Richard Petty Driving Experience: ‘Flippin’ awesome!’

Margo Elrod -- let's go racin', boys!

That’s how OOIDA Member Margo Elrod of Peru, Ind., described her ride-along Saturday on the big track at the Kansas Speedway.

Margo grew up with racing. Her father was a racer and she’s a big fan. Margo says when she came to the Heart of America Trucking Show at the Speedway, it was foremost in her mind to do the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

Strapped down in a Clint Bowyer 600 hp NASCAR race car, Margo and her expert driver peeled off three laps at nearly 160 mph Saturday at the Speedway.

She wasn’t the only OOIDA member to take the opportunity to do something they’ve always wanted. Life Members Mark Elrod – Margo’s husband -- and Kenneth Becker, from Montgomery, Texas, also experienced the thrill of the Richard Petty Experience on the Kansas Speedway’s 1.5-mile tri-oval track.

“It’s not scary. It’s fun, it’s amazing, and I’ve always wanted to do it,” she said afterwards. “I knew when I got here I just had to do it. … It was just flippin’ awesome.”

Who is going to give you your next DOT physical? Truckers want to know

“Now truckers will have to get DOT physicals from a certified specialist … specializing in WHAT? That sounds really stupid to me.”  That was one of the comments fielded by FMCSA Medical Programs Nurse Practitioner Pam Perry Saturday morning at a seminar on the new medical registration requirements.

FMCSA's Pam Perry arrived at OOIDA's Heart of America
Trucking Show ready for truckers' questions. And she
got plenty of them at Saturday's seminar.

John Taylor, owner-operator and OOIDA life member, wanted to know why FMCSA is requiring all 4 million CDL holders to have their DOT physicals done by doctors and other medical practitioners who are "certified" and members of a special registry. He wanted to know why (as of May 21 of next year) it could no longer be done by truckers' personal doctors, doctors who know them best. And he and others wanted to know how all this came about.

“Who asked for this?” said one trucker.

Perry said Congress mandated it and told FMCSA to “get it done.” She said the mandate was the result of safety lobbyists reacting to a 1999 bus crash in New Orleans that killed 22 people. It was discovered that the bus driver was not medically qualified to have a CDL. In fact, Perry said he had been in the ER for serious conditions only 10 hours prior and had been hospitalized at least 10 times for various problems that should have prevented him from passing a physical.

One trucker asked if "it could go back on the doctor who passed the bus driver?” When Perry confirmed that, yes, it did – it prompted questions about the doctors involved in accidents where drivers were found to be medically unqualified. Perry said such doctors would not be allowed to do DOT physicals anymore.

Another trucker was quick to predict that this new medical requirement would result in skyrocketing liability insurance for doctors.

“What about carriers then?” was another question from the trucker audience. “What if they put a driver on the road whose DOT physical was not done by a certified, registered ME?”

“It’s the carriers’ responsibility, too," Perry said.

With the clock ticking toward the May 21, 2014, compliance date, another question addressed the number of certified medical examiners that would be needed and how many are certified at this time. Perry said 20,000 would be needed by May and, as the program rolled out, it would be about 40,000. She said the current number of doctors registered was 14,000, but not all were trained and certified yet.

She stressed that if you got your DOT physical before the compliance date, it would be good for two years.

“You won’t have to get a physical again until it expires,” she said. “Even if you get it the day before May 21.”

Miles Verhoef, a trucker and OOIDA member from Saco, Mont., expressed his concern with the size and rurality of his rural state and how many doctors in Montana would hesitate to pay to be certified and go through the training to be registered. Verhoef wasn't happy with how far he’d have to drive to get a physical.

Perry said getting enough certified medical examiners in the larger rural states is one of FMCSA’s biggest concerns, but they’ve taken steps to stay ahead of it.

Promoted

My wing man, "Mini Me," judge-in-training, and daughter, Samantha Jones goes with me to lots of truck shows. She tends to lurk around long enough that I wind up putting her to work.

The past couple of years we've taken to calling her judge-in-training at Shell Rotella SuperRigs. She keeps me and the other judges in line and has taken to pointing out the finer points of trucks.

Her training paid off. Here at the Heart of America Trucking Show, she judged her first truck. I will say she nailed it.

'I'm still alive'

The old Pearl Jam song could be the official song of a number of truckers who've survived an injury or illness and benefited from a not-for-profit organization known as TransAlive USA.

OOIDA Member David Gilland and TransAlive USA's
President and founder Bob Hataway

OOIDA Member David Gilland had a stroke a couple of years ago and found himself far from home and unable to get home. 

