Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/567620
By Joy Kopcha R icky Benton knew he wanted to be his own boss. Growing up on a farm, he was accustomed to a hard day's work. By the time he graduated from West Columbus High School in 1973, he had cashed paychecks from a sewing factory, a tire retread shop and a plywood mill. Married while still a junior in high school, Benton built a home for his bride Dianne next door to his parents' home in Cerro Gordo, N.C. By the time he was 21, the Bentons opened a service station and operated Cego Service Center as a team, selling fuel, servicing automobiles and repairing tires in what was then a town of about 300 people. When they opened the doors to that service station in 1976, they had two young sons: Ricky Jr. (who goes by Rick) was 4 and Ryan was 11 months old. Te baby of the family, Jeremy, didn't come along until a few years later. Te boys grew up alongside their parents at work. " We did anything to make a living," Benton says. Dianne pumped gas while he changed tires. He washed the exterior of cars and she cleaned the interior. He took of tires, she put them back on. He eventually bought a wrecker, and when he'd pick up a car at night, she'd roll out of bed to help him unhitch it so he could hit the road again. Benton has maintained that do-anything atitude throughout his career, and as owner and president of Black's Tire Service Inc., he expects the same from the 525 people he employs. Benton and the Black's Tire family are delivering on those good' Ricky Benton stands where it all began, in front of the service station he operated in his hometown of Cerro Gordo, N.C., before joining Black's Tire in 1981. Selling tires was just part of his game then; now it's his life.