MATS is over; road trip time

The 2008 Mid-America Trucking Show is over. Was attendance as big as past years? Probably not. Although the numbers are not in yet, many vendors told me the cost of traveling put a certain degree of hurt on the event. Small vendors with die-cast trucks, sunglasses, polish, etc. said sales were down as much as 30 percent. In my opinion, it seemed the crowds were thinner. OK, the place is hugely expanded and that could make it look less crowded and I guess we won’t really know until show management posts the numbers. Any way you look at it, it was a huge success considering the state of trucking's economy.

The last day was still same old Saturday at MATS. Truckers out in full force, West Wing packed. Pride and Polish Show truck participants gathered for the Trophy Dash; the winners carried off fabulous trophies. Dave Sweetman, absent due to family emergency, awarded his traditional Pick of the Litter to OOIDA member Ronnie Baird. The Pride and Polish crew acting for Diesel Dave, awarded Ronnie the special recognition, along with $500 from Arvin Meritor and a neat pocket watch from OOIDA. We’ll have more on the show truck winners on our Web site later and of course, in our next issue of the magazine.

When the show is over, it’s Road Trip Time. Most of the crew left Louisville late in the afternoon, bound for east Missouri. Senior Editor Jami Jones was at the wheel of our rented mini-van. I was also in the fine company of Staff Writer Charlie Morasch and OOIDA Marketing Coordinator Nikki Johnson. These three are great traveling partners, I have to tell you.

I like drive-all-night road trips. I like feasting my eyes on cities like St. Louis at night and stopping in truck stops in the wee hours. Somewhere along I-70 just east of St. Louie we pulled in a TA for snacks and caffeine. I poked around looking at DVDs (hey, they had all of Burt Reynolds’ movies) and books on tape. Jami checked out a Buck Shot Pro game while Charlie marveled at a six-foot piece of beef jerky. We nixed the jerky, bought Diet Cokes and left.

On the way out the door of the c-store, we saw a driver in an OOIDA jacket. A fine looking gentlemen, fine in the way of Wilford Brimley. We introduced ourselves. He was surprised to see us skulking about the TA in the early a.m. but smiled big and shook our hands enthusiastically. I liked him. His name was Ed Sims. We shouted him good night and good luck. We headed back to the mini-van and Ed trudged back into a black parking area of trucks. I looked back and watched him disappear into the shadows. The lot was full and trucks were lined up solid. I thought it looked like the elephant graveyard.

Trucker Buddies, what neat people

My old friend Gary King, founder of Trucker Buddy, would have enjoyed the Trucker Buddy event at MATS. I couldn’t help but think of him when the truckers honored for 2007 were introduced yesterday.

An amazing thing, with the cost of fuel so high, all but about two of these busy truckers were here in Louisville to accept the kudos.

Owner-operator John Rose, Springfield, MO, was chosen as the January 2007 Trucker Buddy of the Month. John has two classes. I can see why John hits if off with kids. He’s a sharp guy who teaches them about responsible behavior and the importance of education.

The February honoree was Tom Barstow Sr. of Moyock, NC. This guy was astounding. He created a national weather Web site for the kids and has big plans to more neat projects like this.

Leased owner-operator Scott Sexton, the March Trucker Buddy, is from Greenville, NC. His wife was there, too, and the story I heard about Scott and Lisa made everyone shake their head in admiration. He visited his class in Pennsylvania and noticed that many did not have winter coats and it disturbed him. He rang up his wife and together, they set about fixing that. They collected clothes and supplies for the schools and loaded it up in their personal vehicle and drove to PA to deliver the stuff.

The April Trucker Buddy, Brenda Meacham, has been a kid mentor since 2004. The teachers rave over her generosity. Brenda’s not a woman of means, but finds ways to generate assistance in providing needed items for her class. For instance, in 2007 she gave her students laptops. No wonder they call her a “genie in a Trucker Buddy disguise.”

