CVSA Joins Organizers to Inspect Facilities
MINNEAPOLIS – The organizing team behind the National Truck Driving Championships descended to the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes this week to survey the site for this summer’s precision-driving tournament.
Led by NTDC Chairman Robert Foskey, nearly four dozen event organizers and staff with American Trucking Associations checked out the spacious facilities at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
On an early afternoon on March 20, adjacent to a row of brand-name hotels, the NTDC intelligentsia admired the convention center’s grand hall featuring open-concept cylindrical architectural ceilings. They also passed by meeting rooms alongside the would-be competition space and toured a banquet-like spacious chamber which will be the championships’ first day orientation venue.
For the NTDC organizers, the tour felt something similar to a first-day-at-camp. Putting on the annual summer classic is a passion project, they explained. NTDC 2023 Chairman Rodney Myers sought to capture the moment: “It is really great to be back in Minneapolis. I don't think we've been here since like 2012. I forgot how much I enjoy this city when it's not snow on the ground. So this year, it's like every year, it's taking a debrief and a download from what we did in prior years and just trying to make the whole program better for our competitors.”
Representatives with the North American Inspectors Championship, which takes place concurrent to NTDC, also surveyed the convention center’s event space. The inspectors' competition is hosted by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. That tournament’s overall winner in 2023, Tomasz Krolak with the Minnesota State Patrol, joined event planners with his colleagues for a tour of the site. Krolak said he will serve as a judge at this summer’s NAIC.
“We are ecstatic to help host this year’s North American Inspector Championship (NAIC) in Minneapolis, MN,” he said in a statement to Transport Topics March 20. “Inspectors from across North America will gather for this annual event to network with other inspectors, learn a few things, and even have an opportunity to showcase their skills and abilities on an international level. This morning’s meeting starts the real planning process to make this event a success. We are looking forward to both championships, and cannot wait to see who the next top driver and inspector will be.”
\(Left to right) Minnesota State Patrol Capt. Robert Zak, Sgt. Tomasz Krolak, Lt. Lee Gear and Sgt. Jessica Hukill at the Minneapolis Convention Center on March 20. (Photo by E. Mulero)
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