Every Year True Value Hardware Logistics company brings together their drivers from warehouses all across the USA to compete in a Truck Roadeo…
The Winner of each Regional competition goes to the Nationals to compete for the National Title each year…..
What a Truck Roadeo consists of is a number of obstacles for the drivers to take their Semis through….
The Truck Cab is 30ft long and weighs around 17,000 lbs EMPTY and the Trailor is 53ft long and weighs another 10,000 lbs EMPTY so as you can imagine this Roadeo is not as easy as it sounds….
Roadeo Obstacle one is a set of three 55 gallon Barrels in which the drivers must pull through then back the truck back through without bumping into or knocking them over, Watching them do this is INSANE Parallel Parking on Steroids…
Step two is a row of Tennis balls on little rubber stands the driver must line their dual tires up with the rows of tennis balls and make the tennis balls fit in between the gap of the dual tires on the truck and Trailer without knocking them off the rubber stands. It sounds totally Impossible but I saw my dad do this in 1998 without knocking one ball off of a stand TOTALLY IMPRESSIVE.
Part 3 is the Loading dock in which the driver must back into getting the back of their 53ft trailor within 12 inches of the dock without bumping it … Super hard since they are over 60ft away in the cab of the truck and the loading dock only leaves about 6 inches of space on each side of the 37,000 LB Beast …
Finally they have to take a written test going over the rules and regulations of the Trucking business….
The entire competition is worth a total of 267 points
My Dad Ted Won the 1998 National Truck Roadeo with a score of 265 points out of a possible 267 and now is headed back again to RE CLAIM his title…
If he wins this year in LAS VEGAS in Sept he will be the first driver in history to win 2 National Titles…..
Good Luck Dad I LOVE YOU !