Fleet Insider
DRIVER OF THE MONTH
JAMES JAILLET
‘Man of action’
Phil Johnson
Marten driver Phil Johnson
drives through the good and
bad with a determined spirit
E
xpecting the unexpected has been a mantra for
Marten driver Phil Johnson for the near 30 years
he’s driven, and abiding by it has resulted in quite
a few accolades, including several driver of the year
awards and nominations, 3 million safe miles and a
Truckload Carriers
Association Highway
Angel award, which
Q&A
he was given for saving a man’s life when
TN: What advice would you offer
he happened upon a
younger drivers?
car crash in Destin,
Fla.
Phil: The biggest piece of advice I
He’s also a selfgive is do not get in a hurry. Take it
proclaimed man of
slow. Turn the CB off and don’t worry
action, and “I’ve
about what anybody else is saying.
When you’re backing up, don’t worry
always looked at it
about how long it takes. When you
that way,” he says,
bump the docks and set your brakes,
“I’m not a standbyyou’ve done what you were super.” The Jackson, Ga.,
posed to, and it doesn’t matter how
resident has more
long it took. There’s a learning curve
than one story to
involved with this, and you just need
back it up, too. In
to take your time until you’ve got a
addition to his Highgood handle on it.
way Angel actions,
he saved a baby from
TN: What’s the worst load you’ve
a car in Michigan in
ever carried?
which the mother
Phil: Cowhides. They stunk so bad,
was doing drugs in a
and it’s all you could smell. They
parking lot.
were going to a shipping container
When it comes to
to be shipped overseas, and all they
driving, though, “it’s
did was salt them — they weren’t
all about anticiparefrigerated. That’s definitely the
tion,” Johnson says.
worst load I’ve hauled. It was back
“You have to anticiin the early ’80s, and I’d pick up a
pate what the other
container at the port in Savannah
person’s going to
and take it to Winn Dixie or some
do before they do it
place, and I’d pick up a backhaul for
export. That’s what they gave me one
and not let folks get
time — cowhides.
under your skin.”
76 TRUCKERS NEWS JANUARY 2012
The driving vet has run a dedicated load from Atlanta
to Indianapolis for about 15 years hauling refrigerated
goods to Kroger. He started driving when he joined the
Marines in 1975, where he was offered the chance to
haul jet fuel in Beaufort, S.C., then tactical equipment in
Okinawa, Japan.
After leaving the service, he did landscape work
briefly before going to driving school in Savannah,
Ga. He had a few short stints with other carriers, including time hauling for Dixie Crystal sugar.
He started driving for Marten in 1987, where he’s
been since.
In 1999, though, his career and his personal life
were struck a somber blow, when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks after the couple ordered a truck and planned on running an
owner-operator team. She died in 2002, and Johnson
decided to continue running as a company driver.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal
with,” he says, but he kept driving, dealing with the
unexpected the same way he had before. “You can’t
take anything for granted out here,” he says. “That’s
just the nature of the job.”
®
Editor’s note: Phil Johnson is a finalist in the 2012
Company Driver of the Year contest produced by Truckers
News and the Truckload Carriers Association. The winner,
will be announced at TCA’s annual convention March 3-6,
2013, in Las Vegas.