Fleet insider

Dart Contractors of the Month and Veteran Recognition
Dart Transit announced its August 2007 Contractors of the Month: Robert Doom of the Dallas center and Bill Lane of the Eagan, Minn., center.

Doom has been in the trucking industry 47 years and has been leased to Dart since 1992. He owns and operates a 2004 Freightliner with a Dart “National” contract.

Lane has leased to Dart for 17 of his 35 years in the trucking industry. He owns and operates a 2007 Kenworth with a Dart “Dedicated” contract.

Dart Contractors of the Month receive certificates and gifts from Dart’s Pro Shop and are considered for Dart Contractor of the Year.

Dart also recently awarded contractors Larry Wilson, John Borofka and Juan Rivera with its 20-year safety award – a custom-made scale model of a tractor-trailer cast in pewter. Dave Oren, Dart president, presented the awards at a ceremony at Dart’s Corporate Office in Eagan, Minn.

Dart’s award-winning professional driver development program includes a yearly driver improvement course, safety advisors, driver performance analysis and professional recognition.


September Driver of the Month
Warren Transport Inc. has named owner-operator John Bunch as its September Driver of the Month. Bunch joined Warren Transport as an owner-operator in 1997. He currently has two trucks leased on at Warren and will be receiving his 10-year safe driving award.


Trucker Buddy Salutes Monthly Volunteers
Trucker Buddy, which pairs professional truck drivers with elementary school children in a pen-pal relationship, has honored two volunteers as Drivers of the Month: Clayton James for September and Paul Moerer for October.

James retired from the U.S. Army at the rank of lieutenant colonel and now is retired from trucking as well, having worked most recently as a company driver for Seward Motor Freight of Seward, Neb. The Kansas City, Mo., resident was paired with Dian Curtis’ fifth-graders at Ellisville Elementary in Ellisville, Mo.

Moerer, a company driver for First Freight Express of Fort Atkinson, Wis., is paired with Melissa Kostka’s fourth-graders at Kosciuszko Elementary in Cudahy, Wis. He lives in Elkhorn, Wis.

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Each Trucker Buddy Driver of the Month receives a personalized jacket, along with a check for $300 to spend on the class and $200 in Trucker Buddy merchandise. Each also receives an IdleAire adapter, a Koolatron cooler and a complete set of Airtabs for tractor or trailer.


Decker Drivers
Decker Truck Line Inc. announced its Drivers of the Month for October 2007. Tom Shadle was selected for the honor from Decker’s flatbed division, and Greg Thede received the award from the reefer/van division.

Shadle has been an owner-operator at Decker for five years. Thede has been with Decker for 16 years, the last 10 years as an owner-operator.


KLLM Recognizes Million Milers
KLLM Transport Services recently held its Million Mile Safe Driver banquet at the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum to honor drivers who have driven 1 million or more accident-free miles during their tenure with the company.

This year’s class included 34 drivers who reached 1 million miles during 2007: Bob Adams, Fred Barnhart, Lionel C. Brown, Leland Campbell, Eric Cato, John D. Charlton, Willie Cook, James Couch, Max Dollar Jr., Jose Esparza, Duncan Eric Evans, Freddie L. Fulford, Mario Garcia, Berry Gray, Steve Hayes, Donald Hinton, Sam Holston, Bobby Kirkland, Sherry Manning, Christopher McCarter, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Moore, Earl Moore, Bennie Perry, Vincent Richards, Edwin C. Rios, Roger Roberts, James Z. Robinson, Terry Salsbury, Tom Shahan, Taylor Lee, Chris Tedder, Glynn Traigle and Romey Warren.

KLLM also honored nine drivers who reached the impressive mark of 2 million safe miles in 2007: Doyle Bickham of Jackson, Miss.; Michael L. Dumas of Farmerville, La.; Cecil J. Foret of Houma, La.; Jose M. Lopez Jr. of Kingsville, Texas; Clayton Meeks of Naples, Fla.; Albert Pacheco of Irving, Texas; Gene Sturm of Lemoore, Calif.; Michael Walls of Bennetsville, S.C.; and Danny Williams of Tampa, Fla.

KLLM presented each driver with a ring, a leather garment bag, a leather jacket, a cap and million-miler attire with million-mile logos. In addition, KLLM equips each million-miler truck with special decals. To date, KLLM’s fleet includes 161 active million-mile drivers.


Driver Wins Race Getaway
Barr-Nunn and Truckers News magazine sent a winning driver and guest on an all-expense-paid trip to the Busch Series Sam’s Town 250 in Memphis, Tenn., Oct. 27.

The winning driver was Bobby Anderson, who decided to bring Tammy Anderson as his guest to the race. The two were married the day before they left.

It was the couple’s first NASCAR race.

Barr-Nunn is a sponsor of Roush Fenway Racing, co-owned by the owners of the World Series-winning Boston Red Sox. Roush Fenway drivers include Carl Edwards, the new Busch Series champion.


Million Mile Club Inductees
TMC Transportation inducted five drivers into its Million Mile Club: Charley Nelson, Art Prosser, James Smith II, David Stansbury and Samuel Washington.


CFI Drivers of the Month
CFI, an international truckload carrier based in Joplin, Mo., recently announced the monthly driver award recipients for September 2007:

  • Company Driver of the Month: Charles Spitler started driving for CFI in 1995 and has driven more than 1.6 million miles. He lives in Greenville, Ill.
  • Company Team of the Month: Bruce Rhodes and Brian Rhodes both began driving for CFI in 1995. Bruce resides in Lockwood, Mo.; Brian resides in Sparta, Mo.
  • Contractor Driver of the Month: John Newkirk began his career with CFI in 1988. He resides in Jay, Okla., and has driven more than 1.4 million miles with CFI.
  • Contractor Team of the Month: Gary and Nora Bulen began their careers at CFI in 1989 and 1996, respectively. They reside in Monkey Island, Okla.

As the September 2007 winners, each driver and team is automatically nominated for the 2007 year-end award in their respective category. All full-time over-the-road drivers who have been certified as a driver at CFI for one year are eligible for the CFI driver awards.

The Business Manual for Owner-Operators
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