Tread Carefully: Ensuring Roadside Safety With David Bennett of AAA

David Bennett, Repair Systems Manager at AAA, brings over 37 years of dedicated service to the company. Originally from the Washington DC area, David’s career journey began at a young age, marked by early experiences as a paperboy, at a gas station, and in food service. His passion for automotive work ignited during high school, where he received vocational training and honed his skills, laying the foundation for a successful career in the industry.

In this episode…

Most adults in the US own a vehicle, but are they paying attention to the most critical maintenance elements? Which often-overlooked parts of a vehicle specifically require proactive attention for safe driving?

According to David Bennett of AAA, tire maintenance is of paramount importance. Drawing from his extensive experience in the automotive industry, David highlights the alarming frequency of tire-related issues among vehicles he has inspected. He emphasizes the critical need for regular tire care, noting AAA’s role in promoting roadside safety. Through AAA’s network of approved auto repair facilities and roadside assistance services, its members gain access to reliable resources for addressing tire-related emergencies and ensuring safer travel experiences. 

On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge welcomes David to discuss the importance of automotive education and tire maintenance. David’s journey from working at McDonald’s and a gas station to becoming a Repair Systems Manager highlights the value of vocational training and hands-on experience in the automotive industry. He cites alarming statistics revealing widespread issues related to tire maintenance.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• David Bennett retells his 37 years of industry experience
• How vocational training in high school laid the groundwork for David’s automotive expertise
• How David specialized in engine diagnosis with AAA’s Mobile Diagnostic Van Program
• How the decline of vocational education has impacted the automotive industry
• The diverse services AAA offers, aside from roadside assistance
• David stresses the significance of tire maintenance, including proper inflation and tread checks

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• David Bennett on LinkedIn
• American Automobile Association
• National Air and Space Museum
• Bureau of Engraving and Printing 
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn
• Tread Partners

• AAA
• David Bennett
• Gain Traction Podcast
• Mike Edge
• Tread Partners

Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now let’s get started with the show.

Mike:

Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast. I am Mike Edge, your host. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners and the Retread Marketing program. I know you’re thinking, man, what the heck’s a Retread Marketing Program, so I’m glad you asked. It is a customer re-engagement program using IP targeting to win back your best lost customers. It is a one-time, 120-day program that generates a 10 to one return on investment, and the best part about it, it’s guaranteed. That’s correct, a 10 to one guaranteed ROI, no tricks or gimmicks. These are customers that are already in your point of sale right now. So let’s give you an example here. If you were to invest $4,000 today, you’ll receive a return of $40,000 within 120 days from the list of best lost customers that are in your point of sale right now. Tread Partners works with this industry, specializes in this industry, tires and auto repair, so to learn more visit treadpartners.com.

So all you know guys, I like to always give a shout-out to previous guests. Recently I had Baker Ghanim on as a guest. He’s the owner and operator of the Tire Store Service Center, which has nine retail locations in the Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas area. He is also founder of oto.tires, and you can learn more about the company oTo at oto.tires, or you can check out the podcast at gaintractionpodcast.com. So today’s guest is David Bennett. He’s the repair systems manager at AAA. Yes, we’re talking about the same roadside assistance company that many of you know it as, but they do so much more than that and we’re going to learn a lot from David today. David, welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast.

David:

Mike, thanks for having me.

Mike:

Yeah, I’m excited. David, we hit it off just talking sports and everything, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know you from our past call, but tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell the audience where you’re from and something maybe like what was your first real job?

David:

Okay, happy to. So David Bennett work at AAA. Been here a little over 37 years with the company. I’m originally from the Washington DC area.

Mike:

Hey, and you’re only 43, right?

David:

Well, yeah, it’s something like that. Yeah, I started very young, but it’s been a great career, great company to work for. Originally from the Washington DC area, actually was born in the city, so I’m a true Washingtonian, but then grew up in the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. I’d say my first real job, besides being a paperboy or something like that, and for those of the younger generation, that’s when we had to deliver the paper and fold it up, put it in plastic bags, rubber bands, all the inclement weather going around the neighborhood, followed by then collecting all that stuff. That was fun, learning how to do that. But my first job was fast food. I worked at McDonald’s, and then after that, that was through high school and then started working at a gas station, pumping gas, checking fluids, things like that.

