Don Logan, a FedEx Freight driver from Topeka, Kan., was named the Grand Champion at the 2012 National Truck Driving Championships.
Logan edged out more than 400 other professional drivers to take the top prize at American Trucking Associations’ 75th annual event, which took place last week in Minneapolis. The event is sponsored by Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC.
Logan, who won the flatbed competition, is married and has four children. He has been a professional truck driver for 25 years and has logged more than 2.1 million miles behind the wheel. He began competing in state truck driving championships in 2006, and this year he made his sixth trip to the nationals.
Logan said he doesn’t really have a “killer instinct” when he competes at the state and national levels.
“I love the competition,” he said. “But I’m not one of the guys who’s out for blood.”
“I enjoy going down the road and operating a large piece of equipment,” Logan told Transport Topics minutes after winning the big prize. “It provides a great income to support my family and, as corny as it might seem, I’m moving a little piece of America every night.”
Logan said he began driving a truck at 14 years old on a farmer’s permit. He’s been driving for FedEx Freight for the past 21 years. Thirteen of those years he has been driving twin trailers five nights a week on a run from Topeka, to Des Moines, Iowa.
He follows 2011 winner Paul Phillips, a Con-way Freight driver from Coarsegold, Calif.
Robert Sutton, ABF Freight System, from Boise, Idaho, was named the 2012 National Rookie of the Year after competing in the three-axle division.
