American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go

A tow call can feel routine right up until it is not, and this week’s stories show the full emotional range of towing and recovery. We start with devastating news out of Chandler, Arizona, where a tow operator is lost in a fiery crash. We talk through what these scenes look like, why they are so dangerous, and why it matters when bystanders and fellow professionals step in to help even when the ou...

A heavy duty recovery can look like “just a few hours” to the outside world, right up until you learn what it costs to be ready at 2 a.m. with the right people, training, and equipment. We’re joined by Jared Ennis of All-Star Towing and RMW Towing, a longtime leader in the Missouri Tow Truck Association, to get honest about the towing and recovery industry from the inside. We talk fleet realities,...

Tow trucks don’t just move broken cars, they sit at the intersection of public safety, insurance money, and human panic. That’s why our conversation with Joey Gagne lands hard. Joey has built a major towing operation across Southern Ontario and now serves as president of the Canadian Towing Association, giving him a front-row view of what happens when regulation meets real-world roadside chaos. We...

A few lines of legislation can flip towing and storage operations on their head, especially when the public assumes the tower is always the problem. We sit down with Jared Vornado, owner of Vornado and Sons Towing and Recovery in Denham Springs and president of the Towing and Recovery Professionals of Louisiana, to walk through what’s happening at the Louisiana Capitol and what it means on the gro...

A tow contract that hasn’t changed since 2012 sounds harmless until you price a new truck, renew insurance, fuel up, and try to hire a solid driver who will do the job safely at 2 a.m. That’s the pressure behind our conversation with returning guest Rick Rayner from Quality Towing and Service Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We walk through how police authorized tow rates can get stuck for...

When you’re on the side of the road, the “best” towing gear is the gear that connects fast, holds right, and doesn’t make you fight it. We sit down with Wes and April Wilburn to talk about what’s changing at TowingEquipmentDirect.com, why their customers keep saying the same thing, and how hands-on product support can be just as valuable as the hardware you’re buying. We get into the practical stu...

A car gets towed after a traffic stop. Twelve hours later, police show up at the tow yard with one message: evacuate, the vehicle may contain bomb-making materials. That’s the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina story we break down, and it’s a gut-check for anyone in towing and recovery, dispatch, or impound operations. We’re joined by Rick Rahner and Robin Rahner from Quality Towing in Myrtle Beach to w...

In case you missed it.......A bold merger sets a new standard for towing safety, training, and career growth. We bring together Cardinal Legacy Towing Group and the American Towing and Recovery Institute to create the American Towing and Recovery Training Division, headquartered in St. Louis with a permanent training facility on the way. From light-duty recoveries to EV incidents and fire and resc...

Frozen shoulders, tight yards, and a clock that never stops—this conversation dives into how real towing teams stay safe and sharp when the weather and the work stack the odds. We start with the small habits that compound into big wins: spare socks to fight moisture, warm hats and gloves to preserve judgment, and a plan to avoid the traffic side whenever possible. Those choices may sound simple, b...

Roads close, fuel leaks, and everyone looks around for the team that can make the chaos stop. We sat down with Perry Beatty—a towing veteran turned hazmat innovator—to map the journey from $8 tows to rapid spill response, patents, and hands-on training that helps operators control scenes faster and safer. If you’ve ever wondered how a towing company can expand into environmental cleanup without lo...

Ready to change how a towing company grows, leads, and earns trust? We sit down with Jeff Bauer, president of Cardinal Legacy Group, to unpack how a small A-to-B operation modeled itself after local giants, then earned the chance to carry those legacies forward through disciplined acquisitions in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Naples. The story isn’t just expansion—it’s the playbook behind it: align...

Want your team to run smoother and your stress to drop? We sat down with Cardinal Legacy Towing Group’s CEO, Kurtis Barks, to unpack a simple idea with outsized impact: put the right people in the right roles and teach leaders how to lead. From towing and recovery to body shops and insurance, the same patterns show up—great operators get promoted, then drown in management chaos. Kurtis walks us th...

