Trucks & A Racetrack

The story behind the Mack MD, Kriete Truck Center, and Road America. Plus let's get behind the wheel of a Mack MD7 dust control truck.

October 13, 2023

Jonathan Kozlowski

Mack Trucks Inc.

Photograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.com

In late September, MACK Trucks invited a handful of editors for the opportunity to get a close up look at their MD Series. With a high visibility with three different loads around one of the interior tracks at the historic Road America “the national park of speed” located in the small town of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The drive followed a tour of the Kriete Truck Center, Sheboygan location.

With the history behind the truck, the chance to get behind the wheel was surprising on how familiar they handle. The MD Series officially launched in early 2020 – just before the pandemic pretty much shut everything down. After years of masks and safe distancing, the ability to see the truck up close was refreshing, but the excitement of experiencing the day in person was more than welcome.

Designed to be versatile for a wide range of work, the MD was originally aimed at 60% to70% of the medium-duty market. The intention was to reach 5% of the market share of this segment in 60 months. Impressively, the MD Series accomplished this in 24.

With Mack’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, they are ever ready to adapt to market changes. An electric version of the MD Series is planned for production in Q4 2023.

Kriete Truck Centers is one of the largest dealers in the U.S. for Mack and Volvo – they also handle Hino and Autocar brands. Founded in 1951, Kriete is a third-generation family-owned organization headquartered in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Capabilities include full-service sales, service, leasing, and rental. With more than 60 master technicians on staff, service centers hold a large inventory of parts on hand for quick and convenient turn-around.

The Kriete Truck Service Center, Sheboygan, WisconsinPhotograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.com

One of the more recent purchases has been the Sheboygan location. Set along I-43, a major route for the state, roughly half-way between Milwaukee and Green Bay, the site is led by General Manager, Jason Berka. It offers a full line of Mack, Volvo and Hino along with leasing and rental services, and maintenance packages with six master technicians on staff.

Inside the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Kriete Truck Service Center. Sargento happens to be one of the location's largest customers.Photograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.comThey run about 250 work orders a month of all makes and models, while holding roughly $670,000 in parts inventory on-site keeping turn-around as efficient as possible. If you’ve been to the state, you’re likely aware of the people’s interest in high-quality cheese. In fact, one of the location’s largest customers is Sargento; we can all thank the team here for keeping the cheese supply on time. Along with repair services, they feature alignment bays, dump bed installation (on Mack trucks only) and trailer repair. They are also one of Mack’s uptime certified dealers.

Notably, the location managed to remain open throughout the pandemic. In fact, they reported that only one truck deal had cancelled since.

The Kriete organization has also recently launched KAMP, its own freightliner parts line manufactured for all makes of trucks.

Driving the Mack MD Series trucks at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Our course was set out with a lot sharper turns than this image is able to depict.Photograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.com

A Track Record

Kriete’s Sheboygan location held their grand opening in 2019 and happened to meet the director of marketing for Road America. Later, they reconnected to figure out how the track can receive a truck for maintenance and vehicle pickup, settling on a rollback on a MD chassis. The safety team loved it, and Kriete became the official vehicle recovery partner for Road America.

Each year, they provide a new rollback to the track, and it is sold after the season as a slightly used demo; there’s a wait list to purchase.

The Mack MD6 vehicle recovery rollback truck for Road America, courtesy of Sheboygan's Kriete Truck CenterPhotograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.com

In 2020/2021, they provided a standard Century hydraulic towbed. However, 2022 saw some supply-chain issues (surprise), and they could not get the same system. Instead, they utilized a Retriever bed from Versatran, a company out of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Their bed runs on air, not hydraulics, so it can be operated with the engine off.

The track hosts anything from private days, SCC regional events, NASCAR, IndyCar, motorcycle, and others. On any given day, visitors would be able to see a range of vehicles on the back of the MD Series. In fact, this season’s truck was provided to the event’s attendees to drive.

Road America’s official racetrack was recently repaved in October 2022. ForConstructionPros.com’s Jessica Lombardo writes on the project in “Paving 14 Turns of Racing History” on how The Walbec Group worked with Road America to repave the historic racetrack.
Read more about the project at ForConstructionPros.com/22591385.

The Mack MD7 truck kitted with a full water tank for dust control, provided by Imperial Industries Inc.Photograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.comThree MD trucks were available to drive, two of which were courtesy of Imperial Industries Inc. out of Rothschild, Wisconsin.

An MD6 kitted with a liquid vacuum tank (empty) provided by Imperial Industries Inc.Photograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.comImperial Industries are leaders in liquid vac trucks and large storage silos, working on about 1,200 trucks a year of all different brands. Prior to Kriete purchasing a dealership in their local area, Mack was about 1% of their sales. Today, they are a leading brand for the company.

Road America is just over 4 miles long with 14 turns. As such, it’s critical to the safety team that they have a truck that’s agile and reliable to get where it’s needed quickly and safely. The MD has proven to provide that and more. Kriete provides one truck a year – they’ve experienced zero days of downtime.

Features of the MD

Built for comfort – every detail of the interior was designed to keep the driver comfortable with power steering, tilt telescopic steering column, air suspension, and driver’s seat and controls within easy reach Photograph by Jonathan Kozlowski, ForConstructionPros.com
Built for uptime – local Mack dealers are available nationwide, an integrated Geotab system provides intelligence and data to help you operate with enhanced safety, cost-efficiency, and productivity
Mack MD6 - Class 6: 19,501 to 26,000 lbs. GVWR (no CDL required for non-hazardous loads)
Mack MD7 – Class 7: 26,001 lbs. to 33,000 lbs. GVWR
Both MD6 and MD7 are exempt from FET
MD6: Cummins B6.7 engine with 220-300 HP and 560lb.ft. torque to 660 lb.ft torque
Standard Allison 2500HS transmission, or optional Allison 2500RDS for PTO, Allison 3000RDS for PTO
Meritor front and rear axles with standard spring suspension
103 in. BBC cab
Industry standard 34-in. width chassis
Reduced step-up height cab
Multiple grab handles for safety
Short hood for improved downward visibility
Design inspired by the Mack Anthem