Arkansas Trucking Association

From the President

2021 Arkansas Trucking Championship Cancelled

We are disappointed to announce that the 2021 Arkansas Trucking Championship, previously scheduled for June 11-13, is cancelled. This announcement follows the cancellation of the American Trucking Associations' National Truck Driving Championship & National Step Van Driving Championships (NTDC/NSVDC).

After consulting with numerous member companies about their willingness to send competitors, volunteers and equipment, it became clear we would not have the numbers necessary to host a successful championship.

For half a century, we have recognized safety and excellence in the professional technicians and drivers from across our state by bringing them together to compete. Together with peers and families, we have celebrated their successes.

Drivers and technicians, thank you for all of the hard work you continue to deliver day in and day out. Your dedication to doing this job safely in the most complicated of situations has never been more evident than what we have witnessed over the past year. 

To the volunteers, employers, families and fans, please join us in thanking and celebrating these heroes from afar. We must continue to show our appreciation and to recognize all they put on the line so we can move our nation forward. 

We hope to see you all safe and healthy in 2022.

Up Front- Before, during, after: hope

Shannon Newton
President, ATA

2020. A number. A year. An era. A verb. A tragedy. A triumph. A numbing out. A waking up. A distancing. A coming together.

It’s been almost 20 years since Sept. 11, 2001, when hijacked planes flew into the towers and buried our sense of security beneath rubble in New York City. Still, every year, people, unprompted, tell us what they were doing when they heard the news, where they were when they watched it happen on TV. It was a moment in our nation’s history that had a before and an after.

As I’m writing this, 2020 is about to end, and I’m searching for a single moment that I might remember in 20 years. There have been many I won’t forget, but we didn’t get that demarcation between the before and the after that we all experienced together. The whole year has been “during” the pandemic. Even when we didn’t know it was here in the United States, perhaps as early as December 2019 or early January 2020, spreading slowly at first, unnoticed.  The pandemic was happening to us.

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The Last Word

One state's scheme threatens the whole industry

By Chris Spear

It is more than 1,400 miles from Little Rock to Providence, R.I. – more than 20 hours of driving to get from statehouse to statehouse, but what is happening there could have a profound effect on truckers in Arkansas and across the country.

In 2016, leaders in Rhode Island came up with RhodeWorks, a financing scheme to outsource funding for their failing infrastructure by tolling only large trucks. And not all large trucks – but just combination trucks mostly from outside Rhode Island. Politicians in Rhode Island made it clear, the brunt of the tolls was going to be borne not by citizens of Rhode Island, or even businesses in Rhode Island, but by out-of-staters who need to travel to or through the state.

It was robbing Peter to pay for Paul’s roads – if Peter lived three states away and was asked to deliver Paul’s groceries.

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Trucking Executive Update - Celebrations and Salutations

Shannon Newton
President, ATA

When the world came to a screeching halt this spring, trucks delivered the supplies needed to shelter in place. As people prepared to bring their whole lives under one roof, we delivered their laptops, desks, treadmills, medicine and much-coveted toilet paper. With a vaccine ready, trucks are delivering what we need to be able to safely leave our homes again.

Are we glad to put 2020 in our rearview mirror? Absolutely, but we accomplished a lot this year, both as an industry and as an association. We are winning a nationwide PR campaign that prominently portrays truck drivers as the frontline heroes they are. Here in Arkansas, we had a major victory on the ballot with the passage of Issue 1 in favor of better roads.

I want to thank you, your company and all our safe, professional drivers for stepping up and meeting each challenge – and there were plenty this year. Despite shutdowns and constantly-evolving regulations, you delivered. I also want to extend a special appreciation to our PAC and Governmental Affairs Fund contributors who helped make this year a success at the polls.

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