Respect to all the old school drivers out there 🔥

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MCryptoWars@reddit

Good ole days! The days before energy drinks, when you can pull up to a truck stop and they’ll fuel for you and ask if you would like some Black Beauty before you hit the road😄! I never heard about Black Beauty until some of the old school retired truckers I knew, mentioned about that.

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ironeagle2006@reddit

Black Beauty's were a little harsh coming down from. Nah the good shit was the bullhaulers toothpicks. If you were lucky to get those things sleep wasn't an option.

I walked into the yard once with 5 of them in my shirt pocket. Personal manager goes when you heading out I went in 30 mins he went see the log girls to get them off my ass. I signed my folder of bad boy sheets and then went upstairs to see my dispatcher. Lana goes great your here need you in LA in 44 hours from now. I went no problem popped a pick and said see you in 4 days.

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MCryptoWars@reddit

Damn, never heard of those! Great Times😄👍🏻! I wish I was driving back in the old school days, no GPS’s, all Atlas, no testing until 1988, and all pure skill and not being a steering wheel HODLer😄!

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ironeagle2006@reddit

You could still get away with outlaw running into the late 90s. It was really fun with a team that ran outlaw like my father and I. January of 98 him and I ran 38k miles that month ungoverened truck drop and hook loads at each end and a dispatcher that looked the other way at the HOS regulations just to piss off her supervisor. We got caught at the yard when I mistakenly handed the owner of the company the logbook of the stuffed gorilla instead of mine. Yes you're reading that right we were literally running out of hours as a team. So we jury rigged a driver code for the gorilla and if needed ran his book.

We got sent home that day. My father and I did crazy stuff like that all the time. Shoot when I was 20 I had my CDL already but was supposed to be restricted to IL only due to federal regulations. Well I had taken a break from my farm hauling gig to spend a little time with my father. We're in Rawlings Wyoming and called home find out the water is frozen at the house it was a bitter cold snap something like 30 below. I looked at dad said team it home he said sure. We pulled out of Rawlings and hauled ass home. Well my dad forgot about his logbook only having 6 hours left. He literally logged Rawlings WY to Des Monies Iowa in 6 hours and didn't get caught. We grabbed fuel in Des Monies again.

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MCryptoWars@reddit

Nice😄👍🏻! That reminds me, around 2015 to 2016, I was working under an owner operator who didn’t have his own authority, we signed to a small company that had an MC Number and they took a small percentage of the loads I completed. After fuel costs, me and the owner operator would split the settlement in half and that’s how we generated income. At the time I was running paper logs, the dispatcher I had used to look the other way when I would run hard.

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ironeagle2006@reddit

99 into 2k I was employed by Earl Henderson out of Salem Illinois. Well after I got rid of the blue midroof truck I got into the testing fleet he had for Detroit at the time. It seemed my being crazy enough to take a truck without Jake's over Monarch Pass on Route 50 in Colorado was proof I knew how to freaking drive. Well I got one of the 12 trucks with a prototype design Detroit of their 14 liter engine in it. These things were monsters especially after the engineers were told they had to redo the design after the EPA pulled their crap on the OTR engine makers. So we all had at minimum 590 hp or more mine was 665hp and over 2200 pounds of torque. No governor geared taller than the rest of the fleet normal trucks had 3.73s we're rocking 3.33s and could turn 2200 rpm in 10th on the super 10s in them. We literally could destroy 100 mph in a fleet looking truck and getting 9 mpg at 75 mph all freaking day long.

Well the 12 trucks the driver's of the 6 solos and 6 teams were called John's disciples or the Untouchables. We called ourselves the bailout squad whenever the shit hit the fan we pulled the company's nuts out of the fire. For us 6k miles a week solo was routine 8k miles sometimes happened. The teams were doing 12k a week. Then came April of 00. We had a new contract hit and John wasn't ready for it we got the call. All 12 trucks were running from Alabama to Southern California as fast as we could and back. We're literally meeting drivers in Needles to relay loads and heading right back to Alabama for the next one for 2 weeks straight. I ran in that 2 week period 18k miles. Then got pulled into the yard and went to the hotel for what was supposed to be 3 days the next day was dispatched again on a 48 hour speed run back to northern California. In 17 days I ran 20k miles solo. To this day I don't know how I didn't wreck near the end.

But the money I earned back then sure as hell is saving my ass now on SSDI I literally get almost 2300 a month.

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12InchPickle@reddit

Is there a longer version to this?

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luddite86@reddit

This is it

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Sergeant_Metalhead@reddit

Look up Real People trucker YoYo on YouTube

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JankyMark@reddit (OP)

idk I pulled this clip from instagram, it might be on YouTube hopefully

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WalmartSushi007@reddit

Wish we still had the "Truckers Only" sections.

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bob696988@reddit

Judy’s Truck Stop in Jasper MO is still an old school cafe and restaurant and one the best I have ever been too.

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WalmartSushi007@reddit

Imma write that one down, Thanks!

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bob696988@reddit

Definitely check it out Excellent food and great service with a smile. The prices aren’t very high and you get lots of food. Salad bar is included if you choose it as a side and all you want too.

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lone_jackyl@reddit

Stop parking at pilot and flying j and you'll find some. They still exist.

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ZAHN3@reddit

The truck stop in Greenland NH has a "Driver Only" section

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WalmartSushi007@reddit

I park where I can, just like everyone else. If I happen to find an old school truck stop, Im happy to stop and take my 10. Unfortunately they are becoming harder to find.

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JankyMark@reddit (OP)

I think I found one in New Jersey wasn’t very big but it had a diner and stuff and body shop

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Valuable_Hold5721@reddit

I can smell the lot lizards from here

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Eatmymustardsauce@reddit

And the blow.

