RIBBON CUTTING: Doonan Specialized Trailer LLC 50th Anniversary

Doonans Specialized Trailer Celebrates Two Milestone Anniversaries. 

• Tours from 11:00am - 3:00pm
• Chamber Ribbon Cutting at 11:00am

Doonan to celebrate its 50th Anniversary with an open house on Wednesday, October 18, 2023. Doonan Trailer Corporation was incorporated on October 17, 1973, by its founder Wendell Doonan. Mr. Doonan started out building grain trailers for local farmers in an outdated service station in downtown Great Bend, Kansas. “These doubles [hopper bottom grain trailers] can still be spotted in the fields throughout central Kansas”, stated Kelly Zecha, National Dealer Manager, Doonan Specialized Trailer.

Over the years, Doonan Trailer Corporation produced numerous configurations of grain trailers, but it was not until the early 1990s that the Company found its true calling. On August 3, 1993, the Company completed production of its first 48’ x 102” all‐steel tandem drop deck trailer (unit #8001) which was sold to Southwest Peterbilt. Southwest Peterbilt had 5 dealership locations throughout Arizona and New Mexico, and eventually, became a part of Rush Enterprises, Inc. in 1999. “We are happy to have played a small part in Doonan’s history,” Gary Willis, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Rush Enterprises, Inc.

Since then Doonan Specialized Trailer, LLC has developed a market niche in the specialty segments of the flatbed, drop deck, and lowbed trailer industries, by providing highly customized products to satisfy the consumer’s ever‐changing needs. “We wish Mr. Doonan was still here to celebrate these two milestone
anniversaries, but I am certain he would be proud of what his legacy has become”, Mike Ruddle, Vice President of Operations, Doonan Specialized Trailer.

To mark the accomplishment, the Company will be installing honorary mudflaps on all new trailers produced for the next year starting October 18, 2023.