Nation's Top Truck Drivers Returning to Minneapolis

Nearly 400 top professional truck drivers from all across the U.S. will soon be heading for Minneapolis, Minn., for the 2007 National Truck Driving Championships (NTDC), to be held August 21 -- 25 in the Minneapolis Convention Center. The competition was last held in Minneapolis in 2001. The "Super Bowl of Safety" is sponsored annually by the American Trucking Associations.

The NTDC contestants are the state champions from all 50 states. States send winners from each class of competition -- from 18-wheeled five-axle sleepers to tank trucks to twin trailers to straight trucks -- eight competing classes in all.

Drivers will compete for four days, challenging their driving skills, and knowledge of safety, equipment and the industry. The test course generally includes real world obstacles like an alley dock, a rear and/or front line stop, a scales stop, a right or left turn, parallel parking, and straight line driving through a diminishing clearance.

When it is all over on Saturday, August 25, the U.S. will have a new National Grand Champion Truck Driver, individual champions in each class, and a state champion team.

The NTDC annually attracts over 2,000 cheering friends, family, colleagues and interested spectators. The event is held simultaneous with the North American Inspectors Championships, the annual competition of commercial vehicle inspectors.

For more information, visit the 2007 National Truck Driving Championships website: http://www.truckline.com/2k7ntdc/.

The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States.