Nearly 400 professional truck drivers from across the United States are bound for Tampa, Fla., for the 2005 National Truck Driving Championships, set for Aug. 16-20.
The 68th annual “Super Bowl of Safe Driving,” sponsored by the American Trucking Associations, will be held in the Tampa Convention Center.
The competitors are the state champions in the eight truck classes. The championships, a four-day event, test the truckers’ driving skills and knowledge of safety, equipment and the industry. The test course generally includes an alley dock, a rear and/or front line stop, a scales stop, a right or left turn, parallel parking and straight line driving through a diminishing clearance.
Eight class champions will be chosen, along with a grand, or overall, champion.
The NTDC annually attracts more than 2,000 cheering friends, family, colleagues and interested spectators.
The 2004 championships were held Aug. 18-21 in Salt Lake City. The 2004 Grand Champion was Richard Wayne Crowder, who drives for the FedEx Freight based in Kentucky. Last year was Crowder’s first year in the championships. This year, he won the Kentucky championship and will appear in Tampa.
Sponsors include ABF Freight System, Boeing, Con-Way Transportation Services, FedEx, Jevic, Old Dominion Freight Line, Overnite Transportation, the Red Wing Shoe Company, Roadway Express, Wal-Mart Transportation, Watkins Motor Lines, Yellow Roadway, C and S Wholesale Services, Frito-Lay, Herzig Hauling, J.J. Keller and Associates, McKee Foods Corporation, Publix Supermarkets and the Safety Management Council of the Florida Trucking Association.