My favorite part of the program was the introduction of Frank Nathanson of Staten Island, NY. Trucker Frank, who built a Web site for his students and e-mails his adventures, is so popular with his class that Ms. Deborah Penney traveled from Shirley, NY, to Louisville with one of her students to honor him. The exquisite speech by third-grader Veronika Kurimska from John S. Hobart Elementary knocked me out.

Beth Eder, Park Falls, WI, was honored as the June Trucker Buddy. Trucker Beth and her husband sat next to me at the event and were so excited to be there. She's nothing short of wonderful and I can see why her students love her.

I’ve known Karen and Harvey Zander, St. Louis Park, MN, for years. As owners and pilots of Icy Blu 2 – they’re a well-known trucking couple. I know full well why their kids love them and nominated them July Trucker Buddies for July. Those kids are lucky to know this extraordinary pair.

Ontario trucker Ray White’s employer, Liberty Linehaul, asked Ray to sign up for Trucker Buddy. The company has been involved for years. Trucker Ray, the August honoree, has 20 fourth-graders who think he is top-notch because he sends them souvenirs from his travels. When a kid thinks you're cool, YOU ARE.

Clayton James is a Kansas City guy, now retired from trucking, but sharing his road savvy with students in Ellisville, MO. He’s the September Trucker Buddy.

October’s Trucker Buddy of the Month Paul Moerer lives in Elkhorn, WI. His fourth-graders were impressed that even when Paul was on vacation, he remembered them, sending a conch shell from the Bahamas. He takes his dogs Hither and Yon to visit the kids, too. Trucks, dogs, kids are something like Mom, baseball and apple pie, right?

Sandy and Ken Cook were honored as November’s Trucker Buddies. They’ve been doing this for 11 years. They are drivers for FedEx National LTL out of Middletown, PA and live in Yellow Spring, WV. They are so involved with their kids, they do the annual spelling bee.

Andrew Pomicter was selected as December Trucker Buddy. Andrew is an owner-operator from Weirsdale, FL. His class thinks he is extra cool. The fact that he has a pet snake probably doesn’t hurt.

I always get such a dose of good attitude from being around the truckers in this program. I remember when Gary King used to come by our OOIDA office and talk about his dream of establishing it.

Now, some 3,500 professional drivers share their time with elementary classes.

Louisville lookin mean and green

If you've been following the pork chop diaries, you've probably noticed a recurring theme from Land Line bloggers: trucking gone green.

And it's easy to see why.

From OEMs preparing for 2010 engine emissions standards, to pamphlets and exhibit signs advertising products "CARB Compliant", MATS 2008 would have done Al Gore proud (I'm assuming he didn't make it this year).

California was most definitely a dirty word when mentioned at one unnamed manufacturer's press event, though .

As truckers have done for some time, truck manufacturers are bracing as the world grows ever-tougher on truck emissions specifically. Several press conferences this week alluded to emissions regs from California and other states.

The EPA has created its Smartway loan program that should help owner operators find financing for APUs and other systems that aim to cut emissions and boost fuel mileage.

The EPA's exhibit space in the North Hall at the Kentucky Exposition Center wasn't as busy as some booths, but several salespeople for mileage-boosting technologies said they believe owner operators are turning more to their products.

We'll be packing up and leaving Kentucky soon to head back to Grain Valley and the reality of a tumultous time in trucking.

When we left OOIDA headquarters, diesel prices and the effect of fuel on owner operators were on the tips of everyone's tongues.

Here, we saw the people on the other side scrambling to make those trucks and parts to help drivers save diesel.

Never gonna do it without my fez on ...

Sometimes, a truck show is exactly what you expect. Folks in truckers caps with cowboy boots and big belt buckles. A parade of life member jackets. A lady with enough hat pins to weigh down a battleship.

However, sometimes at a truck show, you see things that simply blow your mind.

