August 2014 Volume 34, Issue 8
TRUCK NEWS Did you attend the Truck News/Chevron golf tourney? Relive the event and find out how much was raised.
Delivering daily news at trucknews.com
The T680 Advantage
We drive Kenworth’s new T680 Advantage, billed as the truck maker’s most fuelefficient truck ever built.
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The Great Lakes Truck Club once again held its popular antique truck show in the small town of Clifford, Ont.
Fore!
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Classics in Clifford
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Canada’s Trucking Newspaper Since 1981
Self-driving trucks
Trucks that drive themselves or can be parked by tablet? We’ve got a full report from Germany.
No job too large
Penske pro named Fleet Maintenance Manager of the Year By James Menzies MISSISSAUGA, Ont. • When tragedy was visited upon Lloyd De Merchant’s family when he was just eight years of age, it set in motion a series of events that would eventually lead to him receiving the Canadian fleet maintenance industry’s highest honour. De Merchant’s successful career was highlighted June 18 when he was presented with the Volvo Trucks Canada Fleet Maintenance Manager of the Year Award at just 43 years of age. An area maintenance manager with Penske Truck Leasing, overseeing 8,000 pieces of equipment over a network of 22 maintenance facilities across Eastern Canada, De Merchant traces his career back to the horrible death of his six-yearold sister. De Merchant’s sister and her twin brother were walking back from an iceskating field trip when she dropped her glove on the road and ran back to grab it. A transport truck barreled through a red light, striking and killing her. The truck’s brakes had failed. De Merchant, eight years old at the time, was in the nearby park and saw what had happened. Soon after, his father started a trucking company; a curious career choice since the family didn’t have any trucking roots. “I think it was his way of dealing with (the grief),” De Merchant said in a recent interview with Truck News in his MissisContinued on page 20
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Judges measure the accuracy of a driver’s parking job at the Ontario Truck Driving Championships held in Barrie, July 12. Winners will move on to represent Ontario at the Nationals this fall.
Nice guys finish first Top drivers prove their skills at the Ontario Truck Driving Championships
By Carolyn Gruske BARRIE, ONTARIO Even though they work for different companies in different parts of the province and drive different classes of trucks, all of the winners at the provincial finals of the Ontario Truck Driving Championships (OTDC) have one thing in common: they’re all nice guys. That’s how OTDC president Ewen Steele describes the victors, adding they’re a “humble bunch,” despite having proved themselves as the best drivers in the province. He says having a winning attitude on the course doesn’t just happen. It’s something the drivers practice on a daily basis. “That’s the thing I have always been amazed at. There are no arrogant cowboys that stand on that stage because they can’t get there. You can’t perform on that level if you are an arrogant cowboy. These guys know they’re good, but in a most Canadian way,” said Steele. But it’s not just the winners who exemplify that attitude. According to Steele, any of the 67 drivers who competed in Barrie, Ont. in one of five separate classes (straight truck, single-single, single-tandem, tandem-tandem and B-train) had a shot at walking away with titles since all had earned their spots at the provincial final by having a topthree finish at a number of qualifying events held around the province, including the Central Ontario Truck Driving Championships and the Toronto Regional Truck Driving Championships.
It’s an attitude that Steele says fleets should recognize and encourage, especially since it’s good for the bottom line. “That’s the big challenge – getting fleets to identify the opportunities for saving money. Rodeo participants don’t have collisions (in order to compete, participants must be free of at-fault accidents for the proceeding 12 months). “People who are striving to drive with that kind of precision don’t turn that on and off, that’s how they drive every day. They are like surgeons with their vehicles. They place the truck on the road all the time, that’s why they do well on the course. Somebody who just lets the truck go down the road cannot compete at this level. You get that level of precision out of a driver every day of the year. It’s hard to quantify – it’s hard to measure these things, but folks that participate in rodeo simply are your best drivers, regardless of whether they bring home hardware.” But there certainly was hardware handed out during the post-competition banquet. And while there were some new faces who appeared on stage to collect their trophies, there were also a number of drivers who should be very familiar to Truck News readers and trucknews.com viewers. Leading up to the provincial finals, the Truck News team profiled some past champions who were favoured to repeat as winners, and a high percentage of them did just that. Continued on page 18
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