Editorial

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

I was there when it all started nine years ago. I remember Jim Moss, then publisher of Truck Parts & Service, coming into my office shaking his head in bewilderment. He had just gotten off the phone with someone who had intimated that the truck parts distributor was no longer a viable player in the market.

drondini@rrpub.com[email protected]

Moss was such a strong believer in the viability of distributors in the truck parts business that it was hard for him to imagine anyone thinking distributors were no longer key players. To confirm his beliefs and to have concrete evidence to share with the doubting Thomas, Moss contacted key parts and component suppliers who sold through distribution and asked them to share the names of some of the people they felt were doing an exceptional job selling truck parts.

Five candidates came up over and over again, and Moss visited those businesses to see for himself how they operated. From those visits, articles were written profiling each of these exceptional distributors. Thus was born the Truck Parts Distributor of the Year award.

Nine years later, the viability of truck parts distributors still is apparent and Truck Parts & Service continues to profile these businesses in its pages and names a Distributor of the Year during Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week. You can read about this year’s nominees — Henry Cook, Cook Brothers; Jim Burke, Drive Train Industries; James Pascale, Pascale Service Corp.; Don Purcell and Keith McLemore, Stone Truck Parts; and Steven Stich, Wheelco Truck & Trailer Parts — in this issue beginning on page 13.

“The viability of the truck parts distributor is still apparent.”

I was delighted to be able to interview all five Distributor of the Year candidates as part of my increased role as Executive Editor of Truck Parts & Service. Many of you already are familiar with me from the years I worked with Jim Moss, and while I have been a little less visible in Truck Parts & Service in recent years, I still have played a role as contributing editor and have kept up to date on issues impacting you and your businesses.

I am excited about this new opportunity to become even more immersed in the truck parts and service business and to learn more about the opportunities available to you and the challenges you face. I hope to lead the Truck Parts & Service editorial team in making this magazine even more valuable to you.

Toward that end, I would love to hear from you with your suggestions on what we need to be doing to be better meet your needs. So please call me at 847-636-5069, email me at [email protected] or chat with me at an industry event over a cup of coffee or a beer. I want to do all I can to ensure that Truck Parts & Service continues to be the aftermarket authority, but I can’t do it without you. n

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