Owner-operator John Fuller sits at the kitchen table staring into his cup of coffee, thinking. Is this real? The fact that he’s just won a brand-new tractor settles in a little more each day.
Just a few days before, on July 16, Fuller and his wife, Jo, sat in the audience at the Landstar All-Star celebration event in Florida. With little more than hope, joking about unlikely possibilities and idly calculating odds in the back of his mind, Fuller waited to hear four names called as finalists in the carrier’s annual giveaway of a new truck to one among its safest, most productive owner-operators in attendance at the recognition event.
What were the odds his name would be drawn?
The answer didn’t matter. Like a lightning strike, his name was called last among the four asked to join the group onstage, where four boxes filled with confetti were arranged in a row. John turn to Jo, asking which of the four boxes he should try to pick.
Jo: Pick number 3. Yes, the number 3 box!
In just one of those four boxes, dear reader, was nestled a set of keys for a brand-new tractor, and owner-operator Fuller now stood over box number 3.
Landstar’s Gregg Nelson, master of ceremonies at the event, counted down and the cheers erupted. Fuller raised high that set of keys. Onstage hugs, congrats all around.
Event sponsor Comdata’s president, Randy Morgan (right), was able to witness the drawing of the name from the pot of million-mile safe drivers. Landstar CEO Frank Lonegro is pictured on the left, and in the center the lucky winner John Fuller with his wife, Jo.All photos courtesy of John Fuller
My thought when I heard the news: there could be no one more deserving of this truly life-altering moment. For more than just a few years, Fuller’s been a dedicated family man, driver, owner-operator, and mentor. His path to truck ownership spanned several decades. My own paths have crossed John's at the Rockford, Illinois, office when I was with Landstar -- but not only there. We worked together in a different way, serving some the same customers, and enjoyed conversations and meals at the Rochelle, Illinois, Petro for more than a decade.
To even qualify for this Landstar drawing for the new truck is a feat in itself. To be eligible, owners leased there have to achieve and maintain 1M consecutive miles preventable-accident-free. John in 22 years has hauled well beyond that mark. He currently sits at more than double with 2M-miles-plus. Even more amazing? Fuller’s primary customers are most often situated in the cities and urban areas around the Midwest, where navigating interactions with the non-pro motoring public is a must, not to mention the tight quarters and turns so often found at these types of customer locations.
An unlikely chain of events ---> New lease on life for the biz
It may read like a fairytale of a downtrodden prince on the brink of losing title and kingdom. Less than a month before the drawing for this the 49th truck Landstar’s awarded (the company also holds a second drawing open to all leased owners there), owner-operator Fuller was moving westbound on I-80 in Iowa, more than 200 miles away from home, toward the next delivery. It was a regular run, and he’d already booked the return load, awaiting only the pickup time.
Then the worst -- save perhaps an accident -- happened. His truck’s engine abruptly gave up, and he hit an exit ramp, coasting with hopes of at least making it into the TA at Brooklyn, Iowa. Every bit of his concern was to try to get to safely off the highway, but he was losing momentum. The load was heavy enough that, with his experience, he knew rollover was a risk if he moved too far onto the shoulder of the ramp.
So, precariously perched at the ramp’s paved edge, with triangles out ASAP, Fuller prioritized quickly. The obvious need for a tow truck, a call to the safety department, to the agency owners with whom he booked this load, just what to do with the load needing delivery. It’s a series of potentially overwhelming decisions for anyone.
How to deal with such a situation isn’t easily taught, that’s certain. Fuller, though, had been preparing for it his entire working life. His history as a driver started when he was a young man, married with a family in the late 1980s, driving a local milk truck in Wisconsin, then more OTR experience with other companies as circumstances changed with his growing family. Fuller was working for a small fleet when the owner decided to lease to Landstar. Fuller himself, though, couldn’t qualify as a driver at first -- he needed verifiable over-the-road experience, and a minimum of one full year free of accidents and moving violations.
At once, he was able to attend the Landstar orientation with the small fleet owner and other coworkers at the time. It seems that experience was like a seed being planted that would sprout when the time was right for the younger Fuller’s future.
[Related: Big week for Overdrive Trucker of the Year Jay Hosty, now officially a 'Roadstar']
Fast-forward to 2003. Fuller successfully navigated the qualification by going directly to the Landstar office in Rockford, Illinois, what would end up a fateful decision. More than one of the companies John had driven for over the previous 10 years had closed down his base terminal or folded up completely. But Fuller maintained some contacts with his prior supervisors, and was able to call and verify qualifications directly with the people who could satisfactorily answer Landstar’s questions.
The long haul back to 'feeling a bit like a rookie' again
Two decades later, when his engine gave up the ghost after 900,000 miles, the truck had been paid off entirely since 2018. The thought of going back into debt didn’t sit well. Fuller was 56, at once, not ready to walk away from ownership or to just sit still and complain. Before flying off to Florida for the Landstar All-Star celebration, the Fullers put in place a logical plan with options for the purchase of a replacement truck.
In the meantime, they’d enjoy the gathering in Florida, canvass dealerships on the return with a plan to avoid going into debt again with the purchase -- that’d be painful in and of itself, with the big cash outlay for the equipment. Yet it seemed the best business decision. They’d sell a piece of property where John had maintained a machine shed, storage, parking and a shop for his equipment. They listed the property for sale even before attending the Landstar event.
John and Jo Fuller, with Fuller's lucky 2025 Freightliner Cascadia
John Fuller still owns that property. I caught up with him a few weeks after he drove the new rig home to Wisconsin from Florida -- he’d moved three loads with it by then.
How do owner-operators and small fleets survive and thrive in tough economic times? Find out in this webinar.
Join us for a live webinar Aug. 22 at 1 p.m. CT and hear from owner-operators and small fleets as we discuss how they prepared during the good times to weather the storms.
We reminisced about the many trucks driven over decades. We laughed, too, about this latest one for Fuller, a 2025 Freightliner Cascadia with an automated transmission and a bevy of technologies he’d never experienced. The 10-year leap since his previous 2015 Cascadia is fairly high on that front, no doubt. He described sitting in the seat staring at a dash with no gauges, and two tablets. A steep learning curve, navigating what he sees and when he sees it so that lane-departure and other warning systems don’t interfere with his ability to just drive as safely as humanly possible.
It's a process of learning to operate collaboratively with new technologies, as he told it.
He's open to new things to learn, for sure, though. One of his next investments will be a camera system installed to help provide additional information for risk and liability management.
Every day, and every load, he’s honing skills, adjusting as he always has, and counting the blessings the rig delivers to the family. It could well, he knows, take him all the way into retirement. He’s grateful, and expresses tremendous thanks to everyone in the Landstar network, and sponsor Comdata, for the chance at the honor.
[Related: Marroquin brothers' journey to U.S. trucking from Guatemala, now as owner-operators]