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Riyeko@reddit

Not cocaine or crack honey. Speed and meth.

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unloader86@reddit

Speed and meth.

That and yellow jackets. It's been a minute since I looked them up, but they had something in 'em to wake you the fuck up and quick. They were outlawed in the late 90s iirc.

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mercuric_drake@reddit

My mom worked at a tuckstop when I was a kid and I remember the yellow jackets they had right by the register. I asked her what they were once and she told me caffeine pills. I always figured they were a little more than that.

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bob696988@reddit

Used to run three logbooks. Just had to make sure you handed the right one to dot though. CB usage was for directions, not for music and bullshit Did the speed but not meth, many didn’t do the meth. The cafes and restaurants was enjoyable back then too. You could hammer down because you always had someone looking out your back door and front door or point. Yes definitely was a great time back then. Never thought of blocking any fuel pumps

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Dysanj@reddit

And 4-wheelers didn't give you much shit on the road either, flashed their lights when you were clear to get over.

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bob696988@reddit

That is so true we were respectful and they gave us courtesy as well. We had a great reputation as well. We were called truckers not steering wheel holders.

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Monksdrunk@reddit

grandma?

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sublimelbz@reddit

Dad handle was “ Carpet Bagger “

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Riyeko@reddit

Colorada Jake was my dad's.

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mercuric_drake@reddit

My grandpa's was dogcatcher because he was a cop at one time.

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DeDrick_C@reddit

Those truck drivers back then were sexy back then too! Not sure WTF has happened now! No more good looking dads out there driving semis

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AndromedanPrince@reddit

Allow myself to introduce..myself.

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xXDEGENERATEXx@reddit

How did it get from that to tactical piss bottles and fireball memes.

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MoashRedemptionArc@reddit

Deregulation is a race to the bottom

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coppertech@reddit

Yeah, anytime the government says it'll be good for "people," those people they are referring to are corporations, not you and me.

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lone_jackyl@reddit

Immigration and corporate greed

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Just_Ad3916@reddit

Naw man it’s these brokers, they be lowballing.

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lone_jackyl@reddit

That's called corporate greed.

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Not-Ed-Sheeran@reddit

Corporates were always greedy throughout human history. Why does is it different now?

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Leading_Strategy_627@reddit

This right here, only a matter of time.

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Just_Ad3916@reddit

Now AI is doing the brokering

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Apprehensive-Sea9540@reddit

Kinda ironic the brokers got replaced before the truckers

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Just_Ad3916@reddit

Yeah

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Mr_BinJu@reddit

Because they can get some piss ant illegal to do it for a bucket of chicken and a tall boy.

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Just_Ad3916@reddit

Not really

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knotworkin@reddit

How did it go from cowboy boots and shoe shine stands to flip flops?

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FruitOrchards@reddit

Inflation.

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coppertech@reddit

back when trucking was respected and not as cheap labor to be exploited.

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Riyeko@reddit

This brought tears to my eyes.

I've been out here for 10 going on 11 years now.

I remember sitting around the booths and bullshitting with drivers. I learned a lot from the true old school drivers out there sitting around and having a good meal with amazing company.

Found friends. Exchanged numbers and still talk to a few of them today.

I'm so sad there isn't a group of us sitting around at a table with coffee and biscuits at 3am laughing like jackals because we all have the same problems, and that's what brought us together.

We are drivers.

I'm Turbo on the radio if anyone's got one anymore.

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JankyMark@reddit (OP)

Yup drivers barely talk to each other anymore

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LordRaven74@reddit

10-4 Turbo. This is Dutch. Catch ya in the flip.

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bulldog522002@reddit

Yeah I'm an old retired hand. Started driving over the road in 1978. Maybe we did do some things we shouldn't have done back then. But everybody seemed to get along better and I don't remember as many accidents back then.

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JankyMark@reddit (OP)

I definitely think ppl took driving more serious than todays drivers

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bulldog522002@reddit

We had pride in our work and appearance also.

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JankyMark@reddit (OP)

I can definitely tell trucking

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Everheart1955@reddit

Looked for myself in this one... didn't see me.

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Mr_BinJu@reddit

People used to drive a lot over the country because it was cheaper to do so. Now, you have to work to just live and barely make money to put into a savings account so now you no longer see "Professional driver only" restaurants etc.

I will say it looks cool and fun to truck during the 70s and 80s but the fuck do you do and listen to when driving or parked for the night?

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odinskriver39@reddit

It was good times. I drove trucks like those . 1973 - 2020. All for LTL. Did the last 34 safe. Got much more corporate in the early 2000s. Upside of that was more HOS enforcement. Got some work - life balance.

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kickinghyena@reddit

Thats cool…Dave Dudley too…the Lemon Squeezer…

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Racer187@reddit

2 years retired after 44 years behind the wheel. This is the way it was in the 70s -90s. There absolutely was a kinship and comaraderie between drivers that is completely gone from the more recent CDL holders. I don't know if its a macho thing, or a language barrier, or even a racial aspect, but what I do know is that the aggressive behavior between drivers has got to stop. We're all just trying to get from A to B and being a dick to a fellow driver might just bite you later down the road.

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JankyMark@reddit (OP)

I can definitely tell , seems like the vibes were always good back in the day

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Then-Foundation1738@reddit

Just retired after 47 years driving.

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Racer187@reddit

Congrats driver. I'm 2 years retired after 44 years behind the wheel. I parked it for the last time the day before my 62nd b-day, let my medical card expire and then my CDL too. There's no way I'm ever going back. Welcome to the real world.

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