Ole School Trucker: Darrell Andrews Ride Along - Vietnam NASCAR & Open Road

This guy right here is probably the most popular trucker on the East Coast right now. This is Daryl Andrews. He's been a trucker since the 1960s. He's been in Vietnam. He's a NASCAR veteran. And now he hauls barbecue every day just for fun. You guys loved the first two videos we did with Daryl, so we're going to go back there, take a ride with him in his cab over, and listen to some stories from a guy who's forgotten more than we'll ever know. I was in Vietnam with the 7th cab in the jungles of North Carolina hauling skills. All good. Ready to rock and roll. Going for a ride along with Daryl today in the old cab over. Never ridden in one of these things. This is going to be cool. Right. Then you left, then you right, then you're inside. If you don't, you're trying to switch legs here to get inside and you wind up falling. I'm sure you've seen that a couple times. >> come on. Right, left. Then there's Okay. Yeah, there's got to be a bar over here. So we step in with I use the steering wheel to help. Over here you've got a bar over your head. This is interesting. I've never sat in one of these things before. Really? >> Uh-uh. It's funny. It's It's like being in a Humvee or something. You're a mile away. You got this big thing in the middle. Well, see the engine sits under here. That's really cool. I don't put no I got to put some junk. I hardly ever get in the bed. I just lay across the dog house here. Brush your beard out. Well, I already went and loaded this morning and you know, I always check my water and check my oil before I leave out. Everything's good this morning, so I went and loaded from the good farms. Come back here. We're going up to Battleground Cold Storage in Greensboro. We go up I could have go to Greensboro probably two or three times a week. How does it feel to be the most popular trucker on the East Coast right now? Oh man, I tell you I am totally amazed at the responses I got from the video you did. Uh Uh I went to Black Mountain Ingles and I loaded. They came down our office. People were standing around looking at the truck and driving and shaking my hands and then I was sitting around 40 a pedestrian walked out in front of my car. Of course it killed him and they had him covered up in the meeting. The traffic was just barely flowing along. This car pulled up beside of me. I looked down and it was a Florida license plate. I saw the guy wanting to come down and start blowing horn. I thought, "Did I cut this guy off in the traffic back there?" >> [clears throat] >> And he leaned out the window and he said, "I saw your video. I really like it." And he said, "I never dreamed I'd see you out here on the road." That's hilarious. And he had a Florida license plate. Wow. And then I went to the MDI and I'm laying across the dog house asleep. Some guy knocked on the door and it was a guy from Canada. And he and he he said, "You're the guy that did the video." And I said, "Yeah." He said, "Man." And he shook my hand and he said, "Man." And he said, "Nice to meet you." He said, "I never dreamed I'd ever see you out here living running late. I saw the video and I really liked it." And I've gotten 600 and some responses and and well over 100 uh friend requests. Really? >> I've got people calling wanting to buy my this truck and the old one with the big cat in it, the model. And I've had all the heavy people to call wanting the wrecks just to come up here and look at the stuff. It's It's just been It's just been phenomenal. I put a shoulder lap harness in this side like the new trucks have got and just added all of that stuff cuz nobody ever rides with me. So, this still the original seat? Yeah. Okay. What year did you say this was? An '80? Yeah. I changed all the switches. I like the toggle better than I do the the switches. I put tilt steering in it. I want that on the back axle when I turn. That make it easier? It'll make it easier to turn. Oh, ain't but it's easier on the trailer. Uh-huh. You dump the air on that? Well, some guys use front axle, some use the back. I use the back. That's the way the trailer turns sharper. If you don't dump the air, it slides the tires so bad. It's just a lot easier on the dump the air on lower axle than pivot on one or the other. And that's why I put it on the front. You don't see spread axle trailers with large spreads because you got to know how to dump your air and use a spread. Spreads are great if you know how to use one. But the problem with when they first come out, a lot of the carriers went with spreads because they'll have 40,000 lb back there and they'll have They wouldn't dump the air or the truck the tractors weren't set up to accommodate dumping the air and it twist the axles out from underneath. They went back to what's called closed tandems. Anytime you rev that engine up and gear down, you're you're you're wasting the fuel. You know you're going to turn, so slow down before