HAUL STARS
Local drivers display their skills at the National Truck Driving Championship
WOONSOCKET – Professional truck driver Ryan Gagnon has been driving a propane delivery truck for Consumers Propane in Woonsocket for the past nine years, and even though he’s only 25, he’s already thinking it might be the company he stays with for the long haul.
“It’s a great company to work for because they really care about their employees,” he says. “You don’t see that with a lot of companies these days.”
Gagnon’s boss, Ken Bousquet, doesn’t lay down too many rules for his drivers, but the one rule he insists on is that they practice safe driving at all times.
Gagnon, a 2010 graduate of Woonsocket High school, has taken that lesson to heart and earlier this month he got the chance to showcase his safety skills at the Super Bowl of all truck safety competitions – the 80th Annual National Truck Driving Championships and National Step Van Driving Championships held Aug. 9-12 in Orlando, Fla.
Hosted by the American Trucking Association (ATA), the four-day competition is held every year to highlight safety among competing companies, of which 97 had representatives this year.
During the competition, drivers had to take a written exam, perform a pretrip inspection and compete in a skillsbased driving course to demonstrate their knowledge of safety, equipment and the industry, along with their driving abilities.
“Safety and precision was the focus of these impressive professional truck drivers during the championships,” said ATA President Chris Spear. “Truck
drivers work their entire careers and practice for moments like this to showcase their safety skills and compete among friends.”
A total of 428 of the nation’s best drivers, all of whom remained accidentfree for at least a year and won their state competitions, competed in eight different classes.
Gagnon, who competed in the straight truck division, was one of six truck drivers representing Rhode Island. The five others were Eric Cornell, A. Duie Pyle, Inc. (five-axle); Joseph E. Hicks, XPO Logistics, Inc. (fouraxle); Steve R. Migneault, FedEx Freight (twins); Karen R. Tierney, FedEx Express (three-axle); and Keith S. Town, FedEx Express (step van).
Gagnon placed 29th out of 49 competitors in the straight truck class, which is essentially a two-axle box truck.
“I’ve competed in the state competition three times, but this was my first year at the national championships,” he said. “It was an awesome experience and I’m looking forward to competing again next year.”
“It was fantastic to see how well he did,” says Bousquet, owner of Consumers Propane & Bousquet Oil on Hamlet Avenue, a family-owned and operated full service busi- ness since 1919. “He takes his job seriously and that was reflected in how well he did in the competition.”
Cornell, of Providence, a driver for A. Duie Pyle since 2011, placed 13th out of 49 competitors in the five-axle class, just missing a berth as a top five finalist in that division (only the top five drivers in each division compete in the final round). In last year’s championship, he placed eighth out of 49 competitors.
The 42-year-old Cornell was cheered on this year by his girlfriend, Nonea McFarlane, a graphic designer at The Call & Times newspapers.
“I’ve been to the state competition four times and nationals twice,” he says. “The nationals represent the best drivers from every state so it was an honor to be able to compete again this year.”
Cornell had a longer journey than Gagnon to get to Orlando. To make it to the nationals, Cornell had to win a truck rodeo at his own company first (he took first place among drivers in his division at the company’s Johnston terminal), and then advanced to the state championship, where he took first place in the five-axle division and was named Rhode Island grand champion for his performance.
At nationals, Cornell competed against 49 other state champions in the five- axle division, which in this case was a 53-foot tractor trailer.
Like all the other competitors, Cornell had to compete in three phases of competition, including a written examination testing his knowledge of safety rules and procedures. That was followed by a vehicle inspection to test his ability to detect vehicle malfunctions; and then a driving skills test that included a series of difficult maneuvers, including a front stop, offset alley barricades, scale, duck (road kill), diminishing alley and curb stop.
“One of the highlights of the competition was on Saturday when they line you up by division and by state and you get to see all of the competitors standing together,” Cornell says.
The competition concluded on Aug. 12 with the announcement of the National Truck Driving Championships Bendix Grand Champion, along with the winners of each vehicle class and awards for the top performing state delegation, rookie of the year, and other recognitions. This year’s Bendix Grand Champion is Roland Bolduc, a FedEx driver from East Longmeadow, Mass., who also took home the Sleeper Berth class title.
Cornell, who grew up in Lakeville, Mass. before moving to Rhode Island in 2000, drives mainly in A. Duie Pyle’s Interstate 395 corridor of Connecticut and Massachusetts as a pickup and delivery driver hauling general freight. He typically logs more than 55 hours a week on the road.
Before he went to work for A. Duie Pyle, Cornell drove for MCD Air Transport in Lincoln for five years.
“My father was a truck driver for 40 years so I grew up around trucks and machinery,” he says. “Once the diesel gets in your blood there’s nothing you can do.”