|
PITTSBURGH — Like many other champion truck drivers, Dale Duncan first took the wheel in childhood, on a family farm in Indiana, where his father supplemented the family income by driving a truck.
In adolescence, Duncan learned to position giant tractor tires so he didn’t crush growing plants. On country highways, he steered heavy grain trucks and tractor-trailers piled high with hay.
“People don’t realize it, but it’s all about angles,” Duncan said. “It’s geometry.” That early learning served Duncan well. He took home the grand champion’s trophy this year from the annual National Truck Driving Championships held here Aug. 18-20.
It was the second time that Duncan, a 44-year-old driver in San Diego for Con-way Freight, has earned the competition’s top prize.
He also took home the title in 2006 after winning first place that year in the tank truck class.
This year, Duncan won in the five-axle competition and was one of three Con-way drivers taking home first-place trophies in separate vehicle classes.
A record 415 drivers competed this year at the NTDC, which was founded in 1937 during the Great Depression by American Trucking Associations to honor the best drivers in the industry.
For the first time, the competition included a step-van contest, in which 33 drivers participated. Drivers from FedEx Ground swept the field, winning first-, second-and third-place trophies.
In past years, to get to the national driving competition, contestants such as David Thompson, a FedEx Ground step-van driver, had to compete in other truck classes.
|