Frequently asked QUESTIONS

Contrary to what some choose to believe, there is no secret to this and nothing sinister. It just is operating within your means, continually reinvesting in your business, and putting in a lot of time and hard work. Coming from immigrants, the value of hard work and being skittish of loans helped. The phrase "the problem with borrowed money is that you have to pay it back" should be on the cornerstone of this place because it kept us in check so the cart never got too far ahead of the horse.

We started with tired, old equipment and one man's junk is another man's treasure. The first big truck was a retrofitted Diamond Reo that is still probably Ed's favorite truck because he worked so hard for it. That truck along with a GMC General gave us the foundation to change our business and work exclusively in heavy-duty towing during the era of 21% interest rates. In the past, he would find a newer model truck with some damage, fix it, stretch it, and get a body put on to use it for a few years and then sell it without having large debt. But, the main reason is lot of hours, a lot of work, missed holidays, no vacations, and smart business moves while always watching the bottomline has paid off as far as equipment but comes with a lot of personal sacrifice.

HOW DO YOU AFFORD ALL OF THE EQUIPMENT?

We do not do tours per se and still have a goal of getting a video tour up on YouTube when time permits. If guests from a manufacturer, customer, or other towing company are planning to be in the area and reach out, we do try to make arrangements but the nature of the business means you never know who will be here and what equipment will be gone.

DO YOU ALLOW SHOP TOURS?

Honestly, with things being busy and the main building nearing 20 years old, it seems like a mess to us! Ed is OCD about his equipment and spaces being clean because it shows pride in what we do and respect for the investments made. We do not do mechanical work work here and leave that to our local dealers, so that helps. We do daily maintenance, put things away as you use them, dust mop of the epoxy floor, and our wash bay is probably the most used resource here. Most do not realize it but we also have 3 other buildings at our Caseyville location for storage and dock space plus additional warehouse space in town since we are at capacity. 

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR SHOP SO CLEAN?

Times are different now - it is a lot more competitive and costs are extremely high. Know what you are getting into - learn by working for someone else, it is easier to let them pay the bills and have the headaches while you have a steady paycheck. It may seem like the boss has a lot of money but they have a lot of bills and responsibilities that come every week whether the work comes in or not. Don't expect to make a lot of money at first, reinvest in the business, take pride in what you do or know what you do better than others, and keep your costs low.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE STARTING OUT?

We may seem cutting edge but we are really old school at the core. Ed does not want work and active recovery scenes treated as a reality TV show. He will not cooperate or allow Go-Pro type devices or drivers to document videos unless at the customer request because of fears it distracts them from the job at hand and adds risk. Since our guys do not film, it would take someone (family) being on-scene to even shoot it if we had permission and a worksite that is accessible for it all to happen. In the future, we may be able to if all of the stars align.

WHY DON'T YOu USE GO-PROS & FILM RECOVERIES?

We do not. Again, Ed has always been a stickler with having our name on things and afraid that people with think someone with a shirt is an employee. If anyone follows dirt racing, they will know how long it took to get the Petroff Posse shirts made and how quickly they sold out. We have discussed having something created but no convincing him yet.

DO YOU HAVE ANY T-SHIRTS FOR SALE?

WHAT IS THE TIE TO RACING?

ARE YOU HIRING?

WHAT OLD TRUCKS DO YOU HAVE?

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SELL YOUR TRUCKS?