Beacon
Ridge
Sales Group
Manufacturer's Rep · Great Lakes
Ride-Along Blitz · Indy–Louisville Corridor
May 19–21, 2026 · Marcus Ito & Reggie Fontaine with Denny Kowalczyk & Rita Vasquez
28 Visits · 2.5 Days
Executive Summary
Two crews, two and a half days, 28 stops down the Indy–Louisville corridor — and every dollar of it on APD paper. The blitz wrote $9,840 in orders through APD in blitz week alone, hung 7 Spring Torque-Up displays at APD customer counters with two weeks left in the campaign, and handed off 14 owner-assigned follow-ups — 9 of them queued for Denny and Rita with the account, the ask, and the date already attached. It also surfaced 4 SKUs your customers are asking for that the DC doesn't stock — demand that's currently walking to special orders, direct accounts, and Central States Warehouse. That's found money, itemized in Section C.
Beyond the paper, the ride-along produced intel a solo route can't: which shops Central States has locked into the TorqMax jobber program (three of them are winnable), a municipal-fleet program lead, and two downstream sightings of a quality issue Beacon Ridge is already working with the manufacturer. One note on how this report exists at all: every stop was logged live between visits — voice capture in the truck, powered by Minecart — which is why you're reading a complete, quote-backed account of all 28 visits days after the blitz, not weeks.
The One Thing to Tell Merrick
Three shops volunteered the same objection unprompted, with no question asked about warranty: Merrick makes the shop eat the labor on a warranty job; TorqMax reimburses it. It cost two deals outright — Clarksville Auto & Fleet and Corydon Auto & Machine both stayed with TorqMax over exactly this gap — and it is the single thing standing between a shelf and a maybe at Franklin Township Tire & Auto, where Aaron told Denny flat out: he'll stock Pro Series for real once Merrick adds a labor allowance like TorqMax's. That's a Conditional Trial sitting on one policy change.
This is the same root cause Beacon Ridge is already flagging in the monthly vendor report: MPS-2043's warranty-portal friction and the counter-swaps to TorqMax. Different tier of the channel, same story — claims are too hard, so installers route around Merrick. See the Warranty & Claims section below for the two live claim events feeding it.
Blitz at a Glance
Outcome Tally · All 28 Visits
11Order Written
7Presented — No Commitment
7Intel Only
2Lost to Competitor
1Conditional Trial
Merrick Pro Series · Head Studs, Rod Bolts, Mains
The Gold Ring Carried The Corridor
19Counter Demos
11Orders Through APD
7Torque-Up Displays
The Pro Series torque-wrench demo kit ran at 19 of the 28 stops, and Pro Series hardware anchored every one of the 11 orders written during the blitz — all $9,840 of it through APD. The demo did the selling: put a gold-ring stud in a counter guy's hand next to a generic piece and the conversation gets short. Riding the Spring Torque-Up campaign helped too — 7 displays went up at your customers' counters with the campaign's final two weeks still to run, so the blitz keeps selling after the trucks went home.
"Showed him the Pro Series demo kit, gold-ring stud on the bench next to a generic import piece — Ronnie said the difference was obvious just holding them."Ronnie · Speedway Quick Lube & Tune, Speedway IN · visit, May 19
"Mike's rebuilding three small-blocks this month for a local racer and wrote a $990 order for head stud and main stud kits on the spot."Mike · Greenwood Garage, Greenwood IN · visit, May 19
Beacon Ridge Action
The Torque-Up rebate rides on every one of those 11 orders. Beacon Ridge is flagging the 7 display accounts for an August follow-up route (see closing note) so the reorder wave lands on APD paper before the rebate window closes — not on a competitor's.
Kestrel Brake & Friction · Pads, Rotors, Hardware
Brake Volume Rides Along On Every Fastener Stop
Kestrel got bench time at 6 stops and rode along in 3 of the 11 orders — two cases of ceramic pads inside Circle City's $1,240 opener, plus the all-three-lines orders at New Albany ($1,050) and Elizabethtown ($1,335), all through APD. The line's ceiling on this corridor is a stocking question, not a demand question: the sharpest signal of the blitz came from a jobber counter that's already turning Kestrel business away.