Mike:

That’s awesome. So that got you your first automotive experience then.

David:

Yep. Yeah, it sure did. In my high school, we had a vocational class, and so I had three years of vocational training there, and it was stair steps. So 10th grade you took a one-hour class, so it was basic automotive. Then in my junior year, I would take… So sophomore year would be my first hour of school, junior year would be my next two periods. So second and third period would be automotive related. So you built on that skill set that you learn from the first year and then in the third year, it was the last half of the day. So the last half of my high school day was working on cars, learning how to work on cars.

Mike:

Wow, man. That’s awesome.

David:

It was. What a great experience there.

Mike:

Well, and it’s so limited today, and I’m talking about all the trades. We are pathetic as a nation now in regards to that.

David:

It’s tough. Vocational schools or classes have gone away. They’re more focused on other things, and it’s a shame because you need that as a profession. We need that. You can see it today where the average age of an automotive technician is 55 years old, and we’re aging out of that. So now we need those up and coming, and by having those trades in the schools, it makes sense and it helped populate that.

Mike:

And I mean, it’s really real education. I mean, it’s practical knowledge. You got to have it. There’s a lot of other things you and I would make the argument about. We remember that you’d sit in class and you go, when am I ever going to use this?

David:

Yep. Oh, yeah.

Mike:

But you’ll use your automotive knowledge. You will use any trade knowledge you would use going forward. It’s practical life knowledge.

David:

No, very much so. Even if I didn’t go into the automotive career, I would still be able to maintain my own vehicle, do some of the minor repairs, and just understand those basic core concepts of how a vehicle operates.

Mike:

So fast-forward a little bit. So that was your job. You worked at a gas station then. What was your next step?

David:

My next step was actually into AAA. So it was an interesting program they had at one time, it was called a mobile diagnostic van program. And so when I got out of high school and was starting to do and look at what I was going to do in my life, I wasn’t ready to go start turning wrenches yet. It was right in the mid-eighties when everything was changing from carburetors to computer controlled carburetors. You had the Ford EEC systems, you had the lean-burn systems from Chrysler, all those things. And it was all this new technology and I wasn’t ready and I wasn’t comfortable yet to say, you know what, I can make a living turning wrenches.

So they had this program at AAA and it was a mobile diagnostic van program where you learned about engine diagnosis. So what we would do is members would bring their vehicle in for a fee and I’d do a basic vehicle inspection of lights, belts, hoses, fluid levels, the tires, tire pressures, and then we’d hook the engine up to an engine analyzer and we’d run a full engine analysis, and then we would explain to the member, “Hey, here’s what’s going on.”

We’d look at the charging system, the starting system, ignition system, compression, things like that. And that gave me a really good insight to be able to diagnose problems. And so from there, that really helped my automotive knowledge really shaped it. And then originally I thought I just kind of used that as my basis and then go work somewhere and start turning wrenches and working in the industry. But life throws you curveballs. And all of a sudden I was doing that job in the Washington DC area, and I was working for a local AAA club, and then the national office was getting ready to leave and relocate from Washington DC down to the Florida area. And somebody that was doing a similar job at the national level offered me a job and said, “Are you interested? We’re going to move to Florida. You’re going to do this job all over the country instead of just in one fixed area.” And I said, “Let’s do it.”

Mike:

That’s awesome. So basically you completely, physically moved as well.

David:

I did. Yep. Yep. So I did.

Mike:

And you hated leaving the good weather of DC for Florida, didn’t you?

David:

I did. It was a great area to grow up in. I feel very fortunate to grow up in the Washington DC area. The culture there going down the Smithsonians, the Smithsonian Museums, field trips at elementary, you’re going to the Air and Space Museum. You know, everything there-

Mike:

Yeah. That’s being spoiled compared to most kids. Yeah, for sure.

David:

Exactly. Yeah. And as I traveled the country, I realized that. I probably didn’t know that growing up right in that bubble. But let me tell you what a great area to grow up. And it’s great to go back. Anybody who’s never been to the Washington DC area and it’s metropolitan area, I highly recommend it [inaudible 00:08:29].

Mike:

What’s your favorite national museum or something to visit if you had to pick one, what gets you?

