POWERGRAMS

PG_May_2019_final

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43 Money talks. When a friend asked Brian Funderburk to consider applying for a mechanic job at Alabama Power 27 years ago, he said, "No thanks." But the salary changed his mind. "Brian and I rode motorcycles together on Sunday afternoons back then, and I knew he was a good mechanic," said Mike Warren, who retired in 2016 after 33 years at Alabama Power. "I had to go see him two or three times to get him to come to work at the company. He would tell me, 'I'm pretty content where I am.' He was content making $9.50 an hour when we would be paying him $16 an hour." Warren was the new foreman at the Montgomery Garage and wanted Funderburk to take his previous position as mechanic. But Brian, who had worked for a John Deere dealer for 12 years, thought he was destined to repair tractors. "When I was 16, I drove tractors on my uncle's farm during the summer," said Funderburk. "One day, the motor on the tractor messed up, and I helped tear it down and put it back together. That was when I decided I wanted to work on John Deere tractors. But when Mike told me I could almost double my salary at Alabama Power, I thought I should check out the job." At his retirement party in February, Funderburk told his friends and co- workers that taking that job was one of the best decisions of his life. As a utility fleet subforeman – master technician at the Southern Division Complex, Funderburk said his main responsibility was scheduling preventive maintenance on all division vehicles. If it rolled, his team of nine mechanics repaired it. That included everything from cars and pickup trucks to bucket and derrick trucks to highline bulldozers and pole-hauling trailers. Funderburk said he pitched in to help his team with repairs on busy days at the garage. "Our job is to make sure those trucks are safe and ready to go when the guys need them," Funderburk said. Alabama P at night Funderburk was hired in 1991 as a night shift mechanic. He spent those early years on the road, making the rounds between garages in Montgomery, Greenville, Selma and Auburn. Funderburk worked 23 years on the night shift and loved every minute of it. He was disappointed when the company made the decision to close the garages at night. "Working nights was better in different ways," said Funderburk, whose shift ran from 3 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. "If we needed to work overtime, we would go in earlier in the day and didn't have to stay late after the shift. But the best part was being able to work at night without interruptions." Funderburk said one of his most memorable experiences was the first time he was sent on storm duty. As a new mechanic, he was dispatched to Grenada, Mississippi, to help maintain trucks driven by crews restoring power outages caused by an ice storm. "Those guys really broke me in right," Funderburk said. "They taught me you fix what needs to be fixed and what is keeping the guys from doing their work, and leave the penny-ante stuff. They taught me a lot during those days." Since then, Funderburk has been called out to work following storms in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Maryland. Looking back, Funderburk said the best part of the job was "the people." "I liked meeting new people and working with our customers – the line crew Mast Dragst Mast Dragst L O N G T I M E M E C H A N I C R E T I R E S T O T H E R A C E T R A C K S HAPPY TRAILS by Cla Davis Photos by Phil Free Funderburk won his first National Hot Rod Association race in 2008.

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