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Were rightully proud o the work weve done here atNational Oil & Lube News (which started out as TeNational Oil & Lube News, incidentally) during the

past quarter-century, and even though Im the greenest mem-

ber on sta, it was enlightening to discover all the interestingways this publication has grown and changed.One thing has remained constant through the years: weve

never stopped serving the ast lube industry by supplying thenews and inormation that will beneft and improve businessor ast lube owners. NOLN has always had the industrys bestinterest in mind, something that will continue to be a priorityor the next 25 years and beyond.

Lets look at some o the frsts in NOLN history:

First IssueTe frst issue was a mere our pages published in July/Au-gust 1986. It was a non-bound newspaper/tabloid-style pub-lication (though printed on better-than-newsprint paper) thateatured a profle on Hugo Bustamante, a ast lube owner in ElPaso, exas. Other items included in the issue were a discus-sion on the makeup o crude oil, as well as a classifeds sec-tion (that was largely fctional!). Tere was also a letter rom

the publishers, Steve Hurt and David Arrington, announcingNOLNs arrival.

First AdvertisementTe second issue (September/October 1986) included (thank-ully) the frst advertiser to grace the pages o NOLN:Castrol.It was a ull-page advertisement that described why lube op-erators should change your oil. Castrol wouldnt be the lastadvertiser to grace our pages, and without the lasting relation-ship weve had with literally hundreds o industry vendors, wewouldnt be where we are today.

First Letter to the EditorA letter, or I guess I should say letters, to the editor was frstpublished in the November/December 1986 issue. Praisescame rom ast lube presidents, operators and owners whowere all excited to see a publication directly related to theirindustry.

We like the praises and a pleased audience; however, we ac-cept the complaints, too. Were not shy about accepting criti-cism; indeed, it is the pointers and suggestions weve receivedrom our many readers that has made us the magazine we aretoday, and we hope youll keep those suggestions and criti-

cisms coming. (Although wed still love to see some praises,too!) Tey help us better serve our readers.

First Survey

Te frst op 10 (aka ops inthe Industry) list made its debutin the May 1987 issue. At thetime, we listed both the top 10independent lube chains as wellas the top 10 ranchised chains.Jiy Lube was the leading ran-chise company with 550 stores, aar cry rom the more than 2,000

ranchised acilities the companyhad in our 2011 ops in the In-dustry Rankings!

First Products & ServicesWhat was then called the New Products eature (it later be-came the Products & Services eature you know today) frstappeared in the April 1987 issue and eatured a whopping twoproducts (rom the same company): SAF--Bay and SAF--

COVER to reduce the risks o uncovered service bays.

First Staff BoxTe frst sta box appeared in the January 1988 issue, fnallyallowing readers to put names to the people responsible orputting NOLN together every month. Te frst sta list pub-lished included Steve Hurt (publisher) and Barbara insley(editor).

First Around the Industry FeatureOur frst AI eature hit the scenes in the December 1988 is-sue. Tat inaugural article consisted o fve items on the ex-pansion o ast lube operations, something we noted time andagain in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s as the astlube industry grew rapidly.

First Operators SurveyAs a chronicler o the industry, it only made sense that wewould begin tracking the operational data important to lubeoperators. Tus was born our frst Fast Lube Operators Sur-

vey in the August 1989 issue, a report that shared data onsuch industry metrics as average car count (43.5), LOF price

by Kara Bishop ~NOLN Staff Writer ~ kara.bishop@noln.net

A Quarter Century

of NOLN Firsts

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($20.82) and ticket average ($24.71). Tat simple survey has nowevolved into what is annually the most entailed analysis o the astlube industry readers will nd anywhere.

First Operator of the YearDespite its singular title, there were two men honored with what wecall our Operator o the Year award, rst eatured in the February1990 issue. Joe Haggard, operator o Pro Lube in Florida (and sinceretired), and Art Lukowski, operator o Oil Express in Illinois (andsince deceased), were chosen or the contributions they had madeto a edgling industry.

In addition, we honored W.J. Hindman, one o the ounders oJiy Lube International, or his work in making Jiy Lube the in-

dustrys biggest company. According to that 1990 article, each othe men, maintained an exemplary image, having achieved manysuccesses personally as well as those benetting the entire industry.

First TechSpecTe rst ech Spec eature was published in October 1990, inwhat was then called the Chek-Chart ech Column. Tat inauguraleature detailed actory-recommended service intervals and lubri-cants or the brand-new 1990 Range Rover, something the modern

TechSpec features continue to do.

First Advertisers IndexTe rst advertisers index waspublished in December 1992,and included 43 advertisers,among them companies like Co-lonial Label, Devon, ISI, Mighty,Sage, Service Champ and Quak-er State (Shell) that continue toadvertise to this day.

First Bound IssueWe actually achieved two rstswith our January 1998 issue:rst bound magazine-style is-sue (though still in tabloid size)and rst use o ull color on ourcover and a ew interior pages. We would continue as a ull-colortabloid-size magazine or ve more years, until the modern NOLNwas born. More on that later.

First Best-Looking LubeTe rst beauty contest or ast lubes was published in our No-

vember 1999 issue. Te winner o that inaugural contest was Fas-rak Oil & Lube Supercenter in Middletown, New Jersey.

First Websitewww.noln.net is born! Te year 2000 was kicked o with a bang asNOLN announced its oray into the World Wide Web in the Janu-ary issue. Our goal was to create a website that would allow readersaccess to the same great content eatured in our print magazine,

plus article archives and other great tidbits only ound online.Our digital side has grown by leaps and bounds in the decade-

plus since, as we now eature an electronic ePub version o NOLN,email newsletters eaturing breaking news stories, a blog, social me-

dia and more.

First Automotive Recalls FeatureA helpul tool, the Automotive Recalls eature, was rst publishedin the January 2001 issue. Tis article included inormation on ve-hicles recalled by the National Highway rafc Saety Administra-tion, why those vehicles were recalled and how lube operators couldhelp their customers take care o the problem.

First Briefcase-Friendly IssueLike I mentioned beore, we became the magazine we are todaywith the introduction o the January 2003 issue. Gone was the tab-loid size, replaced by a smaller, more briecase-riendly publicationthat was a big hit with readers, eliciting months o appreciative let-ters to the editor rom readers.

First Buyers GuideOur separate Buyers Guide made its debut in 2003. Tis special

publication was created so ast lube operators searching or a par-ticular product or service could easily nd and contact representa-tives o industry vendors that provided those products or services.Tat inaugural issue consisted o our sections: Manuacturer &Distributor Listings, Index o Products, Article Index (a listingo articles published in NOLN during the preceding year) and FastLube Start-up Plans, a listing o branded, turnkey and ranchisedprograms available to current and prospective lube operators. Nowin its eighth year, the Buyers Guide has evolved into the Fast LubeIndustry Source Book & Technical Guide, and is published each yearin June. (Coincidentally, you should have received yours with thisissue o NOLN!)

First EditorialIt was eventually decided that NOLN,like all magazines, needed a ace, and soGarrett McKinnon (as the editor) beganpenning an editorial that rst startedwith the January 2005 issue. He titledthat rst eature Conessions o a Re-ormed DIYer and chronicled his tra-

vails as a person who grew up changinghis own oil (with the scars to prove it)but changed to the installed market orthe sheer convenience o it.

Its hard to believe so much time haspassed since NOLN was ounded (es-pecially or me, since I wasnt born yet),but we look orward to achieving manymore rsts in the decades to come. S