Just days to go before 382 top professional truck drivers from across the United States arrive in New Orleans for the 2006 National Truck Driving Championships set for Aug. 15-19 in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

The “Super Bowl of Safety” is sponsored annually by the American Trucking Associations.
The competitors are the state champions in eight truck classes from all 50 states. Among them, past reigning National Grand Champions, Mark Dietsche (FedEx Freight, 2003) and James March (Yellow Transportation, 2002) are back to regain their title. Also contending to be the best of the best are current ATA Driver of the Year Jim Wilcox (Yellow Transportation) and a current Captain of ATA’s America’s Road Team, Ralph Garcia (ABF Freight System).
Collectively, this year’s contestants are the safest ever in the 69-year history of the National Truck Driving Championships. They have rolled up more than 550 million accident-free miles in their big rigs – a career average of 1,444,000 accident-free miles for each.
In their respective classes – from 18-wheeled five-axle sleepers to tank trucks to twin trailers to straight trucks (and more) – they will compete for four days, challenging their driving skills and knowledge of safety, equipment and the industry. The skills course includes obstacles that simulate day-to-day challenges like 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.
When it’s all over on Saturday, Aug. 19, the United States will have a new National Grand Champion Truck Driver, individual champions in each class and a state champion team.
The NTDC annually attracts more than 2,000 cheering friends, family, colleagues and interested spectators, matching the atmosphere of a small college football game. All indications show that 2006 in New Orleans will be no different.