Beyond the Bulldog

We sit down with JJ Owen, Executive Director of Skills Jam, a non-profit built to reach Gen Z where they already are and show them what a reaal career in the trades looks like. JJ spent seven years inside a major foundation from 2011 to 2017, learning what storytelling can do when it comes to galvanizing a community, changing hearts and minds, and reframing the trades as a first-choice career, not...

We sit down with Tony O'Connell, vice president of sales and marketing for Mack Trucks Australia, to go behind the scenes of what makes the Australian market fundamentally different from North America, from right-hand-drive manufacturing to road trains, tipper and dog configurations, and the MP11 platform pushing 780 horsepower. Tony shares his day-to-day leading the Australian Mack business, expl...

We sit down with Tom Bryant, vice president of racing operations with NASCAR, to go behind the scenes of what it takes to deliver a race weekend. From security and medical support to credentialing, rule enforcement, transportation, catering, and broadcast coordination, Tom explains the massive operation that fans rarely see but every race depends on. Tom shares how 21 years in the U.S. Army, inclu...

We sit down with Adam Knight, vice president of sales and marketing at First Gear Inc., to explore how detailed diecast trucks go from full-size CAD data to collectible models that capture the identity, history, and personality of a brand. Adam shares how he grew up around the family business, pursued a career in art and animation, then returned to First Gear and gradually took on responsibilities...

In this episode, we sit down with Averell Laird, better known as Mr. TrashMan, owner of Mr. TrashMan Dumpster Rental in the Houston area, along with "MackDaddy Mike" Sandifer from Vanguard Truck Centers. This conversation is all about business, hustle, and what happens when the right relationship turns a big dream into real equipment on the street. Mr. TrashMan shares how he started in 2021 with a...

We sit down with Mike Morgan, also known as “88 Mike,” a Mack Trucks elite technician and the driver of Mackvader, a Class 8 race truck competing in the American Big Rig Racing series. Mike has spent nearly three decades turning wrenches at McMahon Truck Group, and he has spent the last 12 years proving what Mack power can do when you put it on a dirt oval and let it eat.   Mike shares how motorsp...

This episode brings a different kind of guest to Beyond the Bulldog. We sit down with Nadine and Walter the Bulldog, the official Mack Trucks mascot, to talk about how a skateboarding bulldog went from weekend workouts to a movie role, then into the Mack family as a fan-favorite part of the show experience. Nadine shares her lifelong love for bulldogs and the unique personality that makes them fee...

We sit down with Grant Aschenbeck, salesman with Bruckner’s Truck and Equipment in Odessa, Texas, to talk about two sides of the same coin: how owner operators can grow their business through relationships and consistency, and how to show up prepared when it is time to buy a truck. Grant shares how he went from coaching football with no trucking background to becoming a top-performing salesman, ea...

This episode is dedicated to helping truckers who are involved in a crash learn how to protect themselves, handle the claims process, and get back to business faster. We sit down with Kelsea Eckert, attorney with Downtime Claims, a firm focused on recovering compensation when a crash was not the trucker’s fault, including lost revenue from downtime, not just repairs. Kelsea breaks down why many tr...

We sit down with Trace Plaugher, owner of Buckeye Floridian Materials in northwest Ohio, to talk about an unexpected career pivot and the real-world grind of building a small fleet in the vocational hauling space. Trace shares how he went from pursuing a future in medicine to hauling asphalt and aggregate, and why hands-on work, freedom, and long-term stability mattered more than spending decades...

We are celebrating one full year of Beyond the Bulldog, and this episode is a highlight reel of the moments that defined the first season. Over the past year, the show has featured 44 guests and more than 38 hours of conversations across trucking, safety, maintenance, business leadership, history, and the people who keep the industry moving. Mile Marker 52 is a compilation of standout clips and qu...

Following the launch of the all new Mack Granite and Mack Keystone, we sit down with Lukas Yates, Chief Designer at Mack Trucks, to go behind the scenes of what it takes to design a truck from the ground up. Lukas explains how Mack design is built around real world function, not styling for styling’s sake, and how every exterior decision has to deliver on visibility, durability, cooling performanc...

