34 10-4 Magazine / July 2025 The “road to wishes” really began back in 1957 when George Raney got out of the Navy and came home to Ocala, Florida. Opening a truck stop on old 301 with a restaurant, fuel islands, and an icehouse that blew ice on top of produce loads that required it, he got right down to business. In the late 1960s through the 1970s he owned and operated a wrecker service, as well. I’m sure he never would have imagined that his family would still be serving the trucking industry in Ocala almost 70 years later! With a small fleet of wreckers, George would sometimes have to go on calls himself. It was those times that Mark (his son) and his siblings might pile in the wrecker and go along. One of the most memorable calls was when there was a truck submerged in water and George had to dive in to hook the chain around the front axle. George didn’t really have any truck specific experience prior to starting the truck stop and wrecker businesses, but he was mechanically inclined and had experience working in aeronautics. I think dispatchers sometimes confuse the two – a truck and a plane – and the time they expect us to get freight delivered. I always used to say, “It says Kenworth on the side of my hood, not Leer!” In 1986 the truck stop was sold to Baxley Oil Company and then George purchased a Mack Truck franchise. They would order new trucks and have them delivered to Rogers Body in Nashville, TN to have new dump bodies mounted on them. Mark and his coworkers would take small S-10 Chevy trucks to pick up the finished units, load them in the dump bodies, and then bring them home. When the franchise was sold the family exited this part of the business. It was also in 1986 when Mark Raney opened Raney’s Truck Center, which grew into a large truck and parts service center, also located in Ocala, FL. It was here that Joel (his son) got to be around trucks, helping at his dad’s shop. In 2023 Mark sold the truck center. He is technically retired now, but he still talks business with his son Joel and is a wealth of information for him. Truck Show Report: By John & Kim Jaikes The Raney’s business that we know today – Raney’s Truck Parts – was born in 2010 when it was Joel’s turn to start a business that would continue to provide quality service for truckers. He started out in a little yellow house in Ocala. Chatting with Richard Stocknahm, he can remember doing business with Joel when he was located in that little house. Joel has taken the business from these humble beginnings to an international level, focusing on having a large global footprint through their website and a large distribution center. But Raney’s is much more than a chrome accessories dealer, as their inventory also includes collision parts, hoods, shocks, brake components, headlights and other parts for all makes and models. THE ROAD TO WISHES
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