Yellow’s Rick Herbert Wins Truck Driving Championship
ick Herbert, professional truck driver for Yellow Transportation based in Illinois, became the 2005 National Truck Driving Grand Champion Saturday.
The annual truck driving championships, held this year in Tampa, Fla., are sponsored by American Trucking Associations. The contestants were the state champions in eight truck types from all 50 states.
Collectively, they have driven over 484 million accident-free miles.
Herbert topped the other 362 contestants who gathered in Tampa for three days of intense competition leading to the drive-off. The competition capped a process that started earlier this year, with more than 6,550 drivers nationwide.
The 52-year-old Herbert said he and his 17-year-old son Greg would rise early on weekends and drive to the Yellow yard in suburban Chicago where they had set up a practice course. Yellow Transportation is a unit of Yellow Roadway Corp., No. 3 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
As Herbert spoke, his wife Sandy, daughter Krista and son Greg stood behind him. “I am really proud of him,” Sandy said. “He worked long and hard and practiced on just about every day off to get here.”
In their respective classes, they tested their expertise in the driving skills they use daily. The competition course inside the Tampa Convention Center included a scale stop, a rear-line stop, a rear-dock parking exercise, a measured tight right turn, a front-line stop, and straight-line driving along a narrow path of tennis balls.
Herbert, of Villa Park, Ill., also won the individual four-axle truck driving competition. He succeeds Wayne Crowder, of FedEx Freight in Louisville, Ky., as the national champion.
Joining Herbert as champions in their respective classes were:
• Five-Axle: Ryland Hogan, Wilson Transportation, Stuart’s Draft, Va.
font size=4>• Five-Axle Sleeper: Larry Warr, Wal-Mart Transportation, LaGrange, Ga.
font size=4>• Tank Truck: Michael Lomastro, Publix Supermarkets, Lake Worth, Fla.
font size=4>• Three-Axle: Brent Darnold, Linde Gas, Parkersburg, W.Va.
font size=4>• Twins: Darrell Kimbrell, FedEx Freight, Bessemer, Ala.
font size=4>• Flatbed: Mark Church, Con-Way Southern Express, Winston-Salem, N.C.
font size=4>• Straight Truck: Robert Dolan, Con-Way Central Express, Catasauqa, Pa.
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