"He's had three separate customers ask for the KBF-780 slotted rotor pair this month and APD's DC doesn't carry it — he's been turning that business away."Steve · Carmel Motorworks, Carmel IN · visit, May 19
Handoff · Denny Kowalczyk
Denny is taking the KBF-780 demand straight to the DC buyer — three documented asks in one month at one counter. Full stocking-gap case in Section C.
Birchwood Sealing & Chemical · Gaskets & Sealants
The Quiet Line Wrote Steady Paper — And Found A Fleet Program
Birchwood demoed at 6 stops and landed in 5 of the 11 orders — Brownsburg, Fishers, Zionsville, New Albany, and the Elizabethtown closer, where Bruce ran all three lines and wrote the largest single order of the run ($1,335) on your paper. The bigger prize is recurring: Bonnie at Fishers Fleet & Fabrication services municipal truck contracts and wants a standing Birchwood program — steady, contract-backed volume routed through APD, not one-off counter sales.
"She wants a standing Birchwood sealant and gasket program for the fleet contracts — steady volume, not glamorous but real."Bonnie · Fishers Fleet & Fabrication, Fishers IN · visit, May 20
"He wrote a $1,335 order across Pro Series head studs, Kestrel pads, and Birchwood gaskets, the largest single order of the whole run."Bruce · Elizabethtown Engine Exchange, Elizabethtown KY · visit, May 21
Beacon Ridge Action
Marcus is building Bonnie a formal Birchwood municipal-fleet proposal before the next blitz — the recurring-revenue kind of lead, with APD as the supplying distributor from day one.
TorqMax Jobber Counter-Day Program · Installer Level
TorqMax Is Working Your Corridor Monthly — At The Counter
5Shops Citing The Program
3Already Enrolled
Five of the 28 stops — Avon, Scottsburg, Clarksville, Fern Creek, and Corydon — brought up the TorqMax jobber program unprompted: monthly rebates, free freight, and a counter-day cadence that shows up whether or not there's an order to write. This is installer-level intel your DC reports can't see, and both crews heard the same pitch played back almost word for word. It isn't price alone winning — it's cadence and paperwork ease.
"Central States Warehouse has had him locked in on a TorqMax jobber counter-day program for months, monthly rebates and a rep who shows up like clockwork."Danny · Scottsburg Auto Parts & Service, Scottsburg IN · visit, May 19
"Free freight and a rebate schedule she says her bookkeeper likes better than dealing with Merrick's paperwork."Renee · Clarksville Auto & Fleet, Clarksville IN · visit, May 20
Handoff · Rita Vasquez
Rita is scoping a matching APD counter-day cadence — Danny at Scottsburg said as much: a one-time pitch won't move him, a standing rhythm will.
Avon Auto Care · Scottsburg Auto Parts & Service · Fern Creek Speed Shop
Three Shops Buying These Lines From Central States Today
Kevin at Avon, Danny at Scottsburg, and Cody at Fern Creek are all currently routing their fastener and brake volume through Central States Warehouse on TorqMax terms. None of them is hostile — all three talked openly with your reps standing right there, which is itself a buying signal. Each has a specific, named path back to APD paper: a cost sheet, a counter-day cadence, and in Fern Creek's case simply showing up.
"He's buying nearly everything through Central States Warehouse right now, including a TorqMax stud kit line he says undercuts Merrick by a wide enough margin his guys don't ask questions."Kevin · Avon Auto Care, Avon IN · visit, May 19
"Central States Warehouse has most of his brake and fastener volume tied up with a TorqMax program right now, and he hasn't seen a Merrick rep in over a year."Cody · Fern Creek Speed Shop, Louisville KY · visit, May 20
Handoff · Denny Kowalczyk & Rita Vasquez
Denny owns the Merrick-vs-TorqMax side-by-side cost sheet for Kevin's next order cycle; Rita owns the Scottsburg cadence play and a properly scheduled Fern Creek visit — all three are in the Section F handoff queue with dates.