Ready for leadership you can actually use on a busy Tuesday? We sat down with Lieutenant Kyle from Wentzville, Missouri to unpack conflict resolution, trust-building, and communication habits that turn stressful moments into steady results. Drawing from policing and the towing industry, we explore how relationships—not checklists—carry teams through change, and how small, consistent actions create...

The first snowstorm of the season didn’t just test trucks—it tested systems. We sat down with Justin Thomas, operations manager at Lazer Tow in Kansas City and part of the Cardinal Legacy Towing Group, to unpack how teams managed ETAs when hills iced over, why side streets often beat clogged interstates, and what happens when real-world experience meets structured training. From the cab to the cla...

A single dinner turned into a platform that now reaches more than 20,000 listeners—and the story behind it is packed with grit, heart, and field-tested lessons. We sit down with our friend and mentor, DJ Harrington—the Tow Doctor—to unpack how a path that once pointed toward the priesthood led through retail grind, Uniroyal hustle, and a world-class speaking career that has influenced the towing i...

A lot of folks think towing only makes the news when something goes wrong. We set out to change that story. In this conversation with Jeff Bauer, president of Cardinal Legacy, we dig into how leadership, culture, and smart growth can rebuild trust and turn good teams into great ones. From learning alongside respected operators to honoring their legacies through acquisitions, Jeff maps out how a pe...

Roads change, but a calling doesn’t. We sit down with Kevin Goodyear to trace a line from a 1960s Gulf station to a modern towing and recovery operation spanning Alabama, Florida, and Georgia—and we dig into the choice that sparked it all: a 19‑year‑old selling his car to buy a used wrecker. That decision opens the door to a bigger story about what towing really is: disciplined emergency response,...

A memorial reads names, but a community carries the weight. We sit down with Jeffrey Godwin to explore how the International Towing and Recovery Museum turns remembrance into real support through the Wall of the Fallen and the Survivor Fund—and why hearing those names aloud changes how we see risk, service, and family. Jeffrey explains their careful process: contacting companies first to ease the...

Ever wonder what it really takes to build an industry event that gives more than it takes? We sat down on the floor of the Tennessee Tow Show in Chattanooga with Brenda from Tow Times and Anthony from the Tennessee Tow Truck Association to unpack the moving parts, the purpose, and the payoffs you can’t see from a flyer. From an opening national anthem that shook the hall to a year-long planning cy...

What if a single choice—choosing grace—could change the way we work the white line? We open with a raw reflection on public grief, forgiveness, and the quiet power of listening, then connect those values to the most practical lever we have: training that sticks under pressure. From youth engagement and more honest speech to concrete drills in brush-filled gravel pits, we explore how character and...

What does it take to transform an entire industry through education? For Wes Wilburn, approaching his 1,000th towing and recovery training class, the answer lies in a philosophy borrowed from DJ Harrington C A N I – constant and never-ending improvement. Since 1993, Wes has dedicated his life to elevating the towing profession through education that goes far beyond technical skills. As he shares h...

Discover the revolutionary approach that's transforming the towing industry as Megan Bruns, Marketing Director at Cardinal Legacy Towing Group, shares how putting people first has created an empire of 200+ vehicles and happy, committed employees. The cornerstone of their success? Treating tow operators as the first responders they truly are. While many towing companies struggle with employee...

Michael Lard brings a refreshing perspective to the towing industry as he shares his journey from growing up in a towing family to owning Tom's 24-Hour Towing in Elkhart, Indiana. This third-generation tower has transformed his operation into a 16-truck fleet equipped with specialized machinery for handling complex recoveries. What truly stands out in our conversation is Michael's innova...

When the towing and trucking industries seem locked in an endless cycle of misunderstanding and tension, one Kentucky couple has found a remarkable way to change the conversation – by taking their 50-ton rotator to major truck shows across America. Clifton and Joyce Parsley of Crossroads Towing are on a mission to transform how the trucking community views the towing industry. What began as simply...

When Briar Roberts started reading towing-themed books to his young children, something unexpected happened – he got mad. As an experienced tow truck operator, the technical inaccuracies in these stories were glaring. Hooks attached to plastic bumpers? Cables through windows? This wasn't the profession he knew and loved. What began as bedtime frustration transformed into inspiration when his...