you get there. Don't don't try to come in flying. >> It doesn't really sound like it's working that hard. It is not. And I I never go all the way with the full with throttle. I don't have to. I only give it I only give it max my throttle maybe half inch for those. What engine's in this thing? What engine's in this thing? This got a a 600 marine cat. Is this the one that you have to be smooth with the throttle with cuz it's made for a boat? It was got a marine in this thing. The other the green truck is the one that's got all the horsepower. That That thing is awful. It's got probably 200 more horsepower than this one. You know, everybody fusses about a cabover beating you to death. You just got to know how to set them up. This truck rides as good as some of my newer air rides. Couple of controls. That seems pretty good to me. Yeah. It's not It's not bouncing around or anything. Everybody fusses about See, I replace the shocks every time I replace the tires. Shocks don't last long. That's the That's the ticket to your ride. I can't complain about the ride. Yeah, well. No, it's nice. Man, some of you know, everybody talks about how they just beat you to death. And if you don't keep your shocks changed and if you don't set your air height right on your air ride, they'll beat you to death. Any truck. I've I've ridden in new newer trucks that's totally 100% air ride that would ride a whole lot worse than this thing. So, you never ridden in a cab before? No. All the original controls and everything still works? Wow. Put all the little chrome brackets on the dash. I did all that. Replaced all of them, but this is the original old motor. This seat has got a bed on the side if you want one area to Oh, it does? Yeah. Oh, okay. Oh, I see now. Yeah. I got it now. Is there even a place to put a third person in one of these things, or were they just you sit back there? Well, no. They're They're designed for a team operation. Two seats, you know, a driver and a co-driver. And it's got an upper bunk and a lower bunk. You got two bunks back here. Oh, that flips down? It's like if you have a way over summers, and you you got room for both drivers to go to bed. So, you sold your company, but you still do small jobs like this? >> I still have a old school transport. I sold my big Carol Anders truck. See, well, I I had old school before I ever sold it. And I I put in my buy-sell agreement that I keep with with farms. With all customers on the old school. That's all I haul for farms here. Oh. Is that Garmin the only modern thing you use? What now? Is that Garmin the only modern thing you use? This here? Just that. That Oh, only reason I got it is for speed. And I keep up with my service. He's up on the miles he run. I look at it from the speed. And and I keep my service up. And I figure my fuel mileage every trip. But What kind of mileage does this thing get? I'll run around five five to get a working for five to six. Most of the time around five two five three. And you know, I'm an old man. I don't I don't speed. I don't say anything that's in my name all the time. I was just noticing how like thick and nice all this leather is in here. It's very Everything's very robust. And this doesn't move around. Nothing What everything now is made cheap with the plastic and fiber glass. They don't use good stuff. It certainly had no shortage of leather. They put it everywhere. >> Oh, yeah. Everywhere. How many cows went into the cab of this thing? Even >> I mean? I love it. I started this That's all I've ever drove is a cab. Starting out on an old B61 Mack back in the early '60s. And then I got cabovers all I ever drove. What does that do? What's that? This. That is a air locker in the rear. That's an air locker. Oh. Like back in there something with the back axles. So, the back axle is the It's all you pull with. You can flip that switch right there and lock in the front gear in. And I go in. There's so many switches and knobs in here. Do they all do something? Every one of them does something. Every one Every Every knob, every switch has a purpose. What's that? That's where you lock the fifth wheel. Oh. You can see a fifth wheel you can it. What was it like pulling in out of Bristol back in the day when you were there? Oh, I I used to do it. See, back in the early we couldn't take a tractor trailer in here. We always parked outside. From tractor trailers and we carried them in. A straight truck you could get in. And a lot of the a lot of the teams didn't have a straight truck. We did. I've heard stories of people like trying to roll their pit boxes in there and then And lose them. They lose them? Yeah. Roll them down here. Did that ever happen to you? No, but I've seen it happen. When we were at Cota this last weekend we almost saw a car roll off the the liftgate. >> yeah. When we had a guy to fall off the the liftgate in Michigan Gardens. You could have messed him up. And that's when they come up with the rule about the the