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Trucking championships — the titles and the events — are practically a way of life for retired trucker Richard Gillespie.

YRC Freight driver David Messmer’s name was on the list of competitors for the Arizona Truck Driving Championships, but the day of that event all eyes were on the doors as they began to close for the start of the competition.

"I know it’s made me a better driver out on the road,” says one driver of the experience gained by competing at the National Truck Driving Championships.

One hundred ninety drivers competed in four of the nine championship divisions Thursday: three-axle, four axle, flatbed and tanker.

Eleven women, a record number, are competing for top honors this week at the National Truck Driving Championships.

A proposal has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to give a weight exemption to trucks powered by natural-gas engines, which have heavier fuel tanks than those that run on diesel.

If anyone is measuring the enthusiasm in the viewing stands this week at the National Truck Driving Championships in Pittsburgh, some of the loudest cheering probably will be from the safety directors working at carriers large and small.

Missouri voters have rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have raised the state’s sales tax from 4.225 cents to 5 cents for 10 years to pay for road improvements.

Missouri voters go to the polls Aug. 5 to decide if they want to add three-quarters of a cent to the state’s 4.225-cent sales tax to pay for transportation projects.