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January 5, 2001

Dealers celebrate 35 years

TASCO honored seven dealers that have been with the tire distributing company for 35 years at the recent Texas Farm Bureau convention in Arlington. Dealers attending the convention and receiving plaques were Lewis Shelley of Shelley's in Olney, Young County, and Mr. and Mrs. Pohler of Pohler's in Shiner, Lavaca County.

According to TASCO's Rick Wegwerth, seven of the 21 original dealers that signed with TASCO in 1965 are still working with the tire distributor. "A lot of things have changed with TASCO in 35 years, but one thing has not: the dealer's commitment to the Farm Bureau program and to TASCO, which we really do appreciate," he said.

Other dealers honored but not attending the ceremony included: Lois Dominy of Dominy's in Crockett, Houston County; Charles Evans of Evan's Tire in Marlin, Falls County; Larry Gray of Marrou & Company in Gonzales, Gonzales County; Lyle Red of Parker Auto Supply in Fairfield, Freestone County; Wayne Rudolph of Rudolph's in Yoakum, DeWitt County; and Ernest Barcak of Barcak Garage, who joined in 1966 and is retiring, in Beasley, Fort Bend County.

Am-Pac acquires TASCO

SIMI VALLEY, Calif.—Am-Pac Tire Distributors, Inc. has acquired Waco, Texas-based TASCO Distributing Ltd. for an undisclosed amount.

In January, Am-Pac President and CEO Dennis Mangola told Tire Business the Simi Valley-based firm's goal was to have about 500 outlets as Tire Pros franchisees. The addition of TASCO's 50 American Car Care Centers' affiliated dealers raises Am-Pac's total Tire Pros/ACCC retail base to 250 dealers, about halfway toward that goal.

With the addition of TASCO's three warehouses in Texas, Am-Pac now has 12 distribution centers, Mangola said. TASCO also delivers to more than 1,000 tire dealers, mostly in Texas.

"At Am-Pac, we are not only building a strong network of distribution centers and independent dealers," Mangola said in a prepared statement, "but we are also building the strongest management team in the industry and welcome the TASCO leadership to our Am-Pac team."

TASCO was founded in 1965 as a subsidiary of Texas Farm Bureau Building Corporation and expanded its tire operation in 1995 with the acquisition of Straus Frank Tire Division. In 1998, four Texas businessmen purchased the assets in Texas Agricultural Service Co., including the name TASCO.

Am-Pac is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Itochu Corp. of Tokyo, which purchased Aspen Enterprises, Inc. and its Tire Pros' assets in 1999.