chain. Oh, really? >> Yeah. See, we didn't used to we went with wire. Everything it was hot and we used to have a chance line. And right side. And that's where they forgot to take it out. We didn't have the car up. And that's when our official came over and said, "I need that chance line out of the car." This guy bent over and done it and when he stood up and raised up passed out, fainted, whatever and he just fell. His head busted up and like what not. Ooh. I thought he was dead. Ooh, that was That sucks. Is there like a collector value for these this era of truck or cab over anything like that yet? >> You don't You don't see a lot of them on the road but you're beginning to see more and more of them. People are beginning to drag them out and refurbish them like I did. I was thinking about that. It seemed like most people wouldn't have the space to collect trucks like you do cuz you need a gymnasium to park them in. Pretty much. Do you guys still talk much on the CB? Dude, this new generation of driver, a lot of them don't even have CBs. Really? Yeah. Have you ever started talking to another driver on the CB that you became friends with in person afterwards? I think back in the back in the day when I did the guy from Bristol, Virginia drove for Mason Dixon, his name was Bob. He could run I'd run to Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo across the week. He'd run He'd run to Binghamton every night. I drove to Binghamton and not over Binghamton at all. Mason Dixon I got to know him. And it was a good friendship. Did you come across a lot of other Vietnam vets when you were on the road? >> walk up to me and he had a Vietnam sticker to the Vietnam Veterans of America. He had that sticker and I put it on. I got to tell you and I have stopped I I normally wear my Southern Cavalry black Stetson when I drive. That hat has got me a lot of free meals. People would buy my dinner. We come home and then hear about it and everybody hated us. But now people recognize us and thank us. And I've got written paper my dinner which is give me a free meal, thank you. I I And while they're out of town, who would have did who did it? Really? Yeah. It'd just be somebody in the in the crowd. They got to be playing to pay for my dinner. Is that why you said uh at the racetrack people didn't know you were there cuz you I didn't I didn't I didn't talk about it. You didn't talk about it. Is that why you didn't talk about it? What? The people that was in the infantry, 11 Bravo, that did that fighting and shooting and the killing, they They talk. The guys that and all their friends yell there's no business. Most of those guys have rear ends out. They wouldn't be yelling this. I spent my time in the jungle. How old were you? I was 19 in Vietnam. Really? I started out as squad leader. And platoon sergeant. How long did it take you after coming back to kind of like process all of that? Man, I was I was like everybody else. I was following that step and home. But I I decided I was not going to let drugs or alcohol destroy my life. A lot of guys did. And they didn't know what PTSD was when I A lot of guys They had to cope with it. A lot of guys already did drugs and alcohol for a time. They're good about it. I don't understand it like I'm all right. I'm all right. Yeah, it is. It is. I still don't know what people are talking about with the ride rough or anything. It's fine. Yeah. It's fine. And We've been used to driving one with a really, really, really short wheelbase and four out shocks. It's beating you to death. And plus, a lot Some the like to sit on the floor and have gear lever up here and they look cool. And then when they get old, they work they complain about oh, my back's giving out. My back's giving out. They didn't sit on the floor. That's what the airbag is on the seat for. That damn seat take that shock and that's so bad. Every time I see one of those big fires now, I think of that. I'll never I'll never see one of those the same way again. I've never understood why guys have a gear lever up here. I just think this is your throw 9-ft long too cuz it's so much farther from the the pivot point. Well, they wind up holding it down here to shift cuz it's so tall. But what is the sequence if you're starting from a stop? Are you like moving and flipping a switch? Like what do you what is >> Well, you you got to go you got a high and a low. Here for low side and high side and then we got an overdrive button on the side here. This is a 13-speed. All of them this is how this button here They got low side and high side. You got a traditional pattern here. First, second, third, fourth, fifth. Well, about that Well, the 10-speed you come back over here and start all over. But with 13 18 you go you don't use this little hole. Oh. So, you go through it all, flip the button, and then go through it all again? Uh-huh. But how do you get to 18? You got to do that three times? >> Well, 18 is the same transmission as the 13 only you 18 you