David:

You can’t go wrong with the Air and Space Museum, especially somebody that’s mechanically inclined and loves the automotive field. Air and Space Museum blows you away, but you can’t go wrong with any of them. Natural history is great. The one that always intrigued me, that I tell people that go to is go to the National Engraving and Printing, see how they do money? It’s not open as often, so you just need to check the time. But let me tell you, it’s a great place to go. And if you’re looking for those facts, you can find all that information on AAA.com too. You have all those facts right there.

Mike:

See, perfect.

David:

You’re looking for any place to travel destinations, take a look at our TripCanvas product and they’ll give you all the facts and times and great opportunities.

Mike:

That’s fantastic to know. I’ll check that out myself. I was going to say my favorite one in the past that I’ve visited, I always liked National Archives, where the Constitution is the Declaration. I mean, it is a vault. I mean, the building is, it’s crazy how developed that thing is. But yeah, it was a cool, just navigating the way you have to navigate into it.

David:

And they’re all centrally located, so you can walk to them fairly easy, and that makes it even better. And there’s no cost to get into them.

Mike:

No, it really is cool. So guys, dang, you’ve been with AAA a long time and you’re all’s reputation. When I grew up, and we discussed this, but it was like if you’re going to go on a trip, this was before GPS, you had to go to AAA to get the TripTik, right?

David:

Yep.

Mike:

And you had that little flipping pad and-

David:

Yeah, we called it the TripTik.

Mike:

Yeah, it was awesome. And now I still have the AAA membership just for my wife, my kids, and just the roadside assistance thing was always, and quite frankly, I’ve used it over the years or lock your keys out of your car, whatever. There was a variety of reasons why you called AAA, but you guys have so much more. Is there any… I mean, give me a little bit of the lineup because one thing I know is that you guys have 6,000 repair facilities associated and 200 owned within the company, correct?

David:

Yeah, we do. And so as you mentioned, there’s so many things that AAA offers to our members. And you talked about the old TripTik. We still have that available, but it’s online. So you go online, they’ll still plot the route where you want to stop at, if there’s any hotels, restaurants, gas stations, things like that, that whole plans points of interest. We have all that information that’s available to you at AAA.com. So you still have it, it’s just not that paper-based, but yeah, so AAA offers a wide variety of things more so than our road service platform. Again, we mentioned travel. There’s some opportunities for discounts and rewards. So if you’re a member, you get discounts in many places. Automotive related, NAPA. You save 10% on some parts purchases as a AAA member. So there’s opportunities there to save a little bit of money and get your member dues back just by saving that way.

But on the repair facility side, much like we inspect hotels and restaurants, and you’re always looking to see what is that diamond rating of that hotel or what’s a good restaurant in the area, we do the same thing for repair facilities. It’s called the Approved Auto Repair Program. Next year we’ll be celebrating 50 years of looking at and certifying repair facilities for our members because we know it’s one of the top 10 consumer complaints, auto repair. Oh man, something happened. I don’t understand it. I think they overcharge me. Well, if they go to a AAA approved auto repair facility and you have a complaint, call AAA, we’ll come out and take a look at it. We will mediate that concern between our member and the repair facility.

Mike:

That’s awesome.

David:

And as you mentioned, there’s 6,000 of them and they range from independent repair facilities to multi-bay dealerships.

Mike:

That’s awesome. And when you’re not at home and you are traveling, you want to know a safe place to go and something that’s been approved by an organization like yourselves that has done some due diligence on the organization.

David:

Yeah. And it also comes in handy. Let’s say you have an elderly parent in a different location or a child that’s going to school in a different location, and they call up, “Hey dad, where do I get my car fixed? This is happening, the check engine lights come on.” You’re like, “I don’t know anybody in that area.” Well, you can go to AAA.com slash auto repair and right there is a shop locator, and it’ll give you all of the list of the repair facilities that we’ve inspected and approved in that area.

Mike:

That’s awesome. So what’s the difference between the 200 stores you guys own and operate in, the 6,000 affiliates?

David:

Well, we call them the AAA Club owned repair facilities. They’re all in one. So they have a travel store, an insurance store, a lot of them. And then they also have a repair facility involved. So those are just owned and operated by some of our clubs. It is not nationwide. Again, there’s roughly about 200 of those facilities, but we have 6,000 repair facilities that we inspect and approve. So it’s just a small little percentage of our overall network of repair facilities.

Mike:

Yeah, so it’s not, I mean, really, it’s almost not even the main part of the strategy.

