GATS 2019 kicks off Thursday; OOIDA presents class on first day

The 20th annual Great American Trucking Show starts tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 22. OIIDA will be there and so will a lot of others.

GATS 2019 will be Aug. 22-24 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.

Online registration to attend the show is free. Onsite registration is $10.

In addition to all of the distractions and fun at GATS, be sure to attend OOIDA’s first Shift Into Success class. OOIDA’s Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh and OOIDA Foundation’s Andrew King will offer pointers on cost of operations for owner-operators and small fleet owners. The Shift Into Success class is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday. Details are below.

Among the GATS 2019 highlights are the Pride & Polish truck show, a trucker talent search, entertainment, a health and wellness pavilion, and various seminars on aspects of the trucking industry.

There will be a New Truck Pavilion at GATS 2019. Freightliner, International, Kenworth, Mack and Volvo are planning to be there.

Here is a map of the show floor.

Concerts are planned Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. 

Entertainers signed to perform include Brad James, Paul Marhoefer, Bill Weaver, Taylor Barker, and the group Stone Creek Four.

Here is a video of Weaver, an OOIDA member from Arkansas, performing at the Mid-America Trucking Show last year.

Marhoefer, an OOIDA member from Indiana, was featured in a Land Line Media article last year. Here is a video of Marhoefer, who goes by Long Haul Paul, from last year’s Mid-America Trucking Show.

Shift Into Success
OOIDA is presenting it first Shift Into Success class at GATS 2019. The class is designed to help truck drivers kick their careers into high gear.

The inaugural class will focus on cost of operations for owner-operators and small fleet owners. Company drivers are welcome to attend to see what lies ahead if they are considering becoming an owner operator.

The Shift Into Success class is scheduled for 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. in room C-147 on Thursday, Aug. 22.

The two-hour class is free to the public, and drivers do not need to be a member of OOIDA to attend. Participants are not required to register in advance.

“Here at OOIDA, our No. 1 goal is to help drivers be more successful and more profitable in their business,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh said. “That is the driving force behind this class.”

OOIDA’s Shift Into Success class at GATS will offer a glimpse into the kind of education offered at OOIDA’s three-day Truck to Success course.

Truck to Success is an intensive training course for drivers ready to take their first steps toward becoming an owner-operator.

Tuition for the intensive training course is $495 per person, which includes course materials and handouts, as well as breakfast, lunch and snacks. Each attendee may bring one guest for an additional $34.50 per day or $103.50 for the course to cover food. The final day to register is Sept. 1.

You can sign up for the three-day course by going here.

FMCSA Listening Session

A day after Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced its plan for hours-of-service reform, the agency announced a pair of listening sessions to get feedback.

The first listening session is scheduled at 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, in the lower C meeting rooms, room number C146 at GATS 2019.

The second will be in the U.S. Department of Transportation Media Center in Washington, D.C. No date or time for that listening session has been given.

The notice of proposed rulemaking for hours of service is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on Aug. 22, and then there will be a 45-day public comment period. Once the notice publishes, comments may be submitted to the Regulations.gov website by using docket number FMCSA-2018-0248.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association encourages its more than 160,000 members to submit comments and give feedback on the plan.

For more information on the proposed changes to hours of service:

• FMCSA encourages feedback on hours-of-service plan.
• OOIDA calls HOS plan ‘a big step in the right direction.’

FMCSA Hot Topics

FMCSA representatives Joe DeLorenzo and Bill Mahorney are scheduled to lead two FMCSA Hot Topics sessions

One is at 2:30-3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22, on the stage in Hall A at GATS 2019. Another is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24 at the same place.

They are expected to talk about ELD implementation and transition, the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse and other topics.

St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund

Talk with representatives of the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund at booth No. 4040. The St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund charity helps over-the-road and regional semitrailer drivers and their families when an illness or injury has caused them to be out of work.

Trucker Buddy Scout class at GATS
Working in conjunction with Trucker Buddy International, OOIDA senior member Matt Slovack of Colona, Ill., will teach a class to Scouts at GATS 2019.

Trucker Buddy, which started in 1992, pairs truck drivers with teachers and their students as pen pals.

Slovak started teaching Scout classes, helping Scouts earn truck transportation and traffic safety merit badges, in 2011 at the Walcott Truckers’ Jamboree at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa.

In 2014, he teamed up with Trucker Buddy International 2014, presenting the Scout merit badge class to around 200 Scouts. This is the sixth year the class has been taught at GATS.

There will be a classroom session from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24. During that time, the Scouts learn about how the trucking industry works. They also will get an idea the regulations involved in driving a heavy-duty commercial motor vehicle.

After that, the Scouts will be able to see trucks on the show floor and climb into some of them.

Slovack recently talked with Land Line Now host Mark Reddig about the class. Take a listen.

H3 Landstar Health and Wellness Pavilion

At the Landstar Health and Wellness Pavilion at GATS 2019, attendees can check out the free health screenings and cooking, fitness and educational demonstrations.

A health and wellness scavenger hunt is planned for early afternoon all three days of GATS.

A session on eliminating pain in your neck and butt at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

On Friday, a back pain movement class is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Also, an insurance session is planned at 2 p.m. and a yoga class for truck drivers is scheduled at 3:30 p.m.

Saturday health and wellness sessions at the Pavilion include a healthy eating on the road class at 11:30 a.m. and a movement-to-live-free-of-pain class at 10:15 a.m.