What's on tap for NTDC 2019? Transport Topics reporter Eleanor Lamb gives you a preview of what to expect as the nation's top truck drivers gather for the 2019 National Truck Driving Championships at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. (Marissa Gamache/Transport Topics)

Scenes from the 2019 National Truck Driving Championships, National Step Van Driving Championships and North American Inspectors Championship at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Aug. 14-17, 2019.

Kevin Mailand’s biggest challenge en route to winning Grand Champion honors at the 2019 Kansas Truck Driving Championships was getting to Topeka in the first place. Five years earlier, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 esophageal cancer.

Hundreds of top truck drivers soon will descend on Pittsburgh for the 82nd annual National Truck Driving Championships.

Since 2009, when the Ohio Truck Driving Championships returned to the hands of the Ohio Trucking Association, the competition not only has been a success with drivers, it has turned into a self-sustaining event.

As the nation’s top truck drivers prepare to convene in Pittsburgh for the National Truck Driving Championships, another group of safety professionals — law enforcement officers — will meet in the same city for its own competition.

The National Truck Driving Championships involves a considerable amount of fanfare, including a rousing breakfast, a parade of equipment and a celebratory awards ceremony. However, there’s a less flashy (but no less important) aspect of NTDC that receives little attention: the scoring process.

Here's the list of inspectors competing at the 2019 North American Inspectors Championship.

Scott Meyers, Grand Champion of this year’s North Dakota Truck Driving Championships, says support from his coworkers and the competition truck driving community helped power him to a first-place trophy.

Scenes from the Arkansas Truck Driving Championships held July 11-13 in Rogers. (Arkansas Trucking Association)