The Real Story
When trucks and truck drivers are mentioned in the general media, they seem almost invariably to be put in a bad light.
Trucks often are portrayed as noisy, smoky, fire-breathing monsters, scaring the daylights out of everyone else as they roar down the highway.
Drivers usually don’t fare much better. They’re frequently stereotyped as reckless cowboys — irresponsible, badly trained and not caring about the safety of anyone else on the road.
That’s why the National Truck Driving Championships are so refreshing. They tell the real story — the story of drivers and of a trucking industry devoted to safety — all celebrated this year in Pittsburgh, where 415 of the best drivers competed in the “Super Bowl of Safety.”
American Trucking Associations has sponsored the national truck driving challenge since 1937, in an event that allows as competitors only those who have been accident-free for a year. Most contestants have records that far exceed that standard.
This year’s Grand Champion is Dale Duncan, a Con-way Freight driver in San Diego. He hasn’t had a traffic ticket in 25 years.
The focus on safety is one thing that draws drivers to the competition. Take Marc DiTomasso, a driver in Rhode Island for New Penn Motor Express, a first-time national competitor.
“One of the main things you learn, coming to the nationals, is how serious it is. You learn more about the truck, about safety,” DiTomasso said.
Ditto for Duane Foreman, a YRC Worldwide driver from Minnesota. He said the competition provides an “incentive to drive safely.”
Drivers compete in a wide variety of truck configurations, now including the familiar step vans used so widely by parcel carriers. The national step-van competition was a new feature at the championships this year, giving those drivers an opportunity to strut their stuff in vehicles they must maneuver daily through dense and unpredictable city traffic. David Thompson, who drives for FedEx Ground, won that competition.
Other truck categories in which drivers compete are straight truck, flatbed, tank truck, twins, three-axle, four-axle, five-axle and sleeper berth.
Out of the 415 drivers who made it through their grueling state competitions to challenge each other at the national level, just nine took home a first-place trophy.
But the others won just by being there, representing the entire industry. They share a pride in their work and in trucking — a pride we all can share and remember the next time we see a negative story about trucking in some publication or on a television show.