David:

Not at all. Not at all. Some clubs, some of our AAA clubs, they’re looking at that. But for the most part, no. We’re trying to make sure that we’re assisting our members in areas where they commonly break down and they’re looking for that repair facility. Can we have them towed over there? Because AAA does 30 million, over 30 million road service events a year.

Mike:

God, that’s a lot.

David:

It is. So it’s almost one a second. We’re out there servicing a member throughout North America.

Mike:

Now give me an idea, because I’ve called into the number before. Am I calling one centralized location or does it depend on where I’m calling from?

David:

It depends on where you’re calling from. It’s going to be routed to the local AAA club. And we talk about tires and everything. You’re part the Gain Traction, 14% of our calls are tire related. So you’re looking 4 million events we’re getting a year. People are calling flat tire. Could be somebody had some damage to their tire, could have a nail in it, could have a blowout. Who knows?

Mike:

Oh my gosh. Yeah. I’ve had one of those before. That was a unique circumstance going into St. Louis one time, my tire just ripped right off. But-

David:

Yeah, it happens.

Mike:

I was fortunate enough, the guy, one of those, I guess trucks with an arrow on it, they stay on the highways in busy areas, and they got behind me and put the arrow on and I was able to take care of it myself and put my spare on.

David:

Yeah. And that’s a huge thing because let’s think about this. You’re over there, you have a tire that’s blown out. You got to change the tire or you got to call somebody to come change you, but you’re on the side of the road. Without that big arrow board or before it gets to you with that big arrow board, it’s a little bit dangerous on the side of the road. People are whipping by at 70, 65 miles an hour. So the biggest thing you want to do as you’re traveling and you notice somebody is broken down on the side of the road.

There’s an emergency vehicle, somebody’s doing some work, tow truck, first responders, you want to slow down and move over, give them room to do their job ’cause you don’t know if anybody’s going to step out into that area. Maybe the tire rolls off when they take it off the vehicle or somebody’s just walking around their car. It’s the law now in all 50 states, but really it’s common sense. Slow down, move over if you can a lane, give them room to do their job ’cause everybody wants to go home at night.

Mike:

Amen. I think that’s a great point to make. I’m glad AAA does that. But the reality is, look, those people don’t want to be on the side of the road. Give them a break. I mean, if you haven’t been there, you will be one day. I mean, you haven’t driven enough then, but it happens to the best of us that somehow, some way you’re going to end up on the side of the road one day and it may not be a major issue, but you’re still there.

David:

And if it’s not you, it could be a family member or a close friend.

Mike:

Oh, yeah. And I’ll tell you right now, there’s nothing like feeling the air coming off of a semi truck flying by you.

David:

True. And then throw it if it’s raining or inclement weather. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not pretty.

Mike:

Get the big splash on the window.

David:

Oh yeah, yeah. They hit that puddle and now you’re just drenched and you’re like, “What else can go wrong?” And you go, “Don’t ask that question.”

Mike:

Here it comes. Well, what’s your favorite part of your job?

David:

Wow. Part of this. This is great. I get to do a lot of different interviews and meeting you, Mike, and the different people. But really at the end of the day, we’re helping people when they break down. On the road service side of the house, we’re them in their time in need. They’re broken down, they’re stressful. You think about it, what’s going on? My vehicle broke, so okay, I don’t know what happened. I know it needs to be probably towed, or I need to have a tire changed. I don’t even know if my car has a spare tire. And if it is, is it properly inflated? So the ability to be able to help people in a time of need is one area that I really enjoy. And then on the repair side of the house, developing those relationships with the local repair facilities, being able to recommend repair facilities, store members so they can go ahead and be comfortable at a repair facility. Say, “Hey, I know I’m going to go there. I know I’m going to be protected.”

Mike:

That’s nice. That is a good feeling. I mean, we’ve all had that naked feeling like, I don’t know what to trust here or whatever. Yeah. I’ll give a shout-out. We have a group here called McCarty’s, and they’ve been the AAA group here for I’d guess over 40 years. But if I’ve ever had to call them, I can speak highly of the fact that they have been Johnny on the spot. And their drivers have always been almost like guys I end up being friends with. Because you jump up in the cab with them and you got to get back. They got your car up on the flat bed or whatever. But no, they’ve been very friendly people for years.