We sit down with Alexander Long, CEO and co-founder of Topia, a post-industrial plastics recycling company building a major operation in Burlington, North Carolina. Alexander explains what post-industrial recycling really means, why manufacturing waste is far larger than most people realize, and how Topia helps companies turn material that used to go to a landfill into something valuable again. Al...

We sit down with George Quigley, a veteran truck driver with decades of experience across North America as both a company driver and owner operator. George shares the personal story that continues to shape how he drives today, and why he has made it a mission to help everyday drivers understand what it really means to share the road with an 80,000 lb truck. George is also a dedicated volunteer wit...

America has more vehicle safety technology than ever, yet roadway fatalities have climbed sharply over the last decade. Dan Wagner, founder of Teen Driving Solutions School, joins Beyond the Bulldog to explain why he believes the missing piece is driver training and crash prevention skills, not just crash safety. Dan built his two day program for teens and parents around one idea: you do not learn...

We sit down with Anna Long, a pickup and delivery driver for a national LTL carrier, to talk about choosing trucking as a career and what the path really looks like from the first day of CDL school to working the dock, running linehaul, and building a stable life behind the wheel. Anna shares a background that is anything but typical. She grew up in a large blended family, went to an arts based al...

Ben Greenberg is back on Beyond the Bulldog for a fast-moving update from the front lines of trucking advocacy. As president and CEO of the North Carolina Trucking Association, and part of the broader ATA federation briefings, Ben breaks down what is changing right now at both the state and national level and what it means for fleets, owner operators, and professional drivers. This episode focuses...

In this episode, we sit down with Heather Heggie, Managing Director of Mack Financial Services in Canada, to talk about the part of trucking that most people only think about when it is time to buy. Financing. Heather explains why commercial truck financing is fundamentally different from automotive lending, and why the best outcomes come from treating it like a relationship, not a transaction. He...

We sit down with Mike McMahon, co-owner of McMahon Truck Centers, a Mack and Volvo dealership group with ten locations across six states. In this conversation, Mike shares what it takes to run a modern commercial truck dealership where the real product is not just the truck, but the long-term relationship that keeps customers moving. Mike walks through the McMahon family’s deep roots in transporta...

This episode of Beyond the Bulldog focuses on the one asset truck drivers cannot afford to lose: their health. Our guest is Dr. Lon Morgan, a family practice physician at Friedberg Family Medicine in North Carolina who has spent more than three decades helping patients manage weight, blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol through lifestyle changes first and medication only when necessary. He al...

We sit down with Brian Cooke, vice president of sales and operations at R.W. McCollum in Greensboro, North Carolina, to talk about the tank trailers that keep fuel and other critical liquids moving across the Southeast. From an 80 year family business and a 13 bay repair shop to custom spec trailers and truck mounted tanks, Brian explains how his team supports petroleum, dry bulk, propane, chemica...

We are back with Wright Archer, division engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, to continue our deep dive into how roads really come together. In his first episode, Wright walked through planning and design. This time, he takes us through the next stages: how projects are bid, how construction actually happens in the field, and what it takes to maintain roads and bridges so...

We sit down with Wright Archer III, division engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, to unpack what really goes into the roads we drive every day. Born and raised in Greensboro with more than 35 years at NCDOT, Wright has worked across design, construction, bridge maintenance, and now leads Division 7, responsible for thousands of road miles and hundreds of employees. In thi...

In his fourth appearance on Beyond the Bulldog, Pat Godwin Jr., President of The Godwin Group, returns to continue the story of how a small family fabrication shop evolved into the largest family-owned and operated truck equipment manufacturer in the United States. This episode dives deep into the strategic thinking, calculated risk, and people-first leadership behind Godwin’s growth through merge...

In his third appearance on Beyond the Bulldog, Pat Godwin Jr., President of The Godwin Group, returns to continue the story of how a family-run operation in Dunn, North Carolina grew into one of the most respected truck body and manufacturing companies in the region. Picking up where the last conversation left off, Pat shares deeper stories about hands-on leadership, ingenuity, and the discipline...