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The Rental Show 2006 recap: New Truck lights up Rental City
Whitney Carnahan
Whitney Carnahan is features editor for Rental Management, Moline, Ill. She can be reached at 800-334-2177, ext. 283, or e-mail whitney.carnahan@ararental.org. 04/01/2006
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| Dan Kemphues hasn’t stopped grinning for days. He still can’t believe the red powerhouse of a truck is actually parked at his business. Rental City, Champaign, Ill., was one of five finalists for the 2006 Ford F-250 pickup truck giveaway Feb. 9 at the Orange County Convention Center, the grand finale of The Rental Show in Orlando, Fla. The giveaway was ARA’s way of thanking all members for their roles in the association’s 50-year history. When he was at the show and his business name was called, at first he didn’t move. “Somebody had to kick me and say, ‘Hey, Dan, that’s you’,” he said. The five business finalists went up on stage, and when the last key fob came to him with no horns triggered, he couldn’t believe it. “I’m thinking there’s got to be a mistake someplace,” he said. Jim Taylor of accounting firm Carpentier-Mitchell-Goddard & Co., held the tray in front of him with the last of the five key fobs. Kemphues pressed the key fob and the horn sounded. “I think if he’d asked me my name, I wouldn’t have been able to tell him. I was completely dumbfounded.” Meanwhile, Kemphues’ son Brad called his mom Cindy Kemphues, who was working back at the store. She heard the crowd cheer, but was pretty sure her husband and son were playing a wild joke. She wasn’t sure if the truck was for real until one of their vendors called to tease her about it. “I said, ‘Oh, it’s got to be real. Other people are calling.’ You don’t really think you’re going to win,” she said. “Everybody I knew that was there came up and congratulated me before I got off stage,” Dan said. “Thursday and Friday night, I couldn’t sleep.” Neither he nor Brad could contain their giddiness. “All of a sudden one of us would just burst out laughing for no reason.” The truck arrived at the store at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 25. The crew cab F-250 has all sorts of fun and useful features, including roll-away seats, heated mirrors, a tow command system, fog lamps, step bars, a chrome package and an 8-ft. truck bed, which he plans to have coated. So far, though, his favorite part is how the engine sounds. “It’s the first diesel I’ve ever had, and we really need a diesel,” he said. “This is going to help me tremendously.” Currently, he leases two Ford trucks for the business — both no-frills deals. Both leases were up for renewal in March. “What it amounts to is I only have to lease one. The timing couldn’t be better. I’m tickled to death with it. It’s got more on it than I know what to do with.” Mac Drysdale opened the store, then called U-Do-It Tool Rental Co., in 1953. The business became an ARA member in 1963. Kemphues came to work at the store in 1971, and later married Drysdale’s daughter, Cindy. The couple has two sons, Brad and Ryan, who both work in the business. Both Dan and Cindy describe her father, who passed away in 1973, as very involved with the ARA founding members. “One thing he was very adamant about, you pay the ARA dues,” Dan said. The business uses many ARA services including ARA’s insurance program, the Web site and educational programs. He added that the ARA events have been helpful for his son, Brad, in particular. “We’ve been sending him to a lot of the Next Generation stuff.” Dan said being a member of the ARA “is important because of the show, No. 1,” he said. “I think there’s, at most, three shows over the years we’ve missed.” He said 80 percent of their buying gets done at The Rental Show. “There’s some years we do 100 percent of our buying at the show,” he said. “It gives us a chance to talk face to face with a lot of vendors. Other than that, you’re talking to people on the phone.” |
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