I guess we’ll drop our trailer off down there, grab theirs and bring it back for them.” It was only the beginning of MC
Express’s relationship with ASU. “They asked what I would charge them to haul the football equipment all season, and I said, ‘Well, I won’t charge you anything.’” And so MC Express became the (unofficial) official carrier for ASU football. In 2011, the Red Wolves were invit-
ed to play at the
GoDaddy.com bowl. “Fred [Fraser], Tina and I were sitting around and talking, and I said it would be really cool if we could do a truck like a race car does. That’s where the Wolf Truck came from.” Designed by ASU, the sides of the
truck feature the “Let’em Hear Ya Howl” slogan in large letters. The front of the truck has the “stAte” logo above the windshield and a picture of Howl, the mascot, that wraps along the hood of the truck and onto the doors on the side of the truck.
“It is the only truck in college ath-
letics that has the full mascot,” Tina said proudly. Then last year, MC Express helped
them get a new trailer, too. “The trailer they had was a show trailer,” Mitchell said. “One side was composite, the other side was sheet and post. It had one axle that had one suspension and another axle had another suspension, and it didn’t have vents. You can imag- ine: A football team plays, they load all the wet uniforms in the back of the truck, shut the doors and drive for 12 hours when it’s warm.” “It’s our truck, not ASU’s,” Tina
pointed out. “So it’s all over the country when it’s not hauling their equipment.” “It’s funny,” Mitchell said, “when
you see the truck, you think ASU. Our name is so small so ASU gets all the recognition. And we’re okay with that— that’s why we do it. You see the truck, and it just kind of makes you smile.” The Wolf Truck delivers smiles
in other ways, too. “When the shoot-
ings happened up in Sandy Hook, the Wolf Truck took a load of teddy bears up there,” Mitchell said. “This year, when they had the flooding down in Louisiana, we hauled a bunch of relief items down there for that. And the Moore, Okla. tornado—we hauled a load out there.” Which lucky driver gets to claim
the wheel of the Wolf Truck? “Until Johnny decides he doesn’t want to drive it anymore, it’s his.” That would be Johnny Harris, their most recent Arkansas Trucking Association Driver of the Year Award recipient.
AWARD-WINNING SAFETY Yes, Harris is the most recent MC
Express Driver of the Year because MC Express can boast back-to-back ATA Driver of the Year Award recipients: James Brannum in 2012 and Johnny Harris in 2013. Mitchell attributes much of their success in safety, and that of all their
ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 6 2016
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