Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/358493
PULSE August 2014 | Overdrive | 5 By Max Heine Editorial director mheine@randallreilly.com A week before Overdrive founder Mike Parkhurst died on July 21, he emailed me with the subject line "not dead." We'd been discussing the Overdrive Roadman- sion, a Los Angeles home he converted in 1967 into trucker lodging with live entertainment and white-tablecloth dining. The project was one of many bold, some- times eccentric moves from the same man who produced movies, called for nationwide shutdowns and once rode a horse hundreds of miles to protest outdated laws. As the story on Page 14 details, this was also a man whose ac- tivities after selling Overdrive in 1986 confirmed that he was clearly not dead. The first few decades of Overdrive reflected Parkhurst's persona. Those old issues con- tained outrageous cartoons and headlines, homespun writing, lots of pretty girls with shiny trucks, and criticism of the Teamsters leadership, truck makers, troopers and others. Those were different times for trucking. Intense federal regulation, combined with the Teamsters' stranglehold on regulated freight, made things ridiculously difficult for owner-op- erators who wanted to move outside of exempt commodities. The time was ripe for a "Voice of the American Trucker," and Parkhurst created Overdrive to fill that void. Today's owner-operators have him and other leaders, as well as thousands of drivers who followed them, to thank for today's ease of entry into the industry. No one should take for grant- ed the freedom to compete with no restrictions on lanes, rates, areas of operation or freight. After the old regulatory chokehold disap- peared, a new regulatory monster took its place. This one is fueled by safety concerns and manifested in programs such as CSA, ever-changing hours regulations and drivers' medical certification. As Overdrive covers those current hot-button topics, it continues to be The Voice of the American Trucker. This year, Senior Edi- tor Todd Dills' expose of how CSA unfairly penalizes independents won trade journalism's highest honor, the Grand Neal Award. Our CSA coverage continues to bring in some of the highest reader traffic on our website. Like the industry it covers, Overdrive has changed a lot. Parkhurst's style was suited to that pre-1986 era, though ultimately it wasn't suited to a self-sustaining business. The iconic change agent of his day – the shutdown – worked, to a degree. Since then, it hasn't, as evidenced most dramatically by last year's embarrassing Ride for the Constitution. Overdrive has grown in different directions, but we're still proud to continue as The Voice of the American Trucker. That spirit is "not dead" and will remain alive as long as we're doing our jobs. A voice still heard More coMMents on the news Jason holmes: I'm just going to keep trucking while legislators tell me what to do. They don't know the life – they don't care if we make a living wage. All they care about is that they can go to the store, and the stuff they need is there. … Ask yourself, America – what happens when we stop doing the job? shawn Mcconniel: Why does the industry have to suffer because one man is heavy on the foot? Jeff Madden: I think the [14-hour rule] makes the problem of rest worse than it was before. … What will they come up with next? sergio Mancinas Garza: What they need to understand is that we are not machines with an on/off switch! We need to sleep when we need to, not when they want us to! rob sund: Sixteen hours to do what we can do would be great. Shouldn't matter if we are driving or sitting around waiting to get loaded. I haul cars, so I lose a lot of time at dealers and auctions, and that means less drive time. I know my own limits and safety, and I understand a lot of guys don't, but when accidents are still happening with large companies who run electronic logs, and they are legal, then they clearly haven't solved anything by all the current rules. the puzzle pieces: low driver wages, the need to be paid for all on-duty time, deten- tion pay, driver fatigue." Regardless of whether you agree with debating parties over certain issues, as Smith notes, "with all that has just happened, we have the momentum and leverage needed to encourage the FMCSA to listen intently, while everything is out on the table from all sides." The first issue of Overdrive, published in September 1961, focused on "corruption" but also contained elements that would become staples of the magazine: truck stops, cartoons, roads, speed limits and readers' gripes.