Trucking History

How trucking built America: The view from Scott Spear's 1969 Kenworth W900A
Scott Spear, who went out trucking first in 1969, helped literally haul the country into the 21st century. Now, his restored '69 Kenworth tells a story that reverberates through the very iron and steel undergirding American life.
February 6, 2023
1969 kenworth w900a
Drummer for iconic rock band with Overdrive ties dies
Robbie Bachman, one of the founding members of the iconic Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, passed away Jan. 12. The last part of the band's name came from an encounter with this publication at a Windsor stop, detailed in August 1975.
January 23, 2023
Bachman-Turner Overdrive August 1975 feature in Overdrive
Veterans Day rewind: Mail-call memories from Vietnam
Retired owner-operator Doug Fetterly’s first job out of high school, in 1966, was with the Fourth Infantry Division of the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
November 8, 2010
Doug Fetterly, pictured in 1967 stationed near Cambodia and reading one of among many copies of Overdrive his owner-operator father sent him from back home.
Roadmansion photo gallery, background from founder Mike Parkhurst
Some of Overdrive’s oldest readers might recall the Roadmansion hotel in Los Angeles. Retired driver Bill Nickel, 74, was one of them when this story originally aired in 2014. Founder Mike Parkhurst also recalled two years of operation in the late 60s.
July 16, 2014
Overdrive Roadmansion ...a new dimension in dignity spread from Overdrive magazine
Breaking Free: The history of the owner-operator in trucking
From fighting for freedom to haul in its early days to stressing smart business practices later, Overdrive has championed the owner-operator’s concerns. Here, a history of owner-op business, from 1960-2011, with a special request for you.
September 1, 2011
David Margeson
60 years ago this month, Overdrive's first issue
It was 1961, truckers' numbers on the nation's roads were growing, and Overdrive founder and editor Mike Parkhurst was busy establishing an irreverent sense of humor with a serious tone as the Voice of the American Trucker ... download issue 1 here.
September 21, 2021
overdrive september 1961 issue cover
Looking back on 9/11's lasting trucking legacy
This retrospective on trucking history post-9/11 comes on the occasion of the 20th anniversary. While impacts of that event are impossible to exhaustively chronicle, Overdrive found shifts in security protocols, driver camaraderie, freight, and more.
September 13, 2021
Dick McCorkle and Tim Philmon
Docmenting the 'Faces of the Road' with Long Haul Paul
Any retrospective on Overdrive's recent history would be incomplete without Paul Marhoefer's contributions to the magazine's multi-author "Overdrive Extra" blog with his "Faces of the Road" series of dynamic close-ups, delivering living history.
September 6, 2021
Paul Marhoefer (bottom right) channeled the story of Kay and Ken Wagner (bottom left) in late 2019 as part of the 'Faces' series. The Wagners didn't exactly divulge the secrets underlying their 45 years of team OTR work, yet their history spoke for itself. Read more in Overdrive's weekly 60th-annversary series of lookbacks on trucking history, and that of the magazine itself, via this link.
‘Eastbound and Down’ celebrates Bandit's ‘naughty’ antics in classic movie
For this final "Songs of the Highway" podcast installment, arguably the best-known and most-loved trucking movie, “Smokey and the Bandit,” takes center stage with its signature song by Jerry Reed, “Eastbound and Down.”
August 30, 2021
jackie and burt
Eye candy, business advice: Overdrive's top 25 custom-rigs vids
Marking Overdrive's sixth decade in existence, here's a compilation in one handy spot of the most-watched equipment-forward videos we've done since our Pride & Polish vid collection in 2015.
August 23, 2021
custom rig compilation
A year after his passing, ‘Midnight Cowboy’ Bill Mack lives on in readers’ memories
Though he never met Mack, reader Ralph Hudson surmised the radio legend might have been "my best friend." Other memories of the 'Midnight Cowboy' here, including former Overdrive editor Max Heine's remembrance at the time of his passing one year ago.
August 11, 2020
Bill Mack
Songs of the Highway: Kay Adams' 'Little Pink Mack'
One of the first – if not 'the' very first – entertainers to use music to highlight the influx of female drivers into trucking was Kay Adams, with “Little Pink Mack.” Released in 1966, the song celebrated a can-do toughness and spirit.
August 9, 2021
Pink Mack truck
1982 Peterbilt 359, W. Tim Miller's grain-to-market hauler, an emblem of owner-op history
Tim Miller's previous 1969 359 was featured in a 1990s edition of Overdrive prompted by the appreciation of his then-teenage daughter for her father's dedication to the family business. Miller's an emblem of owner-operator history from the farms.
August 3, 2021
1982 peterbilt 359
Did Joe Biden drive a truck or didn't he?
Whatever the case, he did take a ride with an independent trucker in 1973, evidenced in this lookback. Trucking could use a little more of what Biden seems to have had back at that time, an empathy for the realities of the independent trucking business.
September 10, 2012
Joe Biden
What came before the CDL? 18 years old and hauling in 1917
This special edition of Overdrive Radio re-airs a talk with Jay Thompson, looking back on his family's history in trucking, all the way back to his grandfather Walter, 18 years old and trucking with a chauffeur's license in 1917.
July 27, 2021
walter thompson
Overdrive founder Mike Parkhurst 'wasn't afraid of nothing'
Owner-op Donald Ridzon’s memories of Overdrive founder Mike Parkhurst haven’t dimmed: “He was always willing to dive into something that was different. He never backed out of it." Here find more memories of Parkhurst approaching 7 years since his passing.
July 19, 2021
truck drivers in front of a semi-truck holding signs with the text shutdown #2 january 31 until as long as it takes on them
Updating the top 10 trucking songs of all time
Ten years ago, we asked, you told, then voted. Here are those results. Likewise a call to action: What song would you nominate, either on this list or not, for the No. 1 trucking song of all time today? Drop us a comment toward an updated top 10 for 2021!
August 4, 2011
Dave Dudley
‘Hello, I’m a Truck,’ and I’ve got a few bones to pick with you, drivers
Red Simpson’s “Hello, I’m a truck” hit No. 4 on the country charts in January 1972, making it the biggest hit single in Simpson’s long career. This latest "Songs of the Highway" installment channels that history, from the point of view of the truck.
July 4, 2021
'Hello, I'm a Truck' graphic
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Tales from a trainer's truck: Good, bad, ugly with reefer operator Bill Douglas
The rewards that come with knowing you've set a driver up for success, and difficulties setting boundaries with a trainee taking your credit card for dinner -- while you're asleep. Long Haul Paul takes the mic for this podcast with the longtime trainer.
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Holding the line: Owner-op's playbook to push back on cheap freight
250' tall, 190' long and 150' wide. These on-shore furnaces are 'some of the biggest things to be moved this far' on land, said Mammoet's team lead on this five-mile move from the coast inland to a pastics facility in Texas.
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The heaviest of hauls: Peek into 2022's biggest, baddest jobs by specialized carriers
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Oversize hauler's shower solution for small sleepers | More 'Winter from hell' on I-80
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The Business Manual for Owner-Operators
Overdrive editors and ATBS present the industry’s best manual for prospective and committed owner-operators. You’ll find exceptional depth on many issues in the 2022 edition of Partners in Business.
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Partners in Business Issue Cover