Wallace & Sons Transport: Specialized bulk loads, confidence and competence

Larry Wallace is a third generation trucker with a versatile skill set, a knack for working on old Detroit and Caterpillar engines, and a niche carved out hauling bakery residuals to be processed for animal feed with his Henrico, Virginia-based Wallace & Sons Transport outfit. As a testament to his recent-history success, three-truck Wallace & Sons is a contender in Overdrive's Small Fleet Championship in the 3-10-truck division. 

Being steeped in trucking and study of the industry built a confidence in Wallace, but he's quick to give the glory to God, fate and the core goodness of those around him. "From a young age, my grandfather and both my uncles owned small fleets," he said, "and I always just had a fetish for trucks and knew one day I'd eventually own one."  

Yet Wallace's first stint behind the wheel wasn't within the family businesses. As a young driver, none of the small outfits could afford to insure him, so he went out as a company driver hauling dumps for Chesapeake Materials. The job, at that time, was "hauling shot rocks and big stones to build up the shoreline in high water areas" in Virginia, he said.

Next, he went straight off the deep end into another one of Virginia's trucking niches: land clearing and logging. Here Wallace had his trial by fire, hauling timber up and down mountain roads and becoming a master of his machine in the process, in what might be trucking's toughest niche. 

Log haulers notoriously keep old Kenworths, Petes and other models running strong, and Wallace's mechanical skill aided his success, likewise bolstering personal tastes that would distinguish him as a driver. Well before the ELD mandate hit in 2017, he bought a 379 with a 1999 Detroit in it and just kind of hit his stride in trucking. 

"Certain engines you couldn't give me," he said. "I'm very particular and currently won't run anything outside of Detroits and Caterpillars. I stick with those and they keep us consistent, with very minimal breakdowns." Having grown up around those engines, "I can work on them," he added. 

This is one of 10 Small Fleet Champ semi-finalist profiles that will run throughout this month. His next truck, after a few years hauling logs, also proved a fortunate turn. "Three years later I bought a W900, '07 model, with the twin turbo," he said. "It was just like it was meant to be. ... Maybe six months after I bought it, prices shot through the roof for those pre-emissions trucks. I pretty much had a piece of gold with that truck, and the Pete as well. That's when I knew God had his hands in it."