Fishers Fleet & Fabrication, Fishers IN · Bonnie
A Municipal-Fleet Program Hiding On A Blitz Route
The single best lead of the blitz wasn't a counter sale. Bonnie services a chunk of the township's municipal truck contracts and asked for a standing Birchwood sealant-and-gasket supply program — contract-backed, repeat volume that would route through APD month after month. Denny stayed an extra twenty minutes talking fleet terms with her; she also wrote a $1,120 order the same visit, so the interest is already backed by paper.
"Denny stayed an extra twenty minutes talking fleet terms with her. She wants a standing Birchwood sealant and gasket program for the fleet contracts."Bonnie · Fishers Fleet & Fabrication, Fishers IN · visit, May 20
Beacon Ridge Action
Marcus owns the formal proposal (Section F, item 12). Structured right, this becomes APD's first standing fleet program on the corridor — the kind of anchor account a blitz exists to find.
Recurring Pushback · Installer Level
One Objection Repeats — Everything Else Was Silence
Only 3 of the 28 stops volunteered an objection at all, and all three were the same one: Merrick makes the shop eat the labor on a warranty job; TorqMax reimburses it. Nothing else repeated on this blitz — no OE-preference pushback, no price objection came up twice anywhere on the corridor. When installers push back here, it's the labor-reimbursement gap, full stop.
| Objection | Freq. | Named Shops |
|---|
| Merrick doesn't reimburse warranty labor (TorqMax does) | 3 | Clarksville Auto & Fleet, Corydon Auto & Machine, Franklin Township Tire & Auto |
Beacon Ridge Action
The full breakdown — the 2 lost deals and the 1 conditional trial it's gating — is in the callout at the top of this report and the Warranty & Claims section (E).
Four SKUs came up across the corridor that your customers are asking for and the DC doesn't stock — so the demand is walking to special orders, direct manufacturer accounts, and Central States. This is found money: the customers already exist, the asks are already documented, and the fix is a stocking decision, not a sales campaign. Denny and Rita are carrying each case to the DC buyer.
| SKU | Line · Item | Surfaced At | What We Heard | Suggested Add |
|---|
| MPS-3208 |
Merrick Pro Series · LS head stud kit (the line's best seller) |
Southport Speed Shop |
"His engine-builder customers specifically want the MPS-3208 LS kit and APD's DC has never carried it, so he's been sending that business to a direct Merrick account instead." — Chuck, May 20 |
Stock the line's #1 kit at the DC and pull that engine-builder volume back onto APD paper. |
| FL-4110 |
FoundryLine · SBC OE head stud set (the old "Duncan studs") |
Jeffersonville Quick Fix |
"He's had at least two customers ask for FL-4110 head studs specifically and had to turn them away because the DC doesn't stock it." — Tony, May 19 |
Add FL-4110 with the Duncan cross-reference sheet — the legacy-name demand feeds it (Section D). |
| KBF-780 |
Kestrel · Slotted rotor pair |
Carmel Motorworks |
"Three separate customers ask for the KBF-780 slotted rotor pair this month and APD's DC doesn't carry it — he's been turning that business away." — Steve, May 19 |
Three asks in one month at one jobber counter — stock it and the volume is immediate. |
| BSC-220 |
Birchwood · MLS head gasket set |
Shepherdsville Service Center |
"He special-orders it three or four times a year and it's never worth the wait for his customers." — Walt, May 20 |
Convert a recurring special-order headache into shelf stock; small but steady volume. |
Merrick MPS-2043 · SBF Head Stud Kit
Finish Issue Seen Twice Downstream — We're Already On It
Two blitz stops — Mooresville Muffler & More and Bardstown Road Auto — showed the same hazy, flaking black-oxide finish on MPS-2043 kits that Beacon Ridge has documented across eleven stocking accounts in our May monthly vendor report to Merrick. The pattern traces to a spring packaging change, and we are already working the root cause and replacement path directly with Merrick — nothing for your team to chase. Worth knowing at the counter: both shops still wrote orders once the context was explained, which says the line's trust is intact if the response is fast.
