Ice Road Trucker, "The Montana Legend" killed in plane crash

My condolences to the family. So sad.

 

Same here, my condolences to the Family in particular his Son whom he was grooming on the wheel. Such a loss of knowledge and experience.

I have been following IRT since the beginning constantly throwing stuff at the TV set at home when I come across something in that show. This Mr Ward was one of my top driver favorites and is a very strong person for the Industry as exhibited by his actions on the show in the past.

It is my hope that in time years into the future there will be ten thousand new Mr Wards who learned by example and take his place someday if not today.

I love flight. Ive done a bit myself off the books but am a better Nav than a pilot due to ham hands. Any time you soar from this earth and touch the face of God... you are free.

 

my prayers go out to his family.

 

I stopped making a point of watching IRT after the 3rd season. The few episodes in the later seasons that I did watch, Darrell was one of the few good drivers they followed on the show.

 

After the first few years , the show turned into a joke ! Watched one last night , Alex was moving some type of large storage tank . The chains had 6 to 8 inches of slack!

 

Then he fell off the truck , while driving from the steps.

 

He did not FALL OFF the truck, he slipped a little bit.

It is actually an advantage to a chance to survie being halfway out of the cab out there. Ive put my foot on the fuel tank a time or two when huge winds get ahold of me and want to flip me over a bridge rail or something. ###### if you do and ###### if you don't I'll takes my chances with that steel grating.

There is no one better than Alex when it get towards ludicrious oversized or weight.

I guess with Mr Ward gone that makes Lisa 100% owner of the company now. Im hoping Ward Senior willed his share to his Son who was a up comer showing promise.

Steph is a overly emotional bunny in need of strong father gudiance being provided very well by some of Polar's best drivers. She will season well enough in time.

I don't have too many issues with IRT excepting abuse heaped onto the equiptment for the camera. Im not used to seeing center frame dragging the fuel tanks on momentum alone after taking a 10 foot hop clear into the sky with that drop steer axle. And yes I have deliberately bounced a tractor trailer a time or two myself.

Also...

Why stuff everything into a two month overtime period on the ice roads? Buy bunch of Surplus LCAC and jet them up the river or across the lake in all months of the year. I think two semis fit onto a LCAC. I like to solve problems by thinking big.

My next and last remaining peeve... Some of the drivers don't understand how to apply mechanical advantage to one long string (Chain...) throw a end through the pulley blocked onto the bumper of one, run the chain as needed through the other block of the pullee and repeat until your 5 or 7 reels are full. Then at that point a regular pickup truck can walk off with both trucks if necessary.

I get tired of seeing too many drivers.... toss a string onto a bumper and expect it to hold. SNAP!!!! are you kidding me? I don't know what the price is of a proper 7 wheel compound pulley system. Hook here to that truck, hook there over yonder to this truck and pull. No one needs to risk being cut in half anymore/

Don't look now Donner Pass is a regular American show for winter hell roads competing with the CDQ up near Hope BC

 

If they could get the Alaskan Bush People to be Ice Road Truckers...

 

I learned to drive with my Grandad running Northslope, the show is total #### and most the "advice" it gives would get your arse killed. Its been a few years sense I have drivin in Alaska. (Left after he passed away) but no way in hell has it changed to that much in the course of 12 years.

90% of that show is scripted and looks like most drivers are told what to do for the sake of the camera.