Trucking Tradition

Trucking remains a strong tradition for the Graves family in Salina, Kansas. The father, uncle, and grandfather of Triangle Trucking's owners founded the original family business, Graves Truck Line, in 1935 after the family lost its farm during the Great Depression. Triangle Trucking doesn't much resemble that original company, says Patti Graves Counts, one of Triangle's three founders. Graves Truck Line was sold about 22 years ago, just as interstate trucking was deregulated in 1980. Graves had union drivers, unlike Triangle, which is non-union.

After some time out of trucking, Patti Graves Counts and two brothers, Jay and Don Graves, followed in their father's footsteps and started a new company, Triangle Trucking Inc, about 18 years ago. Patti's husband, Huey Counts, is vice-president of Triangle. It is the second family trucking company held by four continuous generations of Graves. Triangle Trucking runs refrigerated and dry freight throughout the country.

In a related development, Patti's cousin, Bill Graves, who is governor of Kansas, plans to take the reins of the American Trucking Associations as president in January 2003. The appointment will become effective just as soon as he finishes his second term as governor. In October 2001, ATA announced Graves' selection to head the nation's largest trucking industry trade and advocacy organization.

“The selection committee and I firmly believe he is the right person at this time to represent our member motor carriers in Washington and in the 50 state capitals,” ATA Chairman Duane Acklie says. Acklie owns Crete Carrier Corporation, Sunflower Carriers, Shaffer Trucking, and HTL Truck Line. Sunflower and Shaffer are refrigerated carriers. ATA's executive committee removed the “interim” designation from the title of its current leader, William J Canary, who will continue to head ATA until Graves takes over.

“I am excited about the prospect of returning to my roots and working closely again with the trucking industry,” Governor Bill Graves says. “I have family members and close friends who are still involved in this important industry.”

After Graves Truck Line was sold, the family didn't start back in trucking right away, Patti Counts says. “My brother Don (now deceased) was a broker, and he bought some trailers that we were going to lease, but we decided to do something with them ourselves.”

Counts' other brother, Jay, eventually quit the company to join Yellow Freight in Kansas City. Three of Counts' sons also work at Triangle Trucking — Curtis as operations manager, and Wayne and Huey Jr as dispatchers.

50-Tractor Fleet

The Triangle Trucking fleet has grown to 50 tractors, a mix of Century Class Freightliners and Kenworth T2000s. Most are powered by Cummins N14 engines rated at 500 horsepower.

Triangle runs 92 trailers, including 29 reefers. Most trailers are 53 footers from Great Dane or Utility. Refrigerated trailers are equipped with Thermo King SB-III Smart Reefer Whisper Edition units. Thermo King provides full maintenance under contract. A Thermo King technician based in Salina checks refrigeration units after every run and performs preventive maintenance and needed repairs.

“We cover the 48 contiguous states, but most of our traffic goes East,” Curtis Counts says. “We haul truckloads of frozen pizza for a Salina manufacturer, our biggest reefer account, and shoes for a manufacturer in Junction City, Kansas, our largest dry freight account. Overall, we haul 70% dry and 30% refrigerated.”

Triangle Trucking handles mostly repetitive runs that last five to seven days. Drivers leave on Friday or Saturday, departing for Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Maryland. Another regular destination is California. “Drivers get to pick the day they leave and where they go, first-in, first-out,” he says. “We put a list of the loads on the board every Friday.”

Pizza loads typically have two to four stops. Triangle Trucking is one of 10 to 15 carriers serving that shipper. For the pizza account, Triangle delivers to warehouses in the East. Besides the northeastern states, Triangle hauls pizza to Louisiana and Mississippi.

Inbound loads typically are dry freight, including backhauls for the shoe manufacturer and products for a retail chain based in Abilene, Kansas.

Triangle Trucking recently installed wireless driver-dispatch communications from Aether Systems Inc in Owings Mills, Maryland. Each tractor has a module with keypad to receive and send messages. The Aether MobileMax2 uses a dual-mode modem that automatically switches between land-based and satellite communication pathways to ensure complete coverage. The data terminal transmits messages and global positioning reports over both satellite and terrestrial pathways and provides data on vehicle fault codes and driver performance.

“It's a good tool for keeping customers informed about driver location,” Patti Counts says. “We can tell them precisely where our drivers are. It also lets us know what our drivers are doing — what time they left their last stop and where they are now. We emphasize on-time delivery and realize that customers can have demanding schedules. But we're also aware that drivers sometimes are held up by various circumstances. They must be allowed time to get to stops safely and legally.”

Tradition Lives On

Governor Bill Graves says that Patti, her husband Huey, and their children are a great family, and their business represents an extension of the original Graves Truck Line from the regulated days of trucking.

“I have a certain envy because they are doing what I'd hoped to do as a young man, although I wouldn't change my life for anything,” Graves says. “Growing up in Salina, everything revolved around trucking. For instance, when we went to Hutchinson, Kansas, for the state fair, Dad would check the company terminal. We also made trips to Wichita or Topeka to attend the Kansas Motor Carrier Convention. Trucking influenced everything we did. To me, a vacation was going somewhere to the annual ATA convention.”

Bill Graves learned every aspect of the family business, from working on the loading docks to management, and he planned to run the company business after college. He received a bachelor's degree from Kansas Wesleyan College in 1975 and studied business administration at the University of Kansas from 1978 to 1979.

About the time Graves Truck Line was sold, Governor Graves lost interest in studies, he says. “That was probably a mistake,” he says. “But the trucking business was sold and I cast around for things to do. A friend suggested that I should consider working in a political campaign. I worked for George H W Bush in the 1980 presidential primaries. One thing led to another, and here I am.”

Graves was elected governor in 1994, the same year that George W Bush was elected governor of Texas. “We've had a good relationship with the Bush family,” he says. “I had dinner with the President just before the September 11 terrorist attacks, and I was discussing the possibility of getting the ATA job. He opined that it would be a good move.”

Since becoming governor, Graves also has become a father. He and his wife Linda have a six-year-old daughter. He cited as his achievements in office: a needed restructuring of the governance of Kansas' higher education system and a comprehensive, $1-billion transportation plan for improving highway and railroad infrastructure, and improvement of social services for children.

“It's premature to say what my priorities will be as head of the ATA,” Graves says. “Of course, driver hours-of-service and fuel and emission standards are issues that motor carriers are dealing with.”