"Black oxide finish looked hazy right through the plastic, she said a customer brought it back last week."Denise · Mooresville Muffler & More, Mooresville IN · visit, May 20
"Customer complaint from the week before, black oxide finish spotted out of a sealed box. Same pattern as the monthly reports."Freddie · Bardstown Road Auto, Louisville KY · visit, May 20
Beacon Ridge Action
Both sightings are being folded into the monthly quality tracking (Marcus and Reggie own it, Section F) — and structured as live claim events in Section E, Warranty & Claims. When Merrick publishes the replacement path, APD's counters get it the same day.
FoundryLine · The "Duncan" Legacy Name
Customers Still Ask For "Duncans" — There's A Cross-Reference Fix
Twice on this blitz — Roy at Columbus Engine & Auto and Gordon at Shelbyville Garage — a counter asked for "Duncan studs" by the old name. FoundryLine is the 2018 rebrand of Duncan Bolt & Stud: same parts, same plant, new part numbers. Counters that don't know the lineage turn that business away without realizing it. This mirrors what we're seeing at the stocking-account tier, and we're already working the fix with Merrick: a printed Duncan-to-FoundryLine cross-reference card, straight out of our monthly vendor report to Dayton.
"He asked me straight off if we still carried 'the Duncan studs' — an older customer wanted a set for an SBC rebuild."Roy · Columbus Engine & Auto, Columbus IN · visit, May 19
"Gordon has been in business since the Duncan days and still calls FoundryLine parts 'Duncan stuff' out of habit."Gordon · Shelbyville Garage, Shelbyville KY · visit, May 20
Beacon Ridge Action
Reggie is sending Roy the cross-reference sheet and Gordon the full catalog (Section F, items 13–14). Pair it with the FL-4110 stocking add in Section C and the "Duncan" asks become APD sales instead of turnaways.
The 2 MPS-2043 sightings from Section D are the downstream face of the monthly report's quality issue — real labor dollars showing up at APD's own customers, not just at the 22 stocking accounts. Neither claim has reached Merrick's warranty portal yet; both recovered kits are still sitting on a shop shelf, evidence in hand.
| Shop | Part | Failure | Labor Est. | Status | Needs Next |
|---|
| Mooresville Muffler & More |
MPS-2043 (SBF 302/351W head stud kit) |
Black-oxide finish hazy/flaked straight out of the box — post-Feb poly-bag lot, customer return |
$280 (3.5 hrs × $80/hr) |
Not filed — logged informally, portal not attempted · kit recovered (under the counter) |
Pull the lot/date code off the recovered kit and route it to Merrick quality with photos. → Marcus Ito (Beacon Ridge) |
| Bardstown Road Auto |
MPS-2043 (SBF 302/351W head stud kit) |
Finish bad straight out of a sealed box — post-Feb poly-bag lot, first bad one Freddie's seen |
$340 (4 hrs × $85/hr) |
Not filed — portal claim pending, shop weighing the photo/receipt hassle · kit recovered (on Freddie's bench) |
Fold the sighting into the monthly quality tracker and get Freddie a comp kit while the claim decision sits. → Reggie Fontaine (Beacon Ridge) |
Beacon Ridge Action
Get both of these into Merrick's claim path before the labor write-off hardens installer sentiment — this is the exact gap behind the labor-reimbursement objection above. A comp kit and a filed claim now are cheaper than a third shop deciding it's not worth carrying the line.
Assigned to APD · Denny Kowalczyk & Rita Vasquez · 9 items, urgency-sorted
1
Confirm the restock cadence with Aaron once his floor-plan renews next week — and confirm the Torque-Up display kit we left with him actually went up. It is not counted in the blitz's 7 until it's hung. Elevated urgency: this is the account gating the conditional-trial labor-allowance ask.
