Overdrive Radio

Owner-operator Scott Hampton pulled hoppers before transitioning to the operation he's in today, which he describes as his "flower gravy train" doing multi-drop distribution runs for shipper Dallas Johnson Greenhouse in Council Bluffs, Iowa, south to a variety of stores this time of year. When we talked for what is the latest edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast a couple weeks back, he'd hopped...

Beware what you sign, owner-operators, when getting set up with a broker. So notes Transportation attorney Hank Seaton, in conversation about the curious case of a Florida-based three-truck fleet who reached out about what it saw as the strange treatment of two loads her company hauled earlier this year for Bennett International Group, both as yet unpaid. Seaton describes brokers' "right to offset...

In this edition Overdrive Radio, St. Louis mother Sarah Welsh details how the trucking community, particularly a variety of owner-operators among it, has helped foster her 12-year-old son Robbie's passion for so many things trucking -- and particularly: "meeting drivers to talk about their trucks." A young man of my own heart, as it were. Also in the podcast, we’ll hear from a man I bet young Robb...

So just how did Daniel and Phyllis Snow's 1996 Freightliner Classic XL get to be called 'The Goose'? Here in this edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, the independent owner-operators tell that story, which involves their son's 1999 Classic 'The Duck', too. Also: A bit of stumping for the importance of small business in trucking from Ray Martinez, part of his address at the annual meeting of the...

"The winds of change" are afoot at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said FMCSA chief Ray Martinez in his opening keynote at the annual conference of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies November 1. The three-day event is ongoing in Nashville, Tenn. Leadership at the Department of Transportation on up to the President of the United States, he added, "wants us to work...

In this week’s edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, we take a run through Hurricane Michael’s devastating effects on the Florida panhandle north through clear to Albany, Ga., where 100-mile-per-hour-plus winds persisted in the fast-moving storm well after landfall. With all the devastation, for some owner-operators new opportunities arise, as regular listeners and readers of Overdrive well know...

Just a couple weeks out from Veteran’s Day November 11, we walked through recent additions to BlackOut Freightliner veterans-tribute and memorial truck and owner Chuck Timbrook’s formalizing of the operation as a nonprofit organization, some new involvement in NASCAR and other racing events for Timbrook, and more relating to the rig two years after Timbrook's heart surgery sidelined him from comme...

In this Overdrive Radio edition we’re talking truck parking with some of the insights on parking advocacy and brass-tacks on-highway planning delivered as part of the parking panel we hosted at the Great American Trucking Show in August. You probably saw Overdrive’s James Jaillet’s report on the panel in September, but this bit of audio gives you a window into the discussion, valuable for anyone I...

A few voices from participants in "That's a big 10-4 on D.C." last week from the National Mall. Owner-op Doug Hasner explains the rationale behind his own involvement, and updates the status of the charges filed against him after he was tased by police in April during a Constitution Ave. demonstration (all charges dropped). Todd Campbell of Ohio argues that a qualified positive for truckers in the...

Since being featured on the cover of Overdrive in February of 2013, Bolton, Mississippi-based owner-operator Andre Jackson in the last year has completed a more than five-year journey through adversity to success in business ownership with a business partner, Donte Ogletree of Atlanta, the two operating under their own authority with two power units as Midnight Express. In this edition of the Over...

This edition of Overdrive Radio rounds up three distinct parts of the Partners in Business seminars held last month at the Great American Trucking Show, with presentations by ATBS President Todd Amen, radio host and former small fleet owner-operator Kevin Rutherford, and Richard DeForest, also with ATBS and a longtime PIB presenter.  1) Amen begins with a quick take on current conditions in trucki...

This Overdrive Radio edition is a triptych of sorts: this edition is threefold – 1. Owner-operator Allen Kelly of Pennsylvania runs through some of the particulars on the “That’s a Big 10-4 on D.C.” event coming up, when else, on October 4 in Fredericksburg, Va., and Washington, D.C. 2: Stevens Transport driver and RoadTestedLiving.com proprietor Tom Kyrk run through his in-cab cooking demos and a...

A run through Bill Weaver’s new all-truckin' 'Burnin’ the Old School Down' record, recorded in part with members of a band called the Stone Creek Four out of Kingsport, Tennessee, with whom Weaver performed three nights running at the Great American Trucking Show a couple weeks back now in Dallas. That's where we talked with him for this edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, burning through a fe...

From FMCSA's Aug. 25-held public listening session on hours of service reforms: Owner-operators take to the mic to make their recommendations and anecdotes pertaining to the agency's review of hours of service regs.

As it happened on Friday, Aug. 24, of the 2018 Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, this week's Overdrive Radio podcast takes you through the music and people who were a part of the fifth annual Overdrive/Red Eye Radio Trucker Talent Search: emcee Tony Justice, opener and past talent search competitor Paul Marhoefer, and this year's entrants Benford "B.J." Williams, James Nelson, and winner Man...

Paul Marhoefer performed this original track at the 2018 edition of Overdrive/Red Eye Radio's Trucker Talent Search at the Dallas Great American Trucking Show. His performance opened the 2018 edition of the competition, eventually won by Mandi Jo Pinheiro.

Paul Marhoefer performs the track that got him into the 2015 final round of Overdrive/Red Eye Radio's Trucker Talent Search. His performance opened the 2018 edition of the competition, eventually won by Mandi Jo Pinheiro.

Owner-operator Mandi Jo Pinheiro -- in a team with her husband, William -- won the Overdrive/Red Eye Radio Trucker Talent Search 2018 competition with this performance of an original tune crafted after a solicitation of the community of drivers asking about their favorite route to truck — and why. Read more about the track via this link:https://www.overdriveonline.com/idaho-independent-wins-trucke...

This track, from Tony Justice's "Apple Pie Moonshine" record, was one of two Tony Justice performed while emcee'ing the 2018 Trucker Talent Search at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas while the judges worked.

Tony Justice emcee'd the 2018 Trucker Talent Search, which happened August 24 at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas. He also performed this track from his "Brothers of the Highway" record, written with his wife, Misty.

LaVergne, Tenn.-based Ryder Integrated Logistics driver B.J. Williams live from the Trucker Talent Search, which happened August 24 at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas.

Accelerated, Inc., driver James Nelson live from the Trucker Talent Search at 2018's Great American Trucking Show in Dallas.

This run through recent messages on Overdrive Radio's podcast message line reveals what many drivers want out of any hours of service revision -- options to stop the 14-hour clock without additional complication, though ideas for how to get there show some variation.

In a wide-ranging but broad interview, FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez spoke with Overdrive in an exclusive interview about trucking industry pain points, the ongoing transition to electronic logging devices, evaluating hours of service reforms, implementation of automated vehicle tech and what he hopes to accomplish as FMCSA's administrator.

In this Overdrive Radio special editor, you'll hear a little more directly from each of this year's Overdrive/Red Eye Radio Trucker Talent Search finalists – Mandi Jo Pinheiro, James Nelson and B.J. Williams, all of whom were interviewed by Red Eye Radio’s Eric Harley in advance of the final competition. That will take place Friday, Aug. 24, at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas. For those...