Lance Wiggins and Bill Brayton are the recipients of the 2019 Tank-Girdley-Howe Circle of Excellence Award for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the Transmission Industry.
This award was created by the ATRA Midwest Chapter to honor the memories of three industry icons and co-founders of the Midwest Chapter, Al Tank, Red Girdley, and Ed Howe, and it serves to recognize the achievements of today’s new-generation visionaries like Lance and Bill.
The award was presented by Brad Benrud, Secretary/Treasurer of ATRA International and President of the ATRA Midwest Chapter at the Membership Meeting held on November 1, 2019, during this year’s Powertrain Expo.
Wiggins’ dream of a Virtual Training Program became a reality earlier this year, and Brayton’s top-selling, state-of-the-art Rebuilder Training Manual is the “frosting on the cake” for their training vision.
For those of you who were not able to attend the meeting, the edited text of Brad Benrud’s award presentation is included below. His speech included a brief history of the Midwest Chapter and its founders. We want to thank Denny Stearns for his help in providing much of the historical background and other related information.
“Good morning; I’m Brad Benrud… I want to take a few moments to share a story with you.
Back in 1976, three men started on a journey from separate paths that eventually would connect them together on the very same trail. The shared dream of these three men was to develop a group of similar, like-minded people that wanted to focus on making a difference in the Transmission Industry.
At that time, there was a serious need for an organizational presence in the Midwest area to help Transmission Specialists… so the journey continued.
The first of the three unified “brothers”, Al Tank, was from Davenport, Iowa. Al was a Transmission specialist and had been in business for some time in the area, specializing in transmission repairs. After a lot of research, he discovered ATRA and contacted them.
That initial contact connected him to the second brother on this journey, Red Girdley. Red began his journey in the South; and had established a significant presence by that time among other transmission specialists nationally. Red and his wife Marge were now located in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and had established their business in a different aspect of the Industry, by developing a remanufacturing facility for a wholesale approach to the business. At the time, this was a very unique business model; and Red was able to attract many accounts, from new car dealerships to general Automotive repair shops that didn’t perform transmission repairs.
So, Al and Red met to brainstorm ideas and focus on the challenge ahead. Al had already requested from ATRA to approve a chapter called the Midwest Chapter of ATRA. They decided to develop a defined presence in the Midwest for Transmission Specialists to be able to Bond together, to associate and exchange ideas, and to design a training program.
This journey took them to 1977, where they met the third brother in Des Moines, Iowa, Ed Howe. Ed had a very unique history, whereby he was mentored by his father, Leo, who was actually labeled as the very first Automatic Transmission rebuilder in the area. Leo had been working for Lee Mitchell of Mitchell Transmissions for several years before he opened his own business, Sta-Rite Transmissions. By 1977, Ed Howe was running the family business with his father, Leo. As history would have it, these three brothers met at a local function by chance; and discovered the calling they shared together.
From this point in history, things started moving very fast. Al Tank was appointed the founding president of the Midwest Chapter of ATRA; (which, by the way, would eventually lead Al to become a Director on the ATRA International Board as Treasurer.)
These three brothers worked locally to develop a real Chapter presence with Red Girdley leading the charge. They organized meetings at Transmission shops, trade schools, and hotels. This catapulted into a dynamo with recruitment efforts of new members that lead into Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Red eventually was elected to the ATRA International Board as the Area Director.
During the next few years, the three brothers worked and supported efforts to establish a transmission technical training school at Red Girdley’s large facility in Ft. Dodge, Iowa. Red worked to develop a 5-day rebuilder training program. Red recruited personal trainers from leaders in the industry to assist in the training. Once the school became public, the calls for enrollment skyrocketed. After a few more years had passed, the school became known as “The Red Girdley ATRA Training School.” Red always referred to it as “M.I.T.” (Midwest Institute of Transmissions). This very school changed the lives of many technicians forever. The bond between students and teachers became very strong. Looking back as years passed, possibly several hundred technicians received advanced rebuilding training. I know; I was one of them.
Red’s MIT even became world renown. He was invited overseas more than once by a technical school in Saudi Arabia and taught students there how to rebuild transmissions, by hands-on training.
There were times, in some cases, where students who had graduated and were back at work would run into a difficult problem they had with a transmission. Red and Marge would pack up the necessary parts and tools as well as some clothes and travel to the student’s shop to personally assist the student in completing the repairs together. (Red actually did this many times in many cases.)
The bond of these three brothers continued to grow and manifest into many types of activities and formal training seminars overtime. On one occasion, a large seminar was to be held on the traditional Saturday, and no books had arrived. Some frantic searching tracked down the books, and they were still at UPS. Ed Howe, who personally knew employees at UPS, called one of them on that Saturday morning, pleaded our case, and convinced him to meet Ed at the UPS office to retrieve the books. After unloading a semi-trailer of packages, the books were found, loaded into Ed’s truck, and swiftly arrived back to the seminar. There have been many moments over the years such as this one, that reflects the intensity of these three men to totally focus on making a difference in people’s lives. They recruited many key people over the years, both in business and within the Chapter membership, that they could train and teach to do the job and eventually would succeed them in life. (I know, I was one of them).
Looking back over the years, the contributions these three men made was beyond measure. The unselfish and dedicated manner that they conducted themselves became a beacon of light in our Industry. The steadfast focus they shared was to empower, equip, and demonstrate a way of life that would enrich others and become a platform for many to follow after them.
Which brings us to today. One of the biggest challenges we face today is inspiring and training a new generation of young adults to become a part of our Transmission Industry. We must all work together and support each other in finding ways to achieve this goal.
Today, I would like to recognize two visionary Individuals who I believe have the same drive, passion, vision, and unwavering commitment to training and teaching the new generation of transmission technicians, as Al Tank, Red Girdley, and Ed Howe did within their Generation.
The Midwest Chapter created an Award, much like an Academy Award for outstanding achievements and contributions to the Transmission Industry. This Award is called the Tank-Girdley-Howe, Circle of Excellence Award.
So, for Best Director and Best Picture, please welcome forward Lance Wiggins.
Lance Wiggins, for many years, your vision was to create a Virtual Training Program, designed to inspire and educate in a way that would attract and excite this New Generation. That vision became a reality and was launched as of March 2019. Congratulations!
For making the “Number 1 Best Seller List,” please welcome forward, Author, Bill Brayton.
In conjunction with Lance Wiggin’s new Virtual Training Program, Bill Brayton has been able to produce a newer, high-quality format for a State-of- the-Art Rebuilder Training Manual, which has become the number 1 bestselling books in the Transmission Industry. Congratulations!
I would also like to acknowledge and thank Dennis Madden and all the ATRA staff for their additional help and contributions. It takes a team effort to develop a successful program of this magnitude.”