A few examples:

• A man cruising the aisles on a Segway;
• A trucker wearing a pink fez;
• And a truck driver who wears kilts.

The Segway – those wild, futuristic personal scooters that wheel you about while standing up – is a pretty expensive toy. In this case, at least one trucker at the show figured he could save his feet by using one. I wanted to talk with him about his conveyance, but I couldn’t catch up.

Now, about that hat … I was talking with Jeff McConnell and James Mennella – the guys from Road Law – when I saw the pink fez bobbing about just over other folks’ heads in the long, black-carpeted rows of the North Wing.

I remember saying to Jeff, “I takes a confident man to wear a fez at all. It takes a truly confident man to wear a pink fez.”

About an hour later, here comes the hat again – this time on Jeff McConnell’s head.

Turns out the hat belongs to a group of Shriners at the show, and one of them was willing to share their unique headgear with a wondering lawyer.

And finally, our kilted trucker. If it takes a confident man to wear a pink fez, think of the enormous confidence of a man who wears a kilt at a truck show.

Our kilted friend is a good few inches over 6 feet tall – possibly 6-foot-5 – but he’s also a good friendly sort. He is not, however, a Scot. He just thinks that the kilt is a darn practical piece of clothing … wash-and-wear and comfortable as heck, plus plenty of pockets to keep your wallet and keys in.

He offered to hook me up with the folks who make the kilts, said I should try it out.

I declined as politely as I could. He can get away with it, I suspect. No one with half a brain gives too much trouble to a 6-foot-5 trucker. Me? Even if I were willing to give it a try, if I did, I’d never hear the end of it.

Besides … if there’s one thing I want to spare the world from, it’s the sight of me in a blue denim kilt.

Nothing Gets Done Without Duct Tape

Earlier in the week, I commented on how much needed to be done 24 hours before MATS opened. It got done, of course, and the displays scattered across more than 1 million square feet of exhibit space glittered and gleamed.


Among all the displays indoors and out were six special rigs competing for the National Association of Show Trucks-Truck-Lite Trophy as top show truck of the year. Each rig came away as the top winner at NAST shows last year, and converged on Louisville for a showdown. The trucks were judged on Wednesday - when the sun shone for most of the day - and the winners announced on Thursday, when it rained most of the day.

The winner of the Trophy for 2007 was Truett Novosad, of Caldwell, TX, whose 2001 Peterilt carries a blue-and-white theme and is named "High Cotton." Coming in second was Rick Hitchcock and his wife, Jennifer, with a 2005 Peterbilt from Webberville, MI . Third went to Gerald Kissinger of Stoughton, WI, with his 1991 Mack and Great Dane reefer.


Sad to say, my friend and ace gearjammer Rufus Sideswipe didn't enter any of the beauty shows this year. He meant to, but when he arrived at Louisville and saw all the astounding competition, he lost heart. Too bad, because with the new layer of aluminum tape on his old Cornbinder, he would have dominated the Temporary Fix category.


So Rufus spent his time looking at International's new, boldly designed Lonestar. It's been a long time since Rufus has had a truck payment, but this beauty is tempting him. Given his love of duct tape as a truck decorating accessory, he was especially smitten when, getting up close to one of the newly unveiled models, he noticed some applied to one of the fuel tank caps. I left him negotiating with the sales people - he wants that model and he wants it now.

Taking a Chance

It's easy to get caught up in the hoopla and hype surrounding MATS. I was just as dazzled as anyone by the unveiling of the Mack Titan, and I spent my share of time staring at the strange new look of International's LoneStar. The music, the lights, the sounds. Like I said, it's easy to get caught up.

But there's one event here that doesn't seem to have gotten a lot of attention, outside of those who were there. It happened Thursday night, far from the crowds in the expo center, tucked away in the middle of the Papa John's stadium parking lot.

