of a terminal in Aurora with about half a dozen trucks. In the early years, the boys were given odd jobs like cleaning the meat hooks in the freezing cold trailers, basic office jobs including auditing work and expense logging, and shop work. In an interview with Nebraska Trucker magazine in 2004, Ray credited both his fa- ther and Mettenbrink, who still lives in Oma- ha with Charlene, for his business success. From his father, he learned to take care of the business so that it would take care of him. Mettenbrink, who was chairman of what is now the Nebraska Trucking Association for a year, taught him about being involved in the political and rulemaking process. “The key reasons for success here at Sun- rise are the things I learned from my dad and from Lloyd,” Ray said then. “They had two different perspectives of the trucking industry, and a person learns from those before them.” He also told the magazine, “You grow from their experiences forward. You chal- lenge yourself to do the right thing, for the right reason, with the right people.”


David said Ray comes by his ambition


naturally. In his mid-teens, he played center- field on a state champion American Legion baseball team, where he covered a lot of ground in the field and found holes in the de- fense when he was at the plate. He also was a skilled wrestler who gave up the sport his ju- nior year. As a young adult, he became active in taekwondo – becoming, naturally, a black belt who fought as a 160-pounder in open class competitions with no weight limits. “What they were doing back then was beating the crap out of each other, and he loved it,” David said. Meanwhile, a new outlet emerged for


Ray’s competitive instincts: ProMod drag racing. Ray for years was the team’s driver, and he was good enough to win numerous trophies. His daughter, Jacki Jones, drove for a while, and his son, Josh, still drives. Drag racing has been not only a fun


hobby, but it also led to an expansion of the company’s holdings. In 2008, Sunrise Express acquired Starlite Motor Sports, a full-ser- vice automotive and truck shop that builds


engines and completely restores collector cars. The division offers services for classic collectors, big rigs and passenger cars. After it was bought, it was moved to company head- quarters and now employs about 18 tech- nicians, fabricators and machinists. Beahm, the company’s general counsel, said the move came about as a result of Ray’s drag racing hobby in addition to his close relationship with Starlite Motor Sports’ previous owners. Ray has always enjoyed the mechani- cal side of trucking. In his teenage years, he worked on projects in his dad’s shop. In addition to Starlite, the company does full-service work for its own trucks and for outside customers at The Sunrise Shop at both the Grand Island and Twin Falls loca- tions. Sunrise Express also offers a full-ser- vice truck wash and an exterior trailer wash at its Grand Island location, along with tire services.


“He really has a fascination for all of this


stuff,” David said. “He probably knows the technology in the rig, the truck, as good as anybody out in that shop. He really stays in


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