It’s a warm, bright Saturday in June, a day you’d expect to see Frank Connors enjoying the sunshine with family. And he is-in a way. Connors, president of Brampton, Ont.-based York Transportation Group, is in the midst of his firm’s second annual truck rodeo. Held this year in conjunction with the opening of the carrier’s new warehouse and distribution centre, it’s a time to celebrate the trucking company’s growth and the skill of the drivers who keep business on the move.

But fleet managers like Frank Connors are finding that truck rodeos-or, if you’d rather, professional truck driving competitions-are more than just a day for fun and trophies. An event that centres around a driver’s everyday job skills can show safety managers where to focus their training efforts. It can be a recruiting opportunity, a chance to showcase the company to prospective new hires in a festive atmosphere. It can be a stage where family and friends can learn to appreciate and celebrate the concentration and technique a driver needs in order to do his job well.

And according to Connors, the most intangible but maybe the most important benefit to a fleet is the chance to instill professional pride and company loyalty in its drivers.

“After last year’s rodeo, there was a change not just in drivers’ attitudes, but in everybody else working for the company-and you can’t buy that,” he says. “We could see within a week how all the guys were talking to each other and how they wanted to help everyone else here.” Later, when three of York’s drivers went to their provincial driving championships in Belleville, Ont., the company buzzed with excitement as results were being posted and support staff kept tabs back in Brampton on how the drivers fared.

“We’re trying to foster a sense of commitment,” adds Bob Forster, York’s general manager.

In today’s era of acute driver shortage, commitment is invaluable. “If you’re able to build a feeling of community at your company, you’re leveraging your continuity,” says Raymond Mercuri, manager of safety and maintenance for FedEx Ground Canada Ltd., formerly RPS Canada. “Driver retention is a huge cost. Building pride has a big impact on driver turnover. If you can keep drivers year-to-year by doing simple things like having a rodeo, it means more money on the bottom line, your people are more effective, and they know more about your expectations and procedures.”

Dean Paisley, president of Lethbridge Truck Terminals of Lethbridge, Alta., uses the advantages of rodeos in a different way. Running a fleet with six trucks, he’s always had to deal with young, inexperienced drivers, and there’s a cost to that.

“They have collisions and they’re taking the mirrors off cars and all the stupid things,” he says. While not having a rodeo of his own, Paisley sponsors drivers to go to regional, provincial and national meets-provided they’ve been accident free for a year. One driver who rolled a rig just two months into his job finally achieved that status after being with Paisley for five years. He also won a division at his first rodeo just last month.

How do you make your rodeo pay dividends?

1. Focus on safety and education. In the minds of your drivers, the event is a competition. For fleet and safety managers, its an opportunity to evaluate and educate.

In addition to the requisite obstacle course, Mercuri’s event includes a written test and a thorough pre-trip inspection. He’s not afraid to throw a few curve balls, either. Last year, with provincial vehicle inspectors looking more closely at wheels, tires, and brake adjustments, Mercuri removed a few clevis pins before starting the pre-trip section. “A lot of guys thought they were being tested to see if they know what to look for during a pre-trip inspection,” he says. “They didn’t expect to actually find anything wrong. The exercise taught them that they can’t just go through the motions, at the rodeo or out there on the road.”

As a result, FedEx Ground’s over-the-road brake problems and tire failures, while they haven’t been eliminated, are down considerably in the past year.

“That’s because the guys are down there looking and know what to look for. The payback is that it improves your performance in both safety and compliance,” he says. Mercuri asks his mechanics to judge the pre-trip event so the drivers have a professional opinion on hand. “Information is freely exchanged, someone’s not putting on a seminar and beating them, and the DOT officer isn’t at the side of the road,” explains Mercuri.

The centrepiece of any driving championship is the on-road skills competition, where safe driving techniques can be honed in a non-threatening environment. Better to crash on the course rather than on the job.

Watching one of York’s trailers graze a pavement marker during a skills competition, Connors’ concern is apparent.

“This tells them they don’t know everything, so they have to try a little harder,” he says. “Every day they come across about 70% of the manoeuvres, like backing into an alley where the dock is offset and the driver’s got to go in on the blind side. This is common in those old cities in the Northeast U.S., where everything is so tight it’s unbelievable.”

2. Shine a positive light. Improved public relations for a fleet is also a result of rodeo culture. Mercuri uses his event to attract potential new drivers. After calling a couple of the driving schools in his area, he invites the students to be spectators and meet management and staff.

“We can do a really good sell,” he says. “Because there’s nothing better to sell than a happy driver.”

And if a trucking operation uses its event as a preliminary competition for provincial and national championships, it’s advertising its fleet to an even wider audience.

“What does that tell drivers about the companies that enter these competitions and do well?” asks Mercuri. “They must be good carriers. It’s got some marketing clout.”

These big meets can also help a company’s overall marketing plans. “We take a lot of pride in being involved in the community and showing off our stuff,” says Gord Dennis, manager of distribution for Molsons Canada Inc.

3. Fun for the family. Good rodeos are more than just skills competitions. They bring families into the corporate loop. How a driver’s family feels about his company or profession may help determine whether he sticks with either one. Likewise, the kids may well be tomorrow’s truckers. At FedEx Ground’s event in June, two of the top competitors were a father and son.

“The industry is a lifestyle, not a job, so you’ve got to include the families,” says Paisley. “The hours spent away from home, these are family-breakers. I don’t know if you can get around that.” Showing that you appreciate and celebrate their hard work is a good place to start.