Amid a sea of trucks a space had been cleared and a makeshift stage was assembled using a flatbed trailer. A few tents surrounded the area creating an almost festival-like atmosphere. There, more than a hundred or so truck drivers gathered for a single cause: A 12 year old boy by the name of Chance Rodgers.

Chance - who wants nothing more than to be a truck driver when he grows up - is the grandson of OOIDA member Jim Rodgers, and has been battling bone cancer since last year. These truckers - each one of them crazier than the next - banded together to put on a benefit concert, an auction and a chili cook off all to raise money for Chance's medical bills.

As I stood in the crowd and watched OOIDA member Dave Smith ham it up on the microphone, someone near the stage did something amazing. He offered money to make Chance a lifetime member of OOIDA and challenged everyone to match his donation. Next thing I knew, $20 bills were flying in from all over. I've never seen anything quite like it.

One thing that has amazed me about the trucking industry is the willingness of its members to help those in need. Even in this time of $4 a gallon diesel and a slumping economy, those truckers Thursday night handed over that money as if they were millionaires.

I'm sorry this blog post is so long, but I just thought that each and every truck driver who was there that night deserved a ROSE for damn near making a jaded journalist cry. Welcome to the association, Chance.

Infernal Emissions

The ongoing effort by the US EPA to reduce smog-causing emissions of nitrogen compounds from diesel and auto engines, as well as remove nearly all particulates such as soot, will have its next big stepdown in 2010, when federal regulations will require new engines to eliminate virtually all NOx and particles. An argument has been raging for years in the industry over the best technology to achieve the increasingly cleaner exhaust. At the Freightliner press conference this morning, Marketing Director Michael Delaney spent considerable time and energy chastising unidentified competitors and the trucking press for spreading "misinformation" about Freightliner's tech of choice, called Selective Catalytic Reduction or SCR.

Delaney stopped just short of saying that something darker and more nefarious than laziness may lay behind press reports of SCR-dissing by competitors using a  competing technology called engine gas recirculation, or EGR. However, he vigorously condemned rumors and statements that SCR was an unproven and doomed process, and that one of its chief elements - urea - was a toxic, ammoniated witches' brew that would be all but impossible to find.

Freightliner - which now operates under the corporate name Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) - is working with truck stops and other partners to put in place the infrastructure to supply urea by the time the new regs kick in, he said. Urea does not contain ammonia, and isn't toxic, he said - although it is a chemical that has to be handled properly. It's used in products ranging from fertilizer to chewing gum and cosmetics - our bodies even produce it. 

The SCR process uses catalytic filters and injections of urea to remove particles and gases from exhaust once it leaves the engine, so the engine runs cooler and more efficiently. EGR, on the other hand, forces the engine to do most of the work in dealing with particles and nitrous gases, forcing it to work harder and hotter, increasing its vulnerability to wear, he said. SCR ultimately helps engines run more efficiently, for better fuel economy, than EGR. SCR even reduces carbon dioxide, which will likely be the next big EPA target. Daimler has 100,000 trucks in Europe using SCR, and auto builders are looking at it too, so it is a proven, viable and reliable technology, Delaney said.

Barely an hour later, International Truck's leader Dee Kapur dissed SCR as requiring additional equipment and effort by truckers, who will have to refill their urea tanks every few fillups. He said International's EGR solution will be seamless for its customers, while providing fuel economy and reliability.

With so much at stake, for truck and engine builders as well as their customers - and for all of us who plan to keep breathing - the rival emissions over rival emissions technologies will continue for some time. (Interestingly, the truck builders are increasingly pitching their proprietary engines as the optimum solution for powering their vehicles. What does this mean for independent engine builders such as Caterpillar and Cummins?)

Like the rivalry between VHS and Beta, between BluRay and HiDef, it may take years to determine which was the right road to take. Or maybe some kind of synthesis will emerge, offering still a third path. With these pollutants linked to variety of respiratory and other illnesses, change can't come soon enough. In this case, maybe you should hold your breath.