To mark CCJ’s centennial anniversary, here is the CCJ editors’ list of some of the most important regulations, innovations and events that have shaped the trucking industry over the last 100 years.
Disagree with a ranking? Feel like there’s something we missed? We’d love to hear your opinion. Go to www.CCJ100.com/feedback and let us know what you think.
CCJ’s editors would like to thank the following for their input and feedback in compiling the Milestones: Bill Johnson, executive director of the American Truck Historical Society; Gov. Bill Graves, president and chief executive officer of the American Trucking Associations; Jerry Standley, former CCJ editorial director; and Rich Cross, former CCJ senior technical editor.
100 Trucking dominates pop culture
C.W. McCall’s #1 hit “Convoy” in 1976 was made into a movie of the same name two years later. Also memorable during the decade were Claude Akins’ “Movin’ On” TV series and “B.J. and the Bear,” as well as Burt Reynolds’ “Smokey and the Bandit,” which dominated cinema screens. Almost overnight, the word “Smokey” was used in the pages of CCJ. A White Motor Trucks ad in May 1980 touted “You’ll discover how to raise average road speed 10%, to add thousands of profit-producing miles without angering Smokey!” The lasting effects of trucking’s “15 minutes of fame” are debatable, but in the near term undoubtedly more people became interested in working as truck drivers.
99 SuperTruck program
In January 2010, the Department of Energy announced $115 million in funding for three projects that focus on cost-effective measures to improve efficiency of Class 8 long-haul freight trucks by 50 percent. Technologies to be demonstrated by 2015 include improved aerodynamics, reduced engine idling technologies, waste heat recovery to increase engine efficiency, advanced combustion techniques and powertrain hybridization.
98 First truck leasing program
In 1916, Warwick Saunders and his sons founded Ford Livery Co., thought to be the first truck leasing and rental company in history. It later became Saunders Leasing System and grew to become the third-largest truck leasing company in the country with 136 locations and 10,000 trucks. Saunders was purchased by Ryder in 1986.
97 Truck driver minimum age
The longstanding controversial requirement that drivers be at least 21 for interstate operations means trucking isn’t an option for new high school graduates. In 2000, the Truckload Carriers Association proposed a tightly controlled pilot program to allow 18-year-olds to drive interstate, but the plan was rejected in 2003.
