A National Champion Trucker, With a Record Nearly as Spotless as His Trophy

By JIM MOTAVALLI

Over the 2.1 million miles Don Logan has driven a commercial truck, he has been involved in only one road accident; a drunken driver collided with his rig in 1996.

The record of the 44-year-old FedEx Freight trucker is otherwise spotless, according to his employer. And a safety-first approach to his craft led Mr. Logan of Eskridge, Kan., to a first-place finish in the American Trucking Association's 2012 National Truck Driving Championships.

The event, held Aug. 7-11 in Minneapolis, featured nine classes and three skills components, including a written test covering the trucking industry's extensive rules and regulations; a visual inspection in which drivers have to find defects deliberately introduced on test trucks; and an obstacle course that simulates occupational hazards like parking at loading docks, stopping on scales, parallel parking and driving with low clearance. An alignment text required drivers to positio n their tires next to a strip of red tape.

Mr. Logan, who also won the individual flatbed competition and vehicle condition award this year, is a six-time winner at the state level. Not all of his behind-the-wheel skills translate to driving passenger cars, but many of them do, and he has useful advice.

“The easiest thing for people to do is increase their following distances,” he said in a telephone interview. “Everybody thinks you'll get to your destination quicker if you tailgate, but in fact maintaining enough space so you have time to react won't add much time to your commute.” A second piece of advice: “Be aware of what's around you all the time, and don't text and drive because you don't want to be guilty of distracted driving.”

Commercial truck drivers certainly have financial incentives to heed Mr. Logan's word. Fines for distracted driving are significantly higher, up to $11,000, than they are for drivers of passenger cars. He also sai d the popular image of truck drivers popping amphetamines to stay awake was long out of date. “Commercial drivers are held to a high standard,” he said.

Mr. Logan was on the road to exemplary performance at a young age. “I started driving trucks at age 14 at our family's farm 35 miles from Topeka,” he said. “I got my commercial driver's license at 18 and drove for my father in his silage business, which turned corn plants into animal feed.”

In 1991, Mr. Logan tired of being removed from home for long stretches, so he began making shorter regional hauls for Arkansas Freightways, which later operated as American Freightways before its acquisition by FedEx. For the parcel service, he makes a night run of 508 miles round trip, driving a 2011 Volvo daycab - a rig without a sleeper compartment - with a 400-horsepower diesel engine and automatic transmission, pulling twin trailers.

Winning the competition will not bring about much change in Mr. Logan's life; first prize was $1,000. Regardless, he derives his sense of achievement from the job, not the award.

“I believe I am moving a little part of America,” Mr. Logan said. “The food you ate this morning, the clothes you wear, the computer you're typing on, at some point all of them moved by truck. What we do is very important to the nation's economy.”