Straycat

In-depth

10 Aug

In talking with Stu Wood of The Giants band recently, Stu asked if I’d come across one Tony Straycat. “Got the meanest Peterbilt you ever did see, mate. We used it for one of our songs, ‘This Trucking Life’. Do yourself a favour and get onto him.”

So I did. Turns out Tony has a lot more to him than just a Pete. His is a fascinating story:

Originally from Adelaide, Tony has resided in Brisbane for the past 16 years. It is from there that he runs his business, Straycat Express.

At 60, he has been behind the wheel in one form or another for 45 years and has seen and done it all - except for pulling up at truck stops.

“I’ve always enjoyed doing express because I’m not a roadhouse type of fella, so anything that kept me going as soon as I hopped behind the wheel, I got into it.”

Let’s go back to the beginning…

Tony started behind the wheel of a truck before he got behind one in a car. That was with his father, John Kilmartin.

“Dad was driving an ACCO. It was a rigid road train with two trailers behind it, rather than a prime mover with trailers that we all see today. We weren’t alone in that style of truck. There was a lot of what we called the push-pull, with a stiff bar between the trailers. There were no real regulations then, and what there was were twisted and bent just to get by. That’s just the way industry was back in the day.

“Back then she was dirt Outback – or a lot of it was. As soon as it rained it was just pure mud and slush. Bogging and breakdowns were commonplace, but someone would always stop to lend a hand. The good old days!

“Dad used to go to Kalgoorlie in that truck and did a lot of movements with the Air Force. He had been in the air force as a driver so I guess he got a bit of business due to his links with that. We’d transport all sorts: Mirage planes – you’d have thought they would fly them in, but no. And there were tanks as well.

“It was very hush-hush, all on unmarked trucks and trailers. It’s a bit hard hiding a tank, and quite frankly a Mirage wasn’t easy to hide either. You can take the wings of it but you’ve still got the tailplane sitting there up in the air. However we did the best we could – they would all be tarped up.

Tony is probably the originator of the ‘Work for the Dole’ scheme, which the Howard Government instituted decades later.

“I wanted to learn the industry and there was no apprenticeship in the industry – just like today. You had to hand in your dole form personally but I couldn’t do that and learn the business, so I had my brother hand it in for me while I went and worked – and learned. It was the only way I could get into the industry and learn the game properly. I must impress here that I was working for nothing. To me it was like an apprenticeship.

“I did my rigid license and then the semi, and then we had to prove that we could handle road trains – loading and unloading, reversing, hooking up multiple trailers. I spent a good twelve months doing that.

“Then I started doing two-up to Perth with a bloke I was put on to. I was 17 and didn’t have my license to drive trucks, but I used to go away with him to learn the trade.

“Wayne Bunker (Bunker Freightlines) in Adelaide who did all the Kwikasair and TNT back in the day sent me to Sydney and back on my first trip as soon as I was 18. And then they offered me the Perth run because I’d done the Sydney trip in such good time. They were quick trucks back in those days. We’d go across the Nullarbor at 80 or 90 miles an hour. How dumb is that!

“I was running solo initially. Then they started doing two-up. It was in 1987 that I was involved in a massive crash. The other guy fell asleep behind the wheel and I came out of the bunk, through the windscreen and broke my back and my neck.”

It took Tony quite a time to recover.

“I was in Kalgoorlie for quite a while. They couldn’t move me because of my spinal injuries. At the end of the day they had to fly me out in a Lear jet, at a very low level because I wasn’t allowed to fly at altitude. I had to learn to walk again.

“After I recovered it was tough to get back in the game because I was considered high-risk, although I’d had nothing to do with the accident. They worried about my health I guess. So I decided to hit out on my own and bought my first truck – a 1987 Mack Super Liner. It was an E9 500 hp, with straight through pipes which were pretty rowdy. I was running across the paddock doing market work.

“I had the Mack for a few years and then I needed a cab-over so I did it deal with a bloke who had a Kenworth and went into that. I started doing refrigeration express then. Then I bought another - an anteater, from a mob called Refrigerated Roadways. That was a T 600.

**Music as important to Tony as his trucks**

“I’ve had a few trucks since I moved here to Queensland – Volvo, cab-over Kenworth’s and then the Peterbilt. At our peak we had three trucks running. We did a lot of work down to Melbourne whilst I did road train work with the Peterbilt.”

Tony’s had the Peterbilt for four years. A 2006 model - recompliant to 2014, it is dyno- tuned to 625 hp at the wheels. This is a powerful beast!

“When I first looked at it, it was a white cab with brown guards. Some people have no taste. Those Americans are a funny mob sometimes. The conversion was done by a mob called Re-Truck who also did the paintwork. That was done for my mate, Elvis. Through some business dealings he had to move it on and that’s when I bought it.

With music being a large part of Tony’s life (more on that shortly), The Pete was christened “The Memphis Flash after Elvis Presley. Which begs the question: Straycat and Straycat Express?

