Profile For Steve B.

Top Fuel in NHRA

What type of race cars/teams did you haul?

Hey guys, I've driven a truck for several years for race car teams but I've been strongly considering getting into regular trucking at a large company like Prime or Knight. Been considering flatbed the most. I'm just curious about some things in industry and was hoping you could help me out.

How does maintanence work? Like your typical oil changes and tires and the like. Is it up to the driver to take the truck in on schedule or does the company decide when the truck goes in to the shop? What about if something goes wrong like the A/C dies, does the driver still get paid while the truck sits in the shop?

Why do flatbeds and tankers raise the front axle when empty?

As far as hometime goes, could I wait until I get a load close to home and then just drop the trailer after I deliver and bobtail home for a few days?

Does the company pay for basic essentials like washer fluid, wipers, hub oil, etc.?

Is it possible to avoid taking 34 hour resets by planning your week as such? In order to make more money.

Do all trucks have an apu or allow idling? Basically is there ever a situation where I would have to go without heat or a/c while im sleeping?

Hey guys, I'm new here and I was hoping you could help me out. For the past 3 years I have had a class A and driven and still am driving a truck for race car teams. I have worked for 2 teams so far. What I drive is a full blown 56' triple axle air ride double floor hauler. I do log books, IFTA reports, all the stuff a normal truck driver would do. My primary job is not to drive the truck though but mainly to work as a mechanic on the race car, and driving the truck is actually just a small part of what I do. I probably drive around 40K miles a year.

I want to get into to trucking industry and be a regular truck driver, (pretty interested in flatbed) but the problem is I don't think there is any real proof I have driven a truck. I got a copy of my DAC report and it doesn't show I have ever driven a truck before at all. The reason is since these race teams have the mechanics drive the trucks there are some pretty major HOS violations going on since we are basically considered out of hours before we even sit in the truck at all. They dont report anything to DOT and basically float under the radar.

My hope is to get a job that requires previous experience and skip the "bottom feeder" companies altogether. I obviously don't need to be with a trainer or learn how to drive or anything. Im just worried that I might be treated as a newbie and have to start all over again if I switch to the trucking industry. Thoughts?