Having someone in your corner’s good

A company driver takes the wheel of OOIDA’s tour trailer this summer.

Marty Ellis, the new skipper of the Spirit of the American Trucker tour truck, has driven nearly 27 years as a company driver. An OOIDA senior member, he has been a member of the Association for more than 20 years. He has logged well over 3 million crash-free miles on the road.

Ellis said he joined OOIDA when a friend told him he should get involved with it. He was drawn to the idea of fighting regulations that burden truck drivers.

“It sometimes feels like it is us against them. As a company driver, you never really have anyone in your corner. Most of us company drivers have to follow their rules, which is as it should be, but sometimes we need someone else to turn to.”

It is good to have a resource like the Association to help drivers understand regulations, he said. Knowing the regulations and having experience in how they apply to real-life situations makes a lot of difference, whether you are a company driver or not.

Ellis said company drivers often don’t think OOIDA is there for them.

Part of the reason for that is the Association’s name. OOIDA’s name was created in the early 1970s, when deregulation was coming and unions had a strong hold on the industry. The phrase “owner-operator independent drivers” had a different nuance then than it does now, even though OOIDA’s mission remains the same: to fight for the rights of all truckers. The name was meant to be inclusive off all commercial vehicle drivers, company driver or not. As it happened, the very first president of OOIDA, J.W. Edwards, was a company driver.

There is a bigger picture, though, that OOIDA addresses as it fights for truckers’ rights in the nation’s capital and in state capitals too. He hopes that bigger picture resonates with drivers he meets in coming months driving The Spirit to truck stops and truck shows across the United States.

“I’m hoping they buy into the bigger message, that we need someone to fight for our rights,” Ellis said.

Becoming the skipper of The Spirit was a big change to consider, Ellis said. Jon Osburn, Ellis’ predecessor behind the wheel of the Western Star pulling OOIDA’s tour trailer, talked with him about it several times.

“When Jon first talked to me about (the tour truck job), I wasn’t too keen on it, to be honest,” he said.

After thinking about it and discussing it with his family and others, he came to the realization that he was capable of doing a good job and ready for a change. And there was one other important consideration, he said.

“I’ve always felt that you’ve got to be a part of something bigger than yourself,” Ellis said.

Special Olympics angel

Before signing on to hit the road for OOIDA, Ellis had already earned positive notoriety as organizer of the South Dakota Convoy benefiting Special Olympics. The funds raised have had enormous benefits for kids with special needs.

He got involved in 2002 and headed up the South Dakota Convoy for 12-15 years. He has helped the event grow from 18 trucks to more than 150. He said the athletes have such great attitudes that it brightens your day to help them.

Ellis and Osburn got to know each other through the Special Olympics fundraising. As Ellis was leading the South Dakota Convoy, Osburn was doing the same with the Idaho chapter.

Ellis said he had a lot of help working on the South Dakota Convoy. He added that he expects to remain involved with the organization.

Ellis has shown some dexterity behind the wheel of a commercial truck also. He has 3 million crash-free miles on the road as a truck driver.

Ellis also has a handful of safety awards from the South Dakota Trucking Association. He’s also won four state titles from the South Dakota Truck Driving Championships, and has served as president and vice president of the South Dakota Truck Driving Champions Club from 2014-15.

‘Rock star’ Citizen Driver

His work in the industry and Special Olympics were both cited when Ellis was nominated and then chosen to be a TravelCenters of America Citizen Driver. Since 2014, the Citizen Driver award has recognized professional truck drivers whose citizenship and driving record have burnished the reputation of the industry.

Part of the Citizen Driver recognition is to have a truck stop dedicated to the honoree. In May 2017, his company rented a tour bus for him and his guests to attend a dedication ceremony at the TA in Rogers, Minn. There is a dedication plaque at the Rogers TA commemorating Ellis being named a Citizen Driver.

“It was almost like being a rock star,” Ellis told a Land Line reporter about the dedication ceremony. “There was a whole bunch of people waiting to greet us. It was kind of surreal. You never think in this industry that you’d get this kind of recognition. But (the folks at the TA) really made it seem like it was a big deal for them too.”

Though he worked for a motor carrier based in South Dakota, Ellis’ home base is near Joplin, Mo., in southwest Missouri.

The change of duty puts home office and home base considerably closer than it was for him, and closer than it was for Osburn when he was skipper of The Spirit and home was in Boise, Idaho. For Ellis, home base is just 150 miles from OOIDA headquarters.

Ellis credits Deb, his wife of 35-plus years, for keeping the home fire stoked. He says he wouldn’t be able to do what he has needed to do without her taking care of things at home. LL