An introduction from Tuco

I WON!!! Yesterday was Nebraska's Student Truck Driving Rodeo. About 20 students from 3 different schools participated. I won 1st place! I won a $600 prize and (probabaly more importantly) a certificate that'll go in my DAC.

The course was a very tricky obstacle called a Pull-Through Back Through. Many of the drivers weren't even able to complete. Somehow (quite a bit of luck) I mangaged to zip through it in one try.

I'll see if I can describe the course:

First you had to pull forward in a straight line and stop with our right front tire on a metal plate on the ground. The trick is, once you get within about 15' of it, you can't see it anymore because your truck blocks your view. The plate has lines on it with different point values. The closer to the middle you get, the higher you score. Also, if your tire hangs off to the left or right, you don't get any points.

Then you had to continue to pull forward through a very tight gate (We'll call this Gate A). (About 15' to the right of this gate is another tight gate. We'll call this one Gate B.) If you stop you lose points. Of course, if you hit the gate you lose points.

Then you had to continue to pull forward and stop with your front bumper over another plate on the ground. The closer to the end of it, the higher you score.

Then the tricky part! We had to (with very limited space) back through Gate B. It was basically a blind side parallel park through a very tight target. You are not allowed to stop until you reach the dock. You are, however, allowed one free pull up. Stopping costs you points. Additional pull ups cost you points. And, hitting a barrier or cone costs you points.

Then we had to continue to back up to a dock and get at least within 16" of it. The closer you get without touching it, the higher score you get.

There was also a pre-trip inspection. They had a truck with several defects. You had 5 minutes to find as many defects as possible.

 

ha! Yeah, it's pretty much spent already. I'm basically using it to catch up on some bills.