“There was a rock band called the Stray Cats back in the 80’s and early 90’s. I’ve always been involved in music one way or another, as has my wife who played drums with an all-female band called the vandals. We were both doing and teaching 50s rock ‘n’ roll dancing, because we have hot rods and custom cars too. Played a bit of the Stray Cats music and liked the name. Simple really. We’ve named the business that around seven years ago and the name stuck with me as well.

“Back in the day, and at the time of the accident I was a drummer in a band and also a bass player. (Sorry to interrupt here, but we all know the jokes about drummers and bass players – and Tony did both)

“The truth is that whilst I loved music I was pretty shy and I was happy playing drums or bass and sitting in the background. I was happy to let the singer and lead guitarist have all the fame.

“Anyway I was in a wheelchair and had to learn to walk again. That’s why I gave music away professionally. I couldn’t play the drums because my legs just wouldn’t work. So that was end of that career. We built the band coming out of school and I did it in between truck driving jobs.

“The band started off as ‘Route 66’ and then we realised there was band already called that in Adelaide. My old man had recorded us once, practising in the shed (a cassette which I still have) and because he did a lot for us and his name was John, we called ourselves ‘Johnny and the Revive-alls’. Spelled that way we couldn’t be sued by the American band, Johnny and the Revivals. Lol.

“I also used to do short films. I’d won a few short film competitions back in school days. So I went back to doing some of those and also bit of light and sound engineering. I knew I couldn’t play music but I still wanted to be involved in that scene.

“I try everything because life is too short to be sitting and blaming the world for shit that happens. Through everything and sadly (says Tony with a laugh) trucking has been the bread and butter of my existence.”

Tony is still behind the wheel doing road trains – well he was until the start of this year at least.

“I haven’t worked since Christmas. You hear on the news that life’s never been better for truckies since COVID-19, but that’s not the truth – well not for subbies and owner/drivers. I was carrying for a number of big businesses. They didn’t have enough work for their own trucks so they laid virtually all the subbies off.

“With work that was available, business were cutting rates to the bone. One company cut a thousand dollars off the rate - per trailer! With three trailers that’s a $6,000 loss for me on a round trip. I don’t think so!

“It’s cheaper for me to park my truck here unregistered and not move it, than it is to put it on the road at the moment. But there’s guys out there doing it. There’s guys running down to Sydney at the moment who are making a lousy $500 to $800 after fuel.

“One company was offering $1400 a B-double to Melbourne from Brisbane. The wear and tear on the rig is going to cost more than that. People are doing it because they need to get their truck down to Melbourne to hopefully bring back a full paying job.

“I got put onto them and I thought, okay, because another company had shut their doors and I needed the work. I contacted them and they said no worries. So I sent the driver down there and they emailed me the invoice. I went, ‘What the F** is this?’ I told them what my rate was and I wasn’t gonna go down there under three grand.

“Someone is making money out of this but it’s not the owner/driver. I mean, whatever you’re loading or carrying is still same retail price at the end of the day so someone is bleeding the average subbie and making a huge amount of cream as a consequence, under the guise of COVID.”

While he’s on a roll I decide to bring up length rules.

“Jeez, you’re really getting me fired up, Kermie. For example with my Peterbilt I can’t tow a 32 or 34 B double, but on the same road there are road trains and B triples.

“Me – I’ve never understood why overall length includes the rig. Apart from anything else we have guys who could be travelling the length and breadth of the land in a bunk that is hardly big enough to put themselves in. Now, logic tells me that you should be able to buy a Peterbilt or a Kenworth and throw a 63” or even a 72” cab on the back. Then you can go away for a week and be comfortable – and consequently better rested and safer behind the wheel. It should be – and is - your home but it’s not allowed because of the stupid length laws. Really, I reckon there’s an OH&S issue here.

“There’s a different length law in W.A. to pull a B double. So if I register my license and my truck in Western Australia and come over the border, technically I’m a legal length because I’m registered and I have a license that says I live in Perth. That should tell me that I’m allowed to drive Australia-wide at that length. But you’re not. They ping you as you come over the border. It’s ridiculous!”

I move the conversation on to other things before Tony’s mobile catches fire, and he tells me of something in the offing:

“I’ve been thinking of doing a two-up with someone I’ve known for quite a while - Women in trucks and all that stuff. She’s a good friend. She is also deaf. I’ve put an offer to her. I said, ‘you know I don’t trust many’ – this goes way back to that accident in ’87 – ‘but if you want to get into the game and get a job (because she is having trouble finding work due to being deaf), I’m prepared to leave my truck parked up and jump in a truck with you to get you into some work’. That’s my next thing.

“It’s great to give someone else a leg up in the industry so they can make their own mark in it. I believe in giving everyone a go, as I had when I was 16.”

Tony is still a man who’s happy in his own skin and being out there by himself. He still tries to avoid McDonald’s and KFC truck stops.