2
Push the MPS-3208 LS kit onto the DC lineup. Chuck is currently sending that engine-builder business to a direct Merrick account.
3
Take the KBF-780 slotted-rotor demand — three documented customer asks in one month — to the DC buyer for a stocking review. Steve is turning that business away today.
4
Build the side-by-side Merrick vs. TorqMax cost sheet for Kevin's next order cycle. Denny thinks it pulls at least the head-stud volume back to APD.
5
Bring the FL-4110 demand to the DC buyer — at least two documented customer turnaways this month, with the Duncan cross-reference demand (Section D) feeding the same SKU.
6
Bring Walt's BSC-220 special-order frequency — three to four times a year — to the DC buyer as a stocking add. Small but steady volume APD is currently leaving on the table.
7
Design a matching APD counter-day cadence to answer the standing TorqMax program. Danny said it himself: real follow-through, not a one-time pitch.
8
Book a proper scheduled visit, not a drive-by. Cody hasn't seen a Merrick rep in over a year — a real share-shift target that deserves more than the one minute he had mid-install.
9
Reschedule the missed visit for the week after next — Jerome closed early on blitz day but is historically a solid Pro Series buyer. A miss, not a dead end.
Assigned to Beacon Ridge · Marcus Ito & Reggie Fontaine · 5 items, urgency-sorted
10
Log Denise's MPS-2043 finish sighting into the monthly quality tracking alongside the eleven stocking accounts already documented with Merrick — and into the Warranty & Claims tracker (Section E).
11
Fold Freddie's MPS-2043 sighting into the monthly quality tracking — first bad kit he's seen, same post-February pattern as the rest of the territory. Tracked as a claim event in Section E.
12
Build Bonnie the formal Birchwood municipal-fleet supply proposal before the next blitz — standing program, routed through APD paper from day one.
13
Send Roy the printed Duncan-to-FoundryLine cross-reference sheet so his counter can answer the "Duncan studs" question itself next time — and route the sale through APD.
14
Send Gordon the full Duncan cross-reference catalog — he lit up seeing FL-4110 and DB-411 side by side, and he'll use it with his own customers.
apd-blitz-visit-log.csv
Every Stop, On The Record
The complete visit log: date, account, city, the APD rep and Beacon Ridge rep on the ride, lines demoed, outcome, order total, follow-up owner and action, intel flags, and an evidence quote pulled verbatim from the field note taken at that stop. Every number in this report traces back to a row in this file — first four rows previewed below.
| Date | Account | APD Rep | Outcome | Order |
|---|
| May 19 | Circle City Auto Repair | Denny Kowalczyk | Demo + order + display | $1,240 |
| May 19 | Speedway Quick Lube & Tune | Denny Kowalczyk | Demo + order | $860 |
| May 19 | Brownsburg Import Service | Denny Kowalczyk | Demo + order + display | $705 |
| May 19 | Avon Auto Care | Denny Kowalczyk | No demo — share-shift intel | — |
Download Blitz Visit Log
Blitz Coverage
2Beacon Ridge Reps
2APD Reps
28Stops in 2.5 Days
Indy → LouisvilleCorridor Covered
A 2-rep, 2.5-day snapshot of APD’s Indy–Louisville corridor — a coverage sample, not the full territory.
From Your Beacon Ridge Team · For Gil Ferris & APD Leadership
Two and a half days of Denny's and Rita's time bought APD $9,840 in blitz-week orders, seven campaign displays still selling at your customers' counters, four documented stocking adds sitting at the DC buyer's desk, three named win-back targets currently spending with Central States, and a municipal-fleet program lead — every item dated, quoted, and assigned to an owner. That's the trade we're proposing you keep making with us.
Two asks to keep the momentum: first, an August follow-up route through the seven display accounts — same crews, one day — to land the reorder wave on APD paper before the Torque-Up rebates close out; second, put a September blitz on the Ohio corridor on the calendar now, run the same way — two crews, live capture, a report like this one in your hands within days. Tell us the week that works and we'll build the route sheets.