In his second appearance on Beyond the Bulldog, Tom Mack, great-grandson of Jack Mack, returns to continue the story of the Mack family after the company’s early years. Recorded at the Mack Experience Center in Allentown, this conversation dives deeper into family history, personal perspective, and what it truly means to carry the Mack name generations later.

Tom discusses:

-The Mack family’s life after selling the company and how history shaped later generations

-The tragic loss of Jack Mack and the ripple effects it had on the family

-How innovation, mechanical instinct, and resilience persisted beyond ownership

-What “Built Like a Mack Truck” means from the inside, not just the brand

-Why legacy is about endurance, not just success With humility, humor, and firsthand insight, Tom offers a rare, human look at the roots of Mack Trucks, and the people behind the bulldog.

What’s next?

Tune in weekly for new episodes! Visit the Mack Shop to use your discount code: https://mackshop.com/ Book a virtual truck tour! https://www.macktrucks.com/live-tour/

We sit down with Jonathan Randall, "JR", president of Mack Trucks North America, to talk about what it really means to lead a 125-year-old brand through one of the most dynamic periods in trucking. From defining strategy and “what winning looks like” to spending time in the field with dealers, customers, and drivers, JR shares how he sees his role as a steward of the Mack name.

JR looks back on 2025, a year that combined a freight recession, regulatory uncertainty, and tariffs with some of the biggest investments in Mack history: the launch of the new Mack Pioneer, the latest Anthem, expanded medium-duty capacity, a new frame rail supplier, and a new plant in Mexico. Even in a down market, Mack grew share, improved customer satisfaction scores, and climbed the dealer attitude rankings, signaling real momentum behind the Bulldog.

Looking ahead, JR outlines how Mack is preparing for EPA 2027, a stair-step recovery in 2026, and a fully renewed conventional lineup that includes upcoming replacements for the Granite and Pinnacle. He explains why Mack now sells complete solutions rather than just “iron,” why driver comfort and safety sit at the center of product decisions, and why he believes the trades, including truck driving and diesel technician roles, deserve as much respect as any four-year degree. JR discusses:

-Defining his job as setting strategy and targets for North America, then removing obstacles so Mack’s sales and commercial operations teams can deliver for customers in the United States and Canada.

-An unconventional career path that runs from Colorado State communications graduate and country radio DJ to wine sales, truck leasing, and eventually senior leadership roles that led him to Mack’s Greensboro headquarters.

-How billions in recent investments, from the Pioneer and new Anthem to medium-duty expansion and a new Mexico factory, position Mack to grow in long-haul, regional haul, and core vocational segments even as the market shifts.

-Why he spends time at truck stops leaving Mack hats on mirrors, listening to drivers’ stories, and making sure the brand stays connected to the people who actually live in the trucks and keep freight moving. With a mix of realism about market headwinds and optimism about Mack’s trajectory, JR makes the case that there has never been a better time to be part of the Bulldog brand, whether you are a dealer, customer, employee, or driver. What’s next? Tune in weekly for new episodes! Visit the Mack Shop to use your discount code: https://mackshop.com/ Book a virtual truck tour! https://www.macktrucks.com/live-tour/

We return to the Mack Trucks Historical Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with curator and self-described caretaker of Mack history, Doug Maney. Surrounded by sound-absorbing cones in the semi-anechoic chamber, Doug explains how this former test lab became one of the most unique gallery spaces in trucking, and why every truck in it still starts, runs, and moves under its own power. Doug opens the doors to a behind-the-scenes world of 50 million pages of records, half a million photos, and shelves of film, slides, and microfiche that document more than a century of Mack innovation. From the vision of former president Zenon Hansen and the first small museum in Macungie to today’s expanded collection at the Mack Experience Center, he shows how preserving, digitizing, and protecting this material keeps Mack history available for engineers, marketers, restorers, dealers, and fans around the world. Doug discusses: -What it means to “keep Mack history safe” day to day, from scanning every new document before it hits a filing cabinet to maintaining an offline local network that protects irreplaceable films and records from hacks and ransomware. -The origins of the museum under Zenon C.R. Hansen, the return of the bulldog as a core symbol of the brand, and how a small municipal garage in Macungie grew into today’s independent 501(c)(3) Mack Trucks Historical Museum. -Keeping roughly two dozen vintage trucks, buses, and fire engines in running condition on site, rotating displays, leaning on volunteers, and why “it does not do them well to sit” if you want history to stay alive instead of collecting dust. -How trucks and archives “find” the museum through dealers, families, and collectors, the careful process of adding rare vehicles to a limited storage footprint, and Doug’s dream of a larger “Mack Main Street” style museum that would recreate dealerships from different eras. With stories of pallets from dealers, boxes from retirees, and long-sought documents discovered in drawers that have not been opened in decades, Doug shows that Mack history keeps expanding, and that every new artifact adds another piece to the story of how Bulldogs helped build the modern world.

What’s next? Tune in weekly for new episodes! Visit the Mack Shop to use your discount code: https://mackshop.com/ Book a virtual truck tour! https://www.macktrucks.com/live-tour/