David:

And let’s face it, think about what a helpless feeling that is if you’re getting your car towed and puts it up on the flat bed or on the wheel lift. And all you’re thinking about is, “Okay, what appointments do I have to call cancel? What about the kids? What about, oh, I had this. I’m not going to make this meeting. I need to call this person, this person.” You’re so frazzled.

Mike:

Oh, yeah. It [inaudible 00:19:35]-

David:

But I was going to say, the nice thing is you know you’re going to be protected by AAA. They’re going to pick you up, take you to where you want to go, and if you don’t know where you want to go, ask them, we’ll help you find your repair facility for you.

Mike:

Well, and that’s what I was going to say. I mean, now that I’m older and I, you know what I’m looking for, whatever. I pretty much have relationships where I want to go, but when I was younger, I’d be like, “Where should I take it?” And they were always good. I had a couple of weird accidents when I was younger or whatever. And then one that probably happened maybe about 15 years ago, I did the old hydroplane on a highway one time, and man, being a tire guy now, number one thing when I buy a tire is how good is it with water?

David:

Yep.

Mike:

After you’ve done a real hydroplane, I’m not talking about the little skip where you go, “Whoa, I just hydroplane there.” I’m talking about, I felt like I was on a sheet of ice for a quarter of a mile, it felt like.

David:

Yeah. And in the DC area, it’s all about black ice too, because it’s a lot of sleet and rain. But yeah, tires are so important. And I’ve done the hydro planing. I’ll admit it publicly, I put a car into a guardrail in high school one time after I was learning how to drive. I think my parents are still mad at me ’cause that was the family car. And every kid learned how to drive. I was the last kid, the youngest, and it survived, maybe. I don’t think it survived that. And so they’re still mad at me. I still think I get yelled at about it. [inaudible 00:21:03]

Mike:

You’re the one that you’re the put that car in the graveyard then, huh?

David:

Oh yeah. Exactly. And it was a 1975 Ford Grand Torino. So it was a boat of a car, and I was coming out of an area and trying to cross and just hit some water. It was raining. I hit some water, hit the gas. Thing fishtailed, couldn’t control it real quick and put myself right into the guard rail, [inaudible 00:21:26]-

Mike:

And that’s when you had a rear wheel drive.

David:

Yep. That is correct.

Mike:

Oh, yeah. You’re good.

David:

But it goes to show you how important tires are. They are the life. They’re the only thing that’s keeping you, they’re touching the ground. Everything else is off the ground.

Mike:

So, so true. I mean, everything else… I mean, yes, it is the one thing between you and the ground and-

David:

Correct.

Mike:

It means a lot. You’re absolutely right. Yeah. I can reflect back on that hydroplane that I had, and I remember thinking afterward, like tires all of a sudden became way more serious business to me. I went in front of a semi and we looked at each other ’cause I was perpendicular to the road at the time, and I could see him, for our audience, just imagine I had just passed a semi, and I get past him about probably a good, I don’t know, 200 feet or something. And all of a sudden I hydroplane. And then I’m literally looking at him and he’s looking at me. I don’t know what he did in his shorts, but then all of a sudden I go back and I get parallel with the road again, and then I pinged off of the guard rail, then I bounce, I come back in front of him again and it’s pouring down rain.

Oh yeah. It was a wild ride. I can look back on it with a sense of humor now. But yeah, I was actually talking to a good friend of mine when it happened too, and he thought I died. I mean, he thought, man, he could have just hear the banging because I dropped the phone and everything. I had the wired earpieces in. They all fell off. Everything fell off. And then I realized when I finally came to a stop, oh, there’s my phone. I pick it up, go, “Hello.” Goes, “Dude, I thought you died.” He goes, “You know what you said before”, and I literally said this. I went, I didn’t cuss or anything. He said, you went, “Oh no, I’ve got a wreck.” I don’t even remember saying that.

David:

And that goes to show you the importance. It may not have played a part in it, but really even talking on the phone is distracted driving. You think about it, you have really, when you get behind the wheel of a car, you have one job, and that’s to drive from point A to point B safely.

Mike:

Yeah.

David:

You know what? Remove all your distractions. Turn the phone off. You can wait for that phone call. Don’t look at text messages. Focus on that one task at hand, driving from point A to point B. it’s really the best thing for you.

