FARLEY, Iowa — The seed for a 120-fleet trucking company in Dubuque County was planted by a feed store 77 years ago.

“My grandfather, George Simon Sr., was the one who started Simon’s Feed Store in 1946,” said RJ Simon, a vice-president and co-owner of Simon’s Trucking Co.

The family business has endured and expanded in the decades since, growing from an initial collection of two trucks at the dawn of the 1970s to a current fleet of 120 trucks that transport freight across the country from its base in Farley. The firm uses van, hopper, belt and tanker trailers.

“We go coast to coast,” Simon said. “You name it, we (haul) it. We do a little bit of everything. If it can go on a truck, we’ll do it.”

An operation with about 200 employees, the company also owns Farley’s 300 Raceway, an adjacent 3/8-mile dirt track and motorsports facility with a primitive campground and event center.

“For the most part, the company has grown organically since my father, Roger Simon, started the trucking company,” Simon said.

The feed store purchased its first fertilizer tanker in 1970 and its first trailer a year later. The business purchased its first livestock trailer in 1975.

“My dad saw the need for hauling products in and out of feed lot locations,” RJ Simon said. “He started hauling feed products all over Iowa and the Midwest. The company just kept growing and growing.”

By 1989, Roger Simon had purchased a feed store in Manchester. The Farley-based seed company transitioned into a full-time trucking business in the early 1980s, although the feed store in Manchester retains the name Simon’s Grain and Feed.

“My father grew up in the business,” RJ Simon said. “He started hauling bag feed and meal back then. In the 1980s, we grew from (transporting) primarily feed ingredients to hauling freight of all kinds.”

The company kept growing, with the fleet of trucks expanding to 25 by 1996.

Entering the 2000s, the company constructed a 12,000-square-foot truck and trailer maintenance facility in 2003.

Lexi Sindt, the company’s safety & recruiting manager, said the company’s amenities help business operations and driver recruitment.

“We have our own fuel island and scale house,” Sindt said. “We have a driver’s lounge and our maintenance facility is here, so we do preventative maintenance here. Our amenities are a little more than you would see in a company our size.”

The company’s tanker division grew from six to 24 trailers by 2006. A year later, the maintenance facility doubled in size after the company converted a cold storage building.

RJ Simon has been involved in the family business since childhood.

“This is all I’ve done my entire life,” he said. “The day I turned 18 was the day I started driving a truck.”

He steadily rose in the ranks of the firm.

“I took over operations in 2010,” he said. “We were running about 60 trucks. Me and (director of business development) Pete Rauen, my first cousin, we grew (the fleet) pretty quickly to 100 trucks.”

The company purchased the adjacent race track and event center in 2019.

“My father was really passionate about racing, and we have been tractor pullers our whole lives,” Simon said. “There is a pulling track in there, too.”

The company’s track hosted the Farley Nationals Truck & Tractor Pull event earlier this month. Part of the National Tractor Pullers Association 2023 Grand National Championship Series, the event was expected to draw participants from across the country.

“It was important for us to keep tractor pulling going (at the track),” RJ Simon said.

The firm continued to grow despite Roger Simon’s death in July 2020 at age 67.

“After Roger Simon’s passing, the siblings took it over to continue on his legacy,” Sindt said.

Roger Simon’s children are Nicole (Justin) Philipp, RJ (Kayla) Simon, Melissa (Joe) Demmer and Brandon (Jodi) Simon.

Sindt said RJ and Brandon Simon, Joe Demmer and Justin Philipp represent the executive management team for the company.

“Justin is a huge part of the day-to-day operations (of the company),” RJ Simon said. “He runs the place, for the most part. I step in when there is a problem or if I need to drive. I still love to drive so I will jump in a truck.”

RJ Simon said the company has been fortunate to rely upon a high standard of employees.

“We’re always looking for drivers, but we’re also pretty fussy,” he said. “We have high standards. You have to have a pretty clean record to come work for us, and we don’t just hire anybody. We have a great staff.”