“No one but my family really knew where I was, but you know how it is in trucking. They tracked me down,” he told me today. David, aka “Bullwinkle,” got a call in his hospital bed from Lance Wood, a friend (and OOIDA member).

“After a stroke, you can’t just get back behind the wheel, or even take a plane,” says David. “You’ve got to have a way home that is specially equipped.”

The next thing he knew, he was hooked up with Bob Hataway and TransAlive USA’s AmCoach and headed home.

Bob and his wife Carol started the national ministry in 1984 to help injured or sick truckers get home. The effort has been such as success, it’s earned itself some great operational sponsors. Fuel, for example, is provided by Pilot Travel Centers, lube services by Speedco, and tires from Bridgestone Bandag. J.B. Hunt, Great Dane and Alcoa provide operational financial services.

TransAlive USA is here at the Heart of America Trucking Show at the Kansas Speedway. And I got a chance today to visit with Bob, who is at the truck show promoting TransAlive’s new deal. It is partnering with Air Ambulance Card from Birmingham, Ala., to provide air service for critical medical issues with drivers.

I was curious about the program so I checked out some quick facts. The Air Ambulance Program transports drivers from medical facilities by ground ambulance to local airports. Drivers are loaded on aircraft and flown to their destination in a matter of hours as opposed to days with the AmCoach. They are taken to the nearest destination airport and transported by ground ambulance to a medical facility of their choice. Medical staff, as needed, accompany the driver, and family members are allowed to travel as well. All services are free to members of Air Ambulance Card.

What about the trusty AmCoach? Bob says the AmCoach service will still be available as before; however, it will be replaced with the air service over the next two years.

Forrest Lucas reconnects

Wherever you find cars, trucks or any motorized vehicles – and whether they race, haul the nation's freight or take Grandma to church – you're going to find Lucas Oil products.

And while many people have become familiar with the success story of company founder and former long-haul trucker Forrest Lucas, they may not know that he's still got trucking on his mind.

I caught up with Forrest during a busy but chilly Friday during the Heart of America Trucking Show. He was preparing to record a spot for TV at the Lucas Oil booth, but the rain had his crew scrambling to find a dry place to finish the shot.


Forrest Lucas is a proud OOIDA member
(Photo by David Tanner, Land Line Magazine)

Even with the change in plans, and the rain coming down mid-afternoon, nothing could dampen this man's enthusiasm to attend and be associated with OOIDA's 40th anniversary event. Not even the cancellation of the Kansas rock concert he had sponsored for the main stage would get him down on this day.

In fact, he was all smiles. Being here, among the truckers, was enough.

"I wanted to reconnect with the owner-operators," he said. "We've been busy, but it's time to reconnect."

Forrest Lucas' story has been well-documented, but it was still cool to hear him talk about the beginning.

He told me it all started with a desire to develop oil products for use in his own trucks. Everything – the racing, the dedication to research and development, the naming rights to the NFL stadium in Indianapolis – is a result of and an extension of that desire.

This is a man who seems to have a bit of everything on his plate these days, but Forrest Lucas has never forgotten where he came from. He has tremendous respect for the nation's truckers, and he told me he wouldn't miss OOIDA's show for anything. He's been a member of the Association for years.

"The owner-operators ... if it hadn't been for them, we wouldn't be here today," he said.

"Every time we do something, we keep the truckers in mind."

Operation Roger: As seen on TV!

I was watching "NBC Nightly News" back in April when anchorman Brian Williams said something like “we leave you tonight with a story from NBC’s Mark Potter.” I was surprised to see it was a piece about our friends with Operation Roger.

If you are not familiar with them, they are a volunteer group of truck drivers who pick up pets that need a loving home and deliver them to their new owners, sometimes thousands of miles away.

The drivers and volunteers call the 501(c)(3) charity group “Operation Roger,” after one of the dogs owned by founder and trucker Sue Weise. Roger was a toy Manchester terrier, the first Operation Roger rescue dog who has since passed away, but he used to go with Sue on the road.

OOIDA Member Mary Abraham, pet lover and an
 Operation Roger volunteer.

Sue, who is an OOIDA life member from Joshua, Texas, had a desire to do something for the many helpless pets who were left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. She established Operation Roger on Sept. 16, 2005, and since then, the group has found permanent homes for almost 700 dogs and cats.

The men and women of Operation Roger describe themselves as a “group of 20-30 truckers who do their job first and if they can help transport a pet to a new home while traveling the country, why not?"

I really like what these people do so Booth No. 321 was on my list of places to hit Friday to say hi to a handful of these generous truck drivers and let them know much I enjoyed the NBC story.