling potatoes, for those of you out there that don’t know, is not easy work. You basically have to become a farmer as well as a trucker. To accommodate this new work, they had to buy huge tractors and hire field workers. Potatoes are hauled in wooden crates on flatbed trailers, and must be loaded a certain way as to not damage them. The harvesting “season” is ten months of the year, from November to August. Soon, they predict, it will probably be year-round work. They harvest the potatoes from fields in areas like Lancaster/Palmdale, El Centro and Indio, and then deliver them to the King Pak processing plant in Bakersfield. Recently, King Pak was bought out by Grimmway Farms, the largest carrot producer in the world, among many other things. This small turn of events would later open up even more new opportunities for George Trucking - but not before some more major changes.

Leon was a stocky, tough guy. He was always healthy and never sick. The only time he ever went to the doctor was for his annual DOT physical. But, after enjoying a fantastic Christmas with all the grandkids in 2001, he got sick. Peggy knew something was really wrong when Leon admitted to being sick. They took him to the hospital where they diagnosed Leon as having what they called “a major cardiac event.” The damage to his heart was so extensive that later that day, at 63, he passed away. And just like that, he was gone. Just a few days before, he had picked up a load in Indio and had attended an auction. He even walked into the hospital on his own. “He was a tough old bird,” said Jason of his dad. But fast is the only way that Leon would have wanted to go.

Since then, Jason and Travis have taken the reigns. Peggy is very proud of how her boys “stepped up to the plate” and assumed leadership roles within the company. Through their relationship with Grimmway Farms, Travis has landed another new venture for George Trucking, hauling sump mud in Super Dumps. It seems there is a lot of mud created when washing down the carrots at the processing plant. This mud accumulates in six huge sumps that are all the size of a football field and need to be cleaned out weekly. The mud is hauled back out to the fields where it can be used again.

Travis is in charge of this operation, which now has three Super Dumps and two regular ten-wheeler dumps. And, of course, the potato operation continues to thrive. The entire George Trucking fleet, in addition to the dump trucks, includes 35 sets of flatbeds, 10 sets of bottom dumps and 12 power units. But the most impressive power unit in the fleet is the one that they don’t even use.

One of the last things the brothers did with their father was build the beautiful, flamed Freightliner seen on our cover/centerfold this month. Purchased as a glider kit, the 2000 Freightliner Classic was built by Leon and his boys from the ground up. Upon its completion, Leon, before he died, was able to see it go to two truck shows and do very well. He was so proud. Since then, the boys just take it out for the occasional parade or truck show. For the most part, it does not work. The truck was not built to be a show truck, but once it was finished, the boys just couldn’t resist.

Powered by a 475 Cummins N-14 hooked to a 10-speed overdrive transmission and 3.55 rear end, the Dark Blue Metallic truck is decked out with chrome and highlighted with Pearl Blue flames. The boys went with six-inch stacks, 22.5 low-profile rubber, a 20-inch bumper, smooth deck plate, and a rear light bar/bumper that they built themselves. The truck also has an 8-inch drop visor, custom skirts under the fuel tanks and battery boxes (built by American Fabrication of Bakersfield), and lots of chrome under the hood, as well as ghost flames on the frame rails. Inside, the rig’s 1500-watt Alpine sound system pounds your ears while the floor-mounted seats pound your butt and back while cruising down the road.

Jason and his wife Lori have been married for almost ten years and have three children, while Travis and his wife Shaina (Shay-Shay) have been married four years and have one child. All of the family is involved in the business, which, on any given day, employs anywhere from 15-25 people, depending on the season. The operation is not huge, but it is steady and successful. Mom is happy to see the company flourish under the boy’s leadership and to see everyone work together as a family.

Versatility has been the main key to George Trucking’s success and longevity. Of course, hard work and a little luck don’t hurt either. Next year, they hope to take the truck out to some of the bigger shows on the West Coast. And with a beauty like this, they should be prepared to haul home a few trophies. But, win or lose, we’re sure that “Big Iron” will still be very proud of his boys and the fabulous Freightliner they built together.