Mike:

It is the best thing. And I’m terrible about it because you got the hands free now even. And so it just tempts you to make a call, but-

David:

It does. But it’s still distracting because your mind is on the conversation. It may not be focused everywhere.

Mike:

Absolutely. Yeah. There’s no doubt about it. I mean, look, I think we all take driving for granted too. I mean, you’re literally in an object and you’re going 70 miles an hour on a highway.

David:

How many feet between each car, right?

Mike:

Oh, it’s crazy.

David:

Yeah. So bring that back to tires again. And as your tires wear, you’re stopping distance increases. Are you giving yourself enough room to stop?

Mike:

Man, that’s so true. I’m glad you brought up tires. This has been good for the podcast. We like talking about tires.

David:

Hey, so you think about, we talked about tire pressure. We talked about tire tread and quality of tires. When I was doing that job where I was traveling around the country doing these vehicle inspections, I probably looked at over a hundred thousand vehicles over my career, probably close to 150, maybe even 200,000. I want to tell you about 20, 25% of them had a problem with the tire. Either under inflated, over inflated, or not enough tread.

Mike:

Did you hear that folks? That’s huge for us. I mean, that’s a big deal in our industry. Wow, that’s a huge stat.

David:

People are not looking at it, and it’s fairly simple to check your tire pressure. It’s very easy. It only takes a couple of minutes. And don’t forget your spare tire. How many people forget about the spare tire that, oh, okay. Yeah, these tires look good. But I haven’t looked at the spare tire in a while.

Mike:

Out of sight, out of mind.

David:

Hey, do I have one? Yeah. Hey, do I have one? 25% of the cars nowadays do not come with a spare tire.

Mike:

That’s so true.

David:

And if you have a donut spare are you’re replacing it. They think it’s about every 10 years, I believe it is, that you need to replace that donut spare tire. How many people have done that? How many people?

Mike:

I can’t say that I have. I’ll confess it.

David:

I’ll confess that I did about two years ago, only because I was checking the tire pressure and I was going on a road trip and I went to add air and it wouldn’t hold air. So that’s why I replaced it.

Mike:

Glad you checked, huh?

David:

Yep, very much so.

Mike:

Well, David, we’re coming up on our stop, but I got another tough question for you. What’s your favorite movie?

David:

Ooh, there’s so many out there.

Mike:

All right, I’ll even let you expand into three if you need to.

David:

Ooh, three. Okay. So, okay, so the original best one growing up would be The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Mike:

Oh yes.

David:

Spaghetti Western, Eli Wallach, Clint, Eastwood, Van Cleef. Great movie.

Mike:

All right, listen, ’cause I know that movie. Do you have a favorite scene?

David:

Not that jumps to my head. The whole thing [inaudible 00:26:49]-

Mike:

You know which one I like because my son likes it. I got my son to watch it, and he’s so much younger. He’s an old soul. But it’s the scene where Eli Wallach is in the bathtub in that abandoned house. Do you remember that?

David:

Oh, yeah.

Mike:

And that guy that had been looking to kill him comes in there. He goes, “I found you just the way I want you.” But Eli had a gun on him in the bathtub with the soap. And then he sits there after he shoots the guy. He says, “If you’re going to talk, talk” or he goes, “If you’re going to shoot, shoot, don’t talk.” Because the guy could have killed him if he wanted to, because it was like a humorous spot in the movie and the way he handled it and everything.

David:

Yep.

Mike:

What’s another one? That’s a great pick.

David:

I’m a big golfer. So Caddyshack, you can’t run away from Caddyshack.

Mike:

Oh my gosh. You are excellent movie watcher.

David:

Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

Mike:

Yeah, no doubt about it.

David:

So those are probably the top two that if I’m flipping through channels or whatever, it’s one, I’ll just stop and watch it.

Mike:

You know the cast of the Caddyshack cracks me up because it’s such a phenomenal cast. And I don’t know if they could ever pull that off again, but one of the guys that I think was underrated in so many ways, but Ted Knight, the guy that played the snobby judge, I don’t think you could have picked a better guy to play the snobby judge. He played that guy so great.

David:

He did. And there’s a book about it, and it tells you how the cast and him were not seeing eye to eye because he was such a serious actor and everybody else were comedians. And he’s there taking it serious and everybody else, they’re partying at night and they’re coming into the set and maybe not on the full right mind, and he would get upset. So there is a book or two out there that talks about the making of that movie.

