ATA Votes to Open NTDC To State-Affiliated Fleets

This story appears in the Oct. 28 print edition of Transport Topics.

ORLANDO, Fla. — American Trucking Associations’ board of directors voted here to open participation in its annual National Truck Driving Championships to members of state trucking associations who are not ATA members.

“With this change . . . it’s going to be really the National Truck Driving Championships,” former ATA Chairman Michael Card said at an Oct. 22 news conference at the group’s Management Conference & Exhibition. The old rules were “just uncomfortable and wrong.”

Previously, NTDC would feature winners of state truck driving championships who drove for ATA member companies. Nonmembers were allowed to send drivers to NTDC only once, and ATA did not announce the carriers for whom those drivers worked in competition programs and materials.

After the one-year waiver, those carriers were not allowed to send additional drivers to NTDC without joining ATA.

“We’ve long billed this event as the ‘Super Bowl of Safety,’ so it is fitting . . . we at ATA give more competitors a chance to test their mettle and compete for a championship,” said ATA President Bill Graves.

Philip Byrd Sr., ATA’s new chairman, said the change is “good for our industry and our association and for the Truck Driving Championships.”

The change started with the Trucking Association Executives Council, which comprises leaders of the state trucking associations. At its July meeting, a resolution was passed unanimously to change NTDC eligibility.

Bob Sculley, who leads both the Vermont Truck & Bus Association and the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association, proposed that resolution.

He said last week the change would cement goodwill between ATA and the state affiliates.

“The past rules were a problem for our folks, in that the majority of our members in both states are non-ATA members, and they compete in our state event,” he said.

This year alone, New Hampshire had four championship winners who worked for non-ATA companies, and only one was eligible to go to the NTDC.

“When the nonmembers went down to compete, they were not treated the same. The companies were not acknowledged; they felt like second-class citizens,” he said. Many small companies cannot afford to join ATA, but they contribute to trucking’s causes by joining state groups.

Byrd said that opening NTDC recognizes the role of the state groups.

“It exercises our federation in its entirety to be able to expand our driver championships, and I think it’s a very good thing,” he said.

Card came out in support of Sculley’s proposal at the 2012 NTDC event in Salt Lake City.

The 2014 competition, scheduled for August in Pittsburgh, will be the first under the new rules.

The event challenges drivers with complicated maneuvers in large trucks and step vans, as well as testing their industry and safety knowledge and their skills at performing pre-trip truck inspections.

“By making the national competition more inclusive, we’ll see even more competitors and we’ll be able to truly find the industry’s best drivers,” said Anne Lynch, executive director of the Massachusetts Motor Transportation Association and TAEC’s chairwoman.