Heritage Transport’s Dennis Shirar Is Truck Driving Grand Champion

Dennis Shirar, a driver with Indianapolis-based Heritage Transport who has driven 3 million accident-free miles, was named the 2008 National Truck Driving Grand Champion, American Trucking Associations said.

Shirar’s driving skills and knowledge of transportation and truck safety information topped 375 other professional drivers from in the National Truck Driving Championships, held in Houston last week.

In route to his title, Shirar has logged 30 accident and injury free years as a driver, with over 3 million miles behind the wheel, ATA said.

The contestants were the state champions in eight truck types from all 50 states. Collectively, they have driven almost 500 million accident-free miles.

The Georgia state truck driving championship team won honors as the highest scoring state team, followed by Indiana and West Virginia.

The 71st annual “Super Bowl of Safety” is sponsored by ATA.

“I applaud all the competitors for their efforts in making our highways safe, and congratulate Dennis for demonstrating how a dedication to safe driving skills can make you a grand champion,” said ATA President Bill Graves.

Shirar, who succeeds Alphonso Lewis of Roadway Express as national grand champion, also won the individual straight truck driving competition.

Joining him as champions in their respective classes were:

Three-Axle: Victor Wheeler, Roadway Express (Bountiful, Utah)

Four-Axle: Ryan Kelley, FedEx Freight (Nora Springs, Iowa)

Five-Axle: Buner Evans, USF Holland (Bremen, Ga.)

Five-Axle Sleeper: Karl Bohrer, Wal-Mart Transportation (Katy, Texas)

Twins: Chris Mahony, FedEx Freight (Kearns, Utah)

Flatbed: Ben Moore Jr., Wal-Mart Transportation (Americus, Ga.)

Tank Truck: John Smith, FedEx Ground (Mooreville, Miss.)

Rookie of the Year: Robert Romando, FedEx National LTL (Surprise, Ariz.).

Vehicle Condition Award: Carl Meyers, UPS Inc. (East Lake, Minn.)

Neill Darmstadter Professional Excellence Award: Clarence Jenkins Jr., UPS Freight (Poca, W. Va.)

Life-Time Volunteer Award: Woody and Jeanne Yarwood (Bethlehem, Pa.)