Nascar in Bristol - When Things Work Out for a Truck Driver

Prove yourself as a quality, hard-working, safe, reliable truck driver and get to know as many people in the chain of command as you can. You don't have to be a kissy-ass, but just get to know them, show them respect, and make sure you do an exceptional job for them.

When you do your job well it makes them look good and makes their lives much easier. But the opposite is also true and don't forget it. Being a truck driver doesn't carry any prestige with it I'm sorry to say, not even inside a trucking company. But being a great worker and a good person does. Make those your priorities and life will be much easier on you most of the time than it would have been otherwise I can assure you.

For Example......

I was always an excellent truck driver. I ALWAYS ran hard and ALWAYS on time, ran the lousy loads when they needed me to; I was a given....if you gave me a job to do, you could consider it done.

I was outside of Bristol, TN on a Wednesday morning. I had just gotten done delivering my load about an hour ago and went up the road to the nearest truck stop to get some breakfast while I waited for my next assignment.

Arriving, I noticed that there were a number of NASCAR tractor trailers in the parking lot. Being a huge racing fan I realized that the only two tracks they could be on their way to was Bristol,TN or Fort Worth,TX.

I asked somebody and sure enough they were going to Bristol, about an hour up the road.

Well, I was running in a regional fleet and was going to keep running the rest of the week until I got back home on Friday or Saturday.

But JEEEZ, would I love to take the rest of the week off and stay in Bristol for the NASCAR races! I had been with my company for a few years already and had proven myself as a great driver so I asked my dispatcher what he thought about letting me stay in Bristol for the races.

He told me he didn't have the authority to approve that, which I knew already but I always ran everything by him first (he was the best dispatcher I had ever had).

He told me to talk to his Boss, whom I also knew very, very well, and I begged and pleaded with the Boss. He said, “what are you going to do with the truck?” I told him I was going to be sleeping in it every night, of course, and it would be safe.

My rationale: “Come on man, you know I kick ass out here. Let me stay in Bristol this weekend. You know I'll take care of the truck and make it up to you.” Of course he knew I was right, and he let me stay.

There are VERY few drivers that would have been able to pull that one off, but I had proven myself and had gotten to know the right people and that was all it took. I rocked the weekend at the races and had a blast.

Everything went perfectly and Monday morning I called back in, they gave me my next load, and I was off and rolling again. Another great adventure on the road as a truck driver.