While the Beijing Olympics may be set to receive the lion’s share of the media’s attention during the month of August this year, but the American Trucking Association would like people to know that it has its own plans for a righteous sporting event.

Set to be held over August 19-23 in Houston, Texas, the ATA will be hosting its annual National Truck Driving Championships with nearly 400 top professional truckers ready to compete for gold. The contestants consist of state champion drivers from across the country that compete in challenges of driving skill, and overall knowledge.

The difficult NTDC test course recreates real world obstacles that include, alley docking, rear and front line stops, scales stops, right or left turn (we’ve got to believe this involves a narrow angle of some kind, and not just the routine affair), driving through a diminishing clearance, and everyone’s favourite, parallel parking. Drivers compete in classes based on, ahem, the size of their rig, but in the end one overall champion will be crowned.

The NTDC may not quite have the cachet of the Olympic Games, but it has been going on for a remarkable 71 years now. Drive like a champion today, truckers of America.

+ Truckline