ATD Honors Rush as 2008 Truck Dealer of Year
By Jonathan S. Reiskin, Associate News Editor
This story appears in the April 28 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
W. Marvin Rush, founder and chairman of the only truck dealership chain traded on a major U.S. stock exchange, has been honored as the 2008 Truck Dealer of the Year by the American Truck Dealers trade association.
Rush, 69, started Rush Enterprises in 1965 and handed over daily operations to his son, W.M. “Rusty” Rush in February 2006. He built the New Braunfels, Texas, corporation into a business that earned $51.5 million in net income last year on net revenue of $352.1 million and gross revenue of $2.03 billion.
ATD presented Rush with the award April 26 at its annual convention in Grapevine, Texas, near Dallas. A judging committee from Indiana University’s Kelley Graduate School of Business selected Rush from a group of 12 nominees.
The judges also selected Oscar Horton, president of Sun State International Trucks in Tampa, Fla., as first runner-up. Sun State sells heavy- and medium-duty Internationals from five locations.
Horton worked for International Truck and Engine Corp., now Navistar Inc., for 25 years before buying Sun State in 2000. He has been active in fundraising for educational scholarships, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, Goodwill Industries and his local Chamber of Commerce.
Rush started by selling heavy-duty Peterbilts and has spread into a variety of activities, including new and used, heavy- and medium-duty truck sales. In the medium-duty sector, the company sells Ford, GMC, Hino, Isuzu and UD/Nissan Diesel Trucks, providing leasing, financing and insurance services.
The corporation, which Rush took public in 1996 on Nasdaq, has more than 50 locations in 10 states across the South, from Florida to California and as far north as Colorado. Beyond trucks, Rush Enterprises also sell refuse vehicles, crane systems, and construction and oil field equipment.
Rush and his wife, Barbara, live in Sequin, Texas, and are active in Youth in Agriculture and the Rush Family Scholarship Endowment.
The other 10 nominees for the 2008 Truck Dealer of the Year award were:
• Gerald Chunn, Lonestar Truck Group, North Richland Hills, Texas.
• Kenneth Doonan, Doonan Truck & Equipment, Wichita, Kan.
• Tom Graddy, Vanguard Truck Centers, Forest Park, Ga.
• Charles Haden III, General Truck Sales Corp., South Charleston, W.Va.
• John Hogan, Crossroads Truck Solutions, Springfield, Ill.
• Ray Mason, Columbus (Ohio) Truck & Equipment Co. Inc.
• Bill McKenna, McKenna Truck Center, Des Moines, Iowa.
• Brian O’Donnell, Valley Ford Truck Inc., Cleveland.
• Pete Scheler, Five Star International, Erie, Pa.
• Cooper Sykes, Cooper Kenworth Inc., Durham, N.C.
Each year, the nominees, and not their dealerships, are judged on excellence in business practices, and industry and community leadership.
Last year, the Dealer of the Year award, sponsored by Heavy-Duty Trucking magazine, went to David Thompson. He is CEO of TEC Equipment Inc. in Portland, Ore. The eight-site chain sells Volvo, Mack and GMC Trucks.