got five in the basement. But you can split the bottom five. You can't split the bottom five with 13 or 10. What reason would you need to do that? What situation? Uh I like an 18 because if you're really in a hard pull, it's easy on your clutch. Hit the button. You know what You know it's hard on the equipment. I don't I don't split all of them in 18. I only I only split twice, two or maybe three. Oh. I got some It's got some nice torque. It's nice power. You don't need to split them all the way. It doesn't feel like this thing's really laboring to move itself Yeah. Yeah, it don't. It's just You could tell me this thing was unloaded and I'd believe you. Is a conventional truck quieter cuz you don't have the engine right in there? The new trucks are quieter cuz they've got a They insulate them. The new trucks are built for driver comfort. They're a lot They are a lot quieter. The new trucks are a lot quieter than the old trucks because they've got more insulation and more padding and more foam and and the engineers have really done their their work and and built them a lot quieter. And they've got Now then, they've got insulation on the side blocks and on gauges and stuff. Wow. What about your Freightliner, your green one? I think Does having the engine out there make it quieter in the cab? Not really. I can't tell I personally can't tell the difference. >> How often do you have to go through the brakes? Uh, I don't you know. I got every 250, 3000 miles. With a normal driver, I usually get a lot more out of them because I don't I know where I'm going and and I start stopping before I get there. A lot of a lot of our drivers are waiting to the last second and slam on brakes and turn in and they just use more brakes than than they should. Not all drivers, just only a few. Driver can make your brakes last. You ever have any close call panic stops or anything? Oh, yeah. In Florida, down around Atlanta, they'll pass you and cut you off and slam on brakes and try to get you to hit them in the back of them so they can sue you. That just happened to us last weekend. Someone tried that. Oh, yeah. The back of their car was already smashed up, too. Yeah. Down around Atlanta, they all They make a living doing suing. And there's always going to be four or five, maybe six in the car. They'll be glad to see you. I should get Trying to get that package in. And everybody's got a camera on them. You have to have a camera. Daryl's not wrong. It is extremely important to have a dash cam when you go to places like Atlanta because they will do that. That happened to Logan, too, and it just happened to us when we drove there for the Cup race a couple weeks ago. I'm pretty well versed on dash cams by now. We know a lot about them. I've tested a lot of them. We got a different one to show you today that actually it over your rearview mirror. This one I think you're going to like. It's the Wolf Box 900 Pro mirror dash cam. It doesn't have anything extra stuck to your windshield. It works as a normal rear view mirror except it's got a touch screen. It's got superior night vision for confident night driving, front 4K and rear 2.5K resolution, IMX388 sensor with 8MP resolution for enhanced daytime clarity. It can clearly capture license plates and scene details even in low light, back light and other challenging lighting conditions. It has 5.8 GHz Wi-Fi with app connectivity. This allows you to easily download driving footage to your phone at any time. It also has voice control, 12-in touch screen so you can effortlessly move between settings. You just got to have it these days. If you know somebody who could benefit from this, they make a great gift. Check the link in the description and you get one for yourself. You can play the he said, she said game all day long but when you got it on footage, just like Daryl said, there's no need. I was coming out of Alabama and I got on 220 and I'm going to get off at exit I'm going to 37, big 85 north. I'm in the right lane. I didn't know where I was at. It was pouring down rain. This guy's over here at the right turning left. And I thought, man, he realized at the last second he's in the wrong lane. He tries to cut over. He hit my right front wheel. He said, you switched lanes and hit me. I said, I wasn't switching lanes. I said, I got a camera and he showed me right in my lane. I said, you you was running out of real estate and you cut in you cut over into me. Oh, no, no, you switched lanes and hit me. I said, I didn't switch lanes. I know where I'm going. You're the one that's lost. Did you have to show that footage or did he give up? I got back in my driving lane. He didn't even try to do anything? I never heard a word from him. All I did was I replaced the net covers. Wow. Was that the the green one? >> the green truck, yeah. I was in the green truck. I said, "Okay, we'll call the law and I'll get them to look at the camera." And they'll see I see I said, "Otherwise, I'm leaving." a little…