Sinner’s wrecker demo proved great Father’s Day program

Sunday’s museum program was a big hit on Father’s Day.
Lloyd Sinner of Sinner’s Paint & Body Shop, Towing and Recovery of Wauneta was the guest speaker.
The program started off inside the museum where around 80 people were in attendance.
Sinner talked about what his business does along with a walk down memory lane, sharing stories that spawned both waves of laughter and hair-raising mental images for the crowd.
Sinner started learning the  business with his father in 1953. He said his father never really cared for the business, but he genuinely enjoyed it.
In 1958, he bought his first tow truck for $5,000.
“I never thought I’d ever get it paid for,” Sinner chuckled.
Through the years, he said he’s never had two calls exactly alike.
 “I love a challenge. But at times, it is tough,” he said.
Sometimes he said he would go out on a job thinking it would be an easy one.
“The unexpected can be terrible,” he added.
It’s dangerous work—you can’t be safe enough, he said.
“I can’t explain often enough on safety when on a job,” he said. “Any call can be or become dangerous.”
Sinner described a situation that he felt was one of the most dangerous he’s been on.
A semi had overturned, and the tankard was upside down. It was hauling hydrochloric acid.
“We had to wait for inspectors from the Joint Chemical Accident Investigation Team from Wichita, Kansas to get to the scene,” said Sinner.
They had very strict safety rules they had to follow to work the accident. Chains could not be used to get the truck upright because of possible sparks that could cause a deadly explosion.
“The team had personnel who trained multiple hoses of foam on each one of us working the accident,” he recalled.
Another extremely dangerous situation that is always present is traffic passing by while they are working a scene.
“I want to caution everyone to always pull over while passing activity on the side of the road,” Sinner said.
He commented that he had a lot of good memories. He said his wife used to say to him, before she passed away, how amazing it was that no matter where they went or what road they drove down, he could remember every spot on every road that something happened.
“It sticks with you,” he said. “If there’s a fatality, I never forget it.”
While Sinner was speaking to the crowd, “voices” would speak up making comments about Sinner.
One man said, “Lloyd has built a reputation that he knows what he is doing.”
A few others shared some memories of his work, as well.
After some questions, the crowd moved to the field outside where Sinner brought a little Model A rotator wrecker from 1929, a rollback for hauling cars, an older rotator wrecker and a new wrecker to explain to onlookers.
“There’s 92 years between the Model A wrecker and the new truck,” he said.
The new trucks are so much better—better equipment and more efficient, he added.
“It is amazing what the new trucks have and can do,” Sinner said.
His new rotator truck is one of the heaviest and largest tow trucks available and the only one between Omaha and Denver, Colorado.
It’s also a bit more than $5,000, he said.
The newest wrecker has a boom that rotates 360 degrees.
Another important piece of equipment Sinner showed were the air bags used to lift a semi box trailer fully loaded—which can weigh up to 100,000 lbs., Sinner said.
Lonnie Alexander, a 35-year employee of Sinner’s, explained how the bags are used and the importance of safety in the pressure gauges that control the air bags.
Sinner’s has a fleet of 13 trucks, although the newest truck is numbered 14 because of “unlucky number 13,” said Sinner’s daughter who was present for the demonstration.
Men and women alike showed equal enthusiasm for the topic of the day, although the men hovered around the truck the longest asking Sinner questions.