Highway Transport has always been a big user of Mack Trucks, Edwards says, and the fleet operates 70 percent Mack. He likes the Mack brand for its heavy-duty strength and durability, but there was one catch: As other haulers moved to automated transmissions, Highway Transport balked, worried about specs and driver response.
Alexander “Grey” Feaster has all the symptoms of a man in love. He can’t stop talking about the new lady in his life — her soft voice, her gentle ways, her natural beauty. Feaster, 39, just received the 2015 Freightliner Cascadia Evolution, the newest member of the J.B. Hunt Transport Services fleet.
Anthony Harris keeps his dog tags hanging inside his truck. Brent Stoufer and Joshua Matson wear camouflage ball caps while on their routes. All three have something in common: They are military veterans and are among the first drivers to participate in Hunt’s Heroes, a new program officially launched in April by J.B. Hunt Transport Services.
“I spoke with my wife and said, ‘Baby, we’re working and making everybody else rich, but we can live real good if we put ourselves out there,” says J.B. Hunt owner operator Anthony Branch. By leasing on as an owner operator, he is able to run his company without having his job run his life.
By the time Sam Shifflett could walk, he knew he wanted to drive. Dump trucks, fire trucks, big rigs — he loved them all. So when he signed on with J.B. Hunt Transport Services in January 1997, he immediately felt at home. There was only one problem — he didn’t want to live on the road.
It was well past dark when the man and the boy finally got the cattle unloaded. The road was empty and the man was tired. The boy had been driving farm trucks around the family ranch for several years. The boy was ready, the man figured. He handed over the keys and climbed into the passenger seat to catch some much-needed shuteye.
