National Truck Driving Competition has Frederick Competitor

Frederick man is Maryland truck driving champion
Originally published July 25, 2009


By Meg Tully
Frederick News-Post Staff
On his delivery route for FedEx Express, Michael Forchetti encounters driving challenges every day. He's on the lookout for children running around, loose dogs, tight alleys and low overhangs.
For 13 years, the Frederick man has driven his route without getting into a crash.

And he's hoping all that work will pay off when he goes to the National Truck Driving Competition next month.

This is the first year the competition will include a formal category for step vans, the vehicle Forchetti drives.

Forchetti won the state championship in June for the right to compete. It is his second time in three years that he has won the state championship for the step van.

This year, his wife, Tricia, and two sons, Hunter, 9, and Jason, 7, came with him to Timonium Fairgrounds to cheer.

They made signs and stayed for the entire day.

"The whole reason that I work is for my family," Forchetti said. "To come home safe to them."

In addition to driving for FedEx, Forchetti is a coach of his son's flag football team at Utica Park. His wife is a substitute teacher.

In order to go to the championship, Forchetti had to first compete with about 40 other FedEx drivers to qualify for the competition.

Drivers are judged in three areas: a pre-trip inspection, written safety test and a driving course.

For the inspection, drivers are asked to spot problems with the vehicle.

Some of them are tricky, like removing a gasket on the inside of a gas cap or discharging the fire extinguisher so it's not fully charged.

They can also be items that are easy to overlook: During the competition, Forchetti noticed his van had only two safety triangles instead of three.

In the driving course, drivers try to get as close to obstacles like cones without hitting them.

There are prizes for winning the national competition, but Forchetti is mainly competing for the glory and yearlong bragging rights.

Forchetti has two trophies from his state championships, and it is such a big deal to his sons that they each have one in their room.

He is looking forward to the national competition.

"I'm there to compete, I'm not there to do anything else," he said. "I'm going to celebrate the fact I'm a safe driver."

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