10-4 Magazine May 2022

a wholesale division, six Michelin retread plants, and two rim and wheel reconditioning plants. After 32 years leading the growth of the business, Sam Bauer sold most of his interest in Bauer Built to his sons and sons-in-law in 1976. Tom’s dad was par t of this overall corporate succession. Sam retired from full-time duty in 1980 and passed away 14 years later, after 50 years of service and dedication. Today, under second- and third-generation leadership, the company has continued to expand through the acquisition of additional tire centers and retread facilities across the Midwest, and currently operates locations spread out between South Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nor th Dakota, Indiana, and Illinois. Back in those days, Tom’s dad was in charge of the retread shop, and everyone there knew little Tommy. He loved walking through the plant and saying hello to everyone. Once he got old enough, Tom went to work in the family business, working in one of the tire centers. After high school, Tom went through a 2-year technical college program for management, then came back and began working in the garage, helping to maintain the fleet. Eventually, with help from his uncle Butch, Tom star ted driving, delivering oil and gas to farms, then graduated to a big rig pulling a tanker, delivering fuel to stations and farms that bought in bulk. Tom credits longtime Bauer Built driver Merle Hermundson with teaching him how to drive a truck. Continuing to drive a truck, Tom began delivering tires to their Midwest locations and picking up loads from various manufacturers. At that time, he drove a 1983 International 9670, then later switched to a 1988 International conventional (one of their first sloped-hood aero offerings). In the late 1980s, Tom was given the oppor tunity to manage two of their oil changing locations, and he took it. He also got married in 1988 and went on to have three kids (all grown now) – Josh (39), Stefanie (34), and Henry (29). Unfor tunately, they divorced in 2000. In 1998, Tom decided to leave the family business. He was burned out doing what he 10-4 Magazine / May 2022 11 was doing, and to advance in the company he would have needed to move to a big city, which was something he wasn’t willing to do. Going to work for a technology company, Tom also did some par t time work with his father, who had purchased a run-down marina on Lake Pepin in Wisconsin. His dad invested a lot of time and money at this marina, fixing it up and updating it, and Tom helped him whenever he could. In 2000, Tom got a new job at Andersen Windows in Menomonie, WI and stayed there for ten years, working his way into management, until he was let go in 2010 (mostly due to the ongoing recession happening in the country at that time). Still helping his dad at the marina, Tom decided to buy a CAT-powered 2005 KW T2000 and began hauling cattle for a friend. This truck was burgundy in color and had a giant “cow catcher” on the front of it. Hauling animals from two sale barns in Wisconsin (Barron and Altoona) to a packing plant in Milwaukee, Tom did this run five days a week, and also did some direct hauling from farms to meat packing plants in Green Bay on the weekends. Meeting Adam Johnson at some motorcycle charity events, he and Tom struck up a friendship. Adam, whose parents are Karen and Dwight Johnson, the owners of K&D Transpor t, had been bugging Tom to come and work with them at K&D for quite some time. After hauling cattle for four years, the packing house in Milwaukee closed in 2014. So, needing more steady work,