February 2025

Dave Jelinek is young for being in the business 73 years. “I always used to say that I’ve been in the business 73 years – and they’d say, well, you don’t look 93,” he joked. But there’s not really a better way to summarize the years he’s spent involved in the family business, Jelinek Trucking. Supposedly, his involvement goes all the way back to getting his diaper changed in the front seat of the log truck. Much of his childhood was spent being dragged along on logging jobs. Although Dave did go to vocational school for a degree in diesel mechanics after high school, he never wanted anything other than to work alongside his dad in the woods.