Doug Schildgen is one of three finalists for the 2020 Owner-Operator of the Year award, produced by the Truckload Carriers Association and Overdrive. The winner, who will receive a $25,000 cash prize, will be announced in September at TCA’s annual convention in Las Vegas. The sponsors of the Driver of the Year Contests are Love’s Travel Stops and Cummins. The other two finalists are Bryan Smith and Glen Horack.
In his 45-year trucking career, Waterloo, Iowa-based Doug Schildgen has completed more than 4.5 million safe driving miles, most of which were driven pulling overweight/oversized machinery. Now, the 68-year-old Warren Transport driver pulls a van in the Midwest hauling agricultural blending ingredients.
Schildgen got interested in machinery at a young age after riding with his father on his road grader. He built his first truck and has been building gliders and engines ever since. To this day, he runs a 1997 Freightliner FLD powered by a Cummins N14 for fuel-efficiency. He’s replaced the engine three times since he bought the truck and has rebuilt most systems in it through the years.
“When I do mechanical work, if I happen to have a bad fuel line, I replace all of them,” he said. “Same with a brake chamber. If you replace all of them at once, you know where you are and what you have. I enjoy projects, so that’s what I did.”
Schildgen started his trucking career at Freymiller, where he worked from March 1975 to November 1976, which is when he joined Warren Transport. He’s been there ever since.
During his 39 years hauling heavy equipment – usually between 80,000 and 120,000 pounds – Schildgen hauled all over the country and into Canada.
