Page 16 - SUSQUEHANNA TIMES®
God is his co-pilot
John Brubaker rolls the big rigs
better than all but one other man
John Brubaker, a truck
driver who lives on
- Donegal Springs Road,
appeared on the cover of
last week’s Times when
we announced his winning
2nd place at the Truck
Rodeo in Kansas. This
week we visited John and
asked him about the
tournament, and trucking
in general.
What is a truck rodeo?
We first asked John
about the rodeo, which is
not as wild as the name
implies, but takes a lot of
skill. John told us he had
been practicing for it since
last May.
The rodeo consists of
two parts: The first is a
test/interview, and the
second is an actual driving
test.
John did well on the
written part, which tested
his knowledge of the
trucking industry, its regul-
ations and laws, safety,
first aid, and fire-fighting.
He scored 178 out of 200
points in this part, which
helped a lot.
To prepare for this part,
John had read the rodeo
manual no less than four
times cover-to-cover.
After the knowledge test,
John was finally let near a
truck. But, before he could
drive it, he had to find S
brake or lighting defects on
his appointed rig in ten
minutes.
The final test was the
only one that actually
involved driving. Once in
the driver’s seat, John
had ten minutes to do
the following:
Zig-zag through a traf-
fic-core and tennis ball
obstacle course. Touching
a ball meant ten points
lost;
Backing up to a dock,
getting as close as
possible for points, but
losing all if he touched;
Driving a straight line
between tennis balls set
4 inches wider than his
wheel track, without
touching;
Parallel parking a 40
foot trailer in a 44 foot
space;
Creeping up to a stop
line, getting the front
bumper as close as pos-
sible;
And, rounding a corner
without touching the curb
while staying close.
The most inportant
skill for this sort of test
is depth perception. It
also helps to be able to
visualise the
and size of the rig.
Safety
Entrants in the National
Rodeo must not only win
their company and state
rodeos, but cannot have
any sort of moving acci-
dent in the year before
they compete. John him-
self has a perfect recogd’
700,000 accident
How does he
of over
-free miles.
do it?
geometry :
‘‘Patience. That's the
most important quality you
need to be a safe driver,”
was John’s immediate
response. Other rules:
Don’t tailgate; and keep
looking ahead.
A good mental attitude,
one that John tries to live
by, is ‘Expect the impos-
sible from another ve-
hicle.”’
Are we good drivers?
“‘Drivers in New York do
things that Evel Knievel
wouldn’t try,”” John says.
He tries to schedule
himself to go through the
megalopolis in the wee
hours of the morning to
avoid the crazies up there.
People in this area are
more sane and considerate
drivers than those in New
York, northern New Jersey,
and Massachusetts, but
John finds that we often
don’t know how to drive on
freeways.
‘*Sometimes you'll see
someone around here stop
dead on an entrance
ramp,’’ notes John. ‘‘What
you should do is flow
smoothly into the traffic.’’
told us that his
is drivers who
their turn
John
‘pet peeve”
don’t use
signals.
Moving On?
When we asked John
about ‘‘Moving On,’’ the
TV show about the adven-
tures of two independent
truckers, John snorted
in derision.
“That show was corny,”
he laughed. ‘If a fellow
drove truck like those two
guys he'd be out of
business in a week.’’
John doesn’t appreciate
the popular image of
truckers as ‘‘playboys with
a girlfriend in every state.”
Shows like ‘‘Moving On’’
help perpetuate that image,
and, according to John,
many truckers do indeed
see themselves in that
light.
“There's a certain pro-
portion of drivers who think
of themselves as very
tough guys,” he explains.
Such men used to wear
cowboy boots and ‘‘chain
-drive wallets’’ (the type
with a chain that hooks to
the belt), but lately have
been trying to look and
dress ‘‘sharp.”
‘*‘Many people think of
truck drivers as rough,
tough characters, but I try
to project the image of a
truck driver as a happy,
married family man,’ John
says.
John, who told us that he
“would’nt drive if I didn’t
feel that God is my co
-pilot,”” is happy, married,
and a family man. He is a
deacon of the West Green
Tree Church of the
Brethren.
John was impressed by
the drivers at the rodeo,
whom he found to be
friendly, polite, and dedi-
]
John W. Brubaker,
who won 2nd place at the
National Truck Rodeo, poses with his PA state trophy
cated. It seems that the
best drivers in the country
don’t pay much attention to
machismo.
“Just a few bad truckers
are enough to give the
whole industry a bad name.
Auto drivers see a truck
driving dangerously, speed
ing and weaving in and out
of lanes, and it sticks in his
mind. The good drivers,
who are the majority, don’t
make the same impression
on the public,”’ he says.
Do truck stops really have
good food?
When we asked him this,
John replied, ‘Well... ,”
and chuckled. ‘The biggest
factors in where a trucker
stops,’’ he said, ‘‘are
parking space and fast
service. You don’t want to
sit around all night waiting.
A lot of truck stops serve
the truckers before anyone
else, because they know
you hve to get out on the
road again and meet your
schedule.”
Driving as a job
John used to be away
from home for several days
at a time, but lately he
doesn’t go any farther than
Connecticut, and can make
the round trip in 10 hours.
He sees a great deal of his
family, likes the work, and
gets paid rather well.
Driving, though, is not a
piece .of cake. ‘‘It’s a
challenge to do a good
job,’’ according to John.
‘*Not everyone can do it:
Some just don’t have the
talent or ability to drive 6
days a week, 100,000 miles
a year."”’
While he "finds it
demanding, he doesn’t feel
the boredom that many
auto drivers experience on
a long trip.
“It’s interesting because
you're moving all the
time,” he says, ‘‘and
you're always meeting
people, which I like, and
it’s always different —a
different rig, a different
destination. Ten hours in a
car is boring, but trucking
isn’t the same.”’
1st place on the 3rd try?
“I'm aiming for the
National Championship
next year,’ John told us.
Considering that his total
score this year was 643,
and the winner in his class
(S-axle tractor-trailers) got
September 14, 1977
(the national prize plaque wasn’t available) and his
pickup, which h doesn’t consider to be a ‘‘real truck.”
652, that’s a good possibil-
ity.
‘I practiced three to five
hours a week every Satur-
day since May this year,”
John explained. He will
have another year’s prac-
tice behind him next time.
For someone who didn’t
even want to be a trucker
(he had hoped to farm, like
his father, but couldn’t
afford the investment need-
ed to start), John has done
well.
Next year will be his
third try: His first year he
won the State champion-
ship, and this year came in
2nd in a field of 39 state
champs. His constant striv-
ing to improve at his craft
will probably keep him
moving up to the top.
John told us, *‘If a driver
thinks he knows every-
thing, he'd better get off
the road. You
always keep
improve.’
should
trying to
Doc’ s new number is 653-4581
If you tried to call Doctor
William B. Landis at his
new Mount Joy office last
week, you probably talked
to Mrs. Charles M. Kraus
Il, instead. The reason:
the Susquehanna Times got
their phone numbers mixed
up.
Good news for gourmets
It seems that somebody
in our office wrote the copy
for Doc Landis’ ad on the
same sheet of paper that
had been used to make
notes about Mrs. Kraus,
who will be baking a cake
in honor of the new
medical center this week-
end
For the record, Doc’s
new number is 653-4581.
Our apologies to Doc, the
Kraus family, and everyone
who called the wrong
number.
If you love great cuisine, we've got good news for you. There’s a new restaurant
in our area which offers top-notch dining in an atmosphere of solid comfort. Read
about it on page 8.