Gearing Up for the Truck Driving Championships with Tom Roberts
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Thursday, June 1, 2017
After April showers and May flowers, June brings together the best of the best truck drivers in the state of Iowa for the Iowa Motor Truck Association’s Truck Driving Championships. For the drivers at Green Products Company, this is the pinnacle of the truck driving year. For this upcoming competition, Green Products will be sending three drivers to compete in two classes: Tom Roberts, Chris Smith and Allen Hollopeter. We sat down with all three to get their thoughts on the event, the trucking world and some sage advice.
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Tom Roberts has been driving for a long time, but this year’s competition is his first.
GPC: How long have you been driving?
Tom: 40 years—pretty wild to think about that!
GPC: And this is your first driving competition?
Tom: Yeah, my first time doing any sort of competition in the truck, and I’m starting to get a couple butterflies. I would have liked more time to study for the written part.
GPC: Don’t worry about it; you’ll do fine. Have you done anything specifically to train?
Tom: Yeah, I have been studying, but I also just try to pay extra close attention to what I’m doing every day—you can use every trip or reverse as an opportunity to train. Every time I’m unloading, I get out of the truck and see how close I am to the dock and try to commit that to muscle memory. That being said, it’s a lot easier to see a loading dock than a pylon with a flag on it.
GPC: A lot of drivers talk about the back-up challenge. Does that stand out for you as well?
Tom: I think it will be the hardest part of the driving rodeo. You’ve got a small pylon with a flag on it, and you have to get a certain distance from it. It’s really not an easy thing to judge from the cab.
GPC: We’ve got two other drivers in the event this year. What’s the vibe like in the team?
Tom: Very good so far. Chris is driving in a different class and Allen is the seasoned veteran of this style of event—and the TDC—so there’s not really a lot of competition between us. Chris is going to drive a different style of truck than he drives in his day job, so that will be an extra challenge for him!
GPC: Sounds pretty cordial then—the event has got a good reputation for comradery
Tom: The fun and the comradery between the drivers is what I’m looking forward to the most. I’ve heard the atmosphere is pretty special. My wife is also looking forward to going to the event. It’s almost like a fair with all the tents, events and food. The family aspect should be very cool.
GPC: We’re all looking forward to the event. Let’s switch gears for a minute (pardon the pun) and talk about you. Which routes do you like to drive the best?
Tom: It’s always fun to drive south—Alabama, Texas or just the Gulf coast in general. It’s gotten much busier over my career, but I still love driving down there.
GPC: I bet you’ve seen a lot of changes over 40 years of driving—especially in the equipment itself.
Tom: That’s true. Most of our trucks are automatics now which is nice, because you’re not beat up and tired at the end of the day from shifting. It helps you in traffic and lets you focus more on what’s happening outside the truck too. At the same time, I think the roads have actually become better. There’s more four lane than there used to be, but it also seems like there’s more traffic—kind of give and take I guess. That traffic really makes you think about when you approach major cities like never before. You don’t want to go through Dallas at 4:00pm.
GPC: Despite all the changes, do you think there’s a common factor that still separates successful drivers?
Tom: I think it’s a couple things. First, you’ve got to be able to learn from your mistakes. Everyone makes them, but it’s the people who learn from them who will be better drivers in the long run. You’ve also got to have a supportive family. You’re on the road all the time, so your partner has to be pretty independent. The last thing is experience. The longer you stick with it, see and experience, the better of a driver you’ll be.
GPC: Is that the advice you’d give to a young driver?
Tom: That’s part of it. The other part is about the industry. With autonomous trucks coming down the road and more and more technology, the role of the driver will change a lot. A new driver has to learn to be flexible. If you can’t change with the industry, you won’t last. Also, you’ve got to remember that you’re always visible when you’re driving a truck. A cool head will serve you well. No matter how much you want to react when you get cut off or someone does something stupid, you can’t—you have to control your behavior.
GPC: Thanks Tom, it’s been good to chat, and we look forward to watching you drive at the Truck Driving Championships. Any parting thoughts?
Tom: One thing—I think it’s important for the public to realize how important the trucking industry is. From the couch you sit on to the food you buy in a store: if you bought it, a truck brought it. Sometimes people forget that.
Green Products Company wishes Tom the best of luck for the upcoming IMTA Truck Driving Championships and looks forward to supporting all the drivers at the event.
To learn more about driving for Green Products Company, click here