Mike:

That’s awesome. I remember hearing, this was probably 20 plus years ago, 25, I guess, it was one of the last shows that Paul Harvey did, and he was doing one of those, the rest of the story or whatever, and he gave the background on Caddyshack and how they made the movie. But it ended up, it was rewritten through the process, if I remember right.

David:

Yep.

Mike:

But that’s what you get when you get those ad-libs. So obviously you like comedies. Do you have a funny story for us?

David:

I do. I have a great story for you. And it’s tire related. How’s that for you?

Mike:

Awesome. Love it.

David:

So this just happened to me and it happened to me personally over Thanksgiving weekend, this past Thanksgiving. Saturday morning, I came out and I had a flat tire. I was like, “Ah, a flat tire.” So I get my portable air compressor out, pump up the deal, plug it in, pump it up. So at first I’m looking at the tread, I don’t see a nail in it, I back it up. I don’t see a nail in it and don’t see anything, any damage. I’m like, “What’s going on?” And then I hear this hissing noise. I’m like, “What?” So I get out and I’m looking at it, and I’ve got three, I don’t know how to explain it, but basically three marks into the tire. Somebody has now gone through and damaged a tire. It looks like it’s just three things. It probably wouldn’t come across, but I have a picture here. We could try showing it to you.

But there’s these three marks. It looks like stab marks or whatever, that somebody may have stabbed my tire. And I’m looking at these things and I’m going, and I drove the car last night. It was fine when I got home, parked it outside, no big deal. And I’m looking at it and I’m looking at these marks and they’re jagged. It’s not a knife mark. And I’m like, what could it be? So what could cause that? Any idea before I spill beans?

Mike:

You hit something?

David:

No, there’s no damage to the rim. There’s no damage to the sidewall. There’s no damage to the [inaudible 00:30:42]-

Mike:

Oh, so this is on the tread?

David:

Yeah, no, it’s on, yeah. So no, the damage is the sidewall. I’m sorry.

Mike:

Oh, okay.

David:

So it’s in the sidewall. No damage anywhere else. You don’t see any kind of scuff marks anywhere.

Mike:

I have no idea.

David:

I have bears in my neighborhood and I have… Yep, there you go. Exactly.

Mike:

Really.

David:

A bear. So I believe, and I’ve talked to the people that replaced the tires. My background, I know that a bear was walking by and clawed my tires ’cause if you look at it, there are three claw marks, jagged that it hit it and flattened my tire.

Mike:

That is so-

David:

I don’t have any other way to prove it. Let’s see. I don’t know if you can see this, but we’ll try to do it. I highlighted them and let’s see here. We’ll try to show the three jagged ones right there.

Mike:

Oh, yeah.

David:

And they’re just not clean like a knife.

Mike:

No.

David:

So the following week, the culprit returned.

Mike:

Oh my gosh. You got a picture of him.

David:

Yeah. So there’s a Florida black bear right there. And I can’t think of another logical explanation. And if you look at that picture again, those claw marks, those circles that I show are about what a claw would be. So I think it was walking up there and just hit my tire somehow, or decided to sharpen its claws or something on my tire.

Mike:

He said, I’m going to see what this thing is right here and just stick my nails in. That’s wild.

David:

I have no other logical explanation.

Mike:

Well, I’m going to concur with you, and especially now that you caught the culprit on camera, maybe a week later or whatever. I mean, he’s back there messing around. That’s pretty wild.

David:

I knew I’d get you on that one.

Mike:

You did. I was thinking, well, yeah, your rim would be messed up a little bit if you hit something or rub something, right?

David:

Yep. Yeah. And there’s no scuffs, even on the sidewall, it is a clean, three-

Mike:

Just this.

David:

Yep, like that. Kind of like a wolverine or something like that. I’m not sure, so.

Mike:

That’s a great story. Well, David, I can’t thank you enough for being part of the podcast.

David:

Mike, I appreciate the invite.

Mike:

It’s been a lot of fun. So we’ll have you back sometime maybe in the future.

David:

Love to do it anytime.

Mike:

To all our listeners, thank you again for being part of a podcast. As you know, if you’d like to recommend a guest, please email me at [email protected]. Till next time, be safe and have a great day.

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