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THE bUSINESSmaN into a nationwide carrier, and he did so ABF Freight Systems, which the younger
In 1980, the year Congress deregu- with an aggressive posture by acquir- Young did. After some time in terminal
lated the trucking industry to allow ing 20 more companies over the years operations, his father moved him to the
any company to deliver any product to expand its service area to encompass subsidiary Data-Tronics Corp. that pro-
anywhere for any price, Arkansas Best both coasts. vided computer services for ABF.
Freight Company, as ABF Freight System But Young didn’t just jump into Mind you, in the mid-1960s what
was known, was the ninth largest trucking without a back-up plan. qualified as “high tech” was still rath-
trucking company in the United States. In a 2000 Arkansas Trucking Report er... well, Young III put it this way in a
Of the 50 largest freight carriers at that article, longtime family friend Walton 2000 Arkansas Trucking Report profile:
time, only two remain today and ABF is Maurras—who was also a partner in “Computers were a relatively new thing
one of them. Today, the less-than-truck- the firm where Young practiced law— in 1965, using 8-column punch cards
th
load carrier is the 14 largest trucking described how the newly minted freight and they were about the size of two
company in the nation. company owner had hedged his bets. refrigerators,” he said. “We had an IBM
But there’s far more to that story “I’ve heard that Mr. Young actually 1401 that had a 12K memory.”
than just growth. Arkansas Best founder told his law partners here to keep his In 1966, the Youngs’ operation
Robert A. Young Jr. built the framework office desk and furnishings in the event was reorganized as Arkansas Best
that allowed his company not only to the trucking firm didn’t make it so he Corp. with ABF as its major subsidiary,
weather this change in the industry, but could come back,” said Maurras. “Of but Data-Tronics was still intact and
prosper above most of its competition— course he never did, but the firm kept handling computer services for the
even though he died seven years before his office just like he left it for several company, and still does today. Whether
the Motor Carrier Act was passed. years.” Robert Young Jr. foresaw it or not, hav-
Taking the long view was char- Of the many key decisions Young ing his son take on what we now call
acteristic of Young, who was working made over the years, one was to secure IT would serve the company in good
as a lawyer when he bought Arkansas the line of succession for the company’s stead more than 30 years later as the
Motor Freight Lines, the precursor to future leadership. In 1964 he asked his Internet developed and became an
Arkansas Best Freight, in 1951. Young’s son, Robert A. Young III, to forego law essential tool for running the business
long-term plans were to grow the firm school himself and come back to join


GEt somEonE

on your sidE

A Legal Defense Plan
Designed by and for Truckers.

Jim C. Klepper, Esq.
800-417-3552 ®

www.driverslegalplan.com

Drivers Legal Plan

aRkansas TRucking RePoRT | issue 3 2012 29