PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A few blocks away from the David L. Lawrence Center, where the 2026 edition of the National Truck Driving and National Step Van Championships (NTDC) are taking place, is the Heinz History Museum, known as “Pittsburgh’s People Museum.” Cemented into the sidewalk outside this museum is an NFL goalpost.
The goalpost belonged to the Pittsburgh Steelers when they were on a magical run, winning four of the team’s six Super Bowl Championships between 1975 and 1980. Toward the end of that golden era, the Steelers and their fans would talk about extending the streak with “one more for the thumb.”
Well, around the time Steelers NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw was finishing his playing career in Pittsburgh, a future Captain of America’s Road Team was in the process of securing his CDL.
NTDC’s ‘Super Bowl’ of Safety
Some 42 years later, NTDC living legend Roland Bolduc arrived in Pittsburgh this week. He already has enough national vehicle division championships to fill all the fingers on one hand, including his thumb. Bolduc’s two National Grand Championships place him in the elite company of just five other professional drivers to earn multiple NTDC Grand Championships since the top title was introduced as part of the event in 1987.
On Wednesday, July 12, 2026, Bolduc — a FedEx veteran driver whose industry accomplishments are nearly as long as his safety record — entered a competitive arena that’s been called the “Super Bowl of Safety.”
The pride of the Northeast, Bolduc has amassed 21 state vehicle titles while competing in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He also has seven State Grand Championships to his credit. Now in his early 60s, Bolduc is beginning to think about hanging up his keys and calling it a career.
Taking The Field and Seeking Another Big Run
During the opening of the driving phase of this year’s competition Wednesday, as Bolduc stepped into the truck, he was well aware that his 2026 semifinal run in 5-Axle could be his last on trucking’s national stage. At the same time, Bolduc’s focus remained on the course and the possibilities that accompany success — a theme he has maintained and that has served him well throughout his NTDC career, including a return to the finals round and a second-place national finish in 5-Axle last year after falling short of the runoff in 2024.
Bolduc has said throughout his time competing that no matter how much time you practice on scoring stations that have been on past courses and whatever you do to prepare once you have done the 10-minute walkthrough of the NTDC, it still comes down to, in Bolduc’s words, “You have to have a day.”
Meeting the moment can often come down to a matter of an inch between a maximum score of 50 or a zero at one of the six scoring stations. The turn of a tire and how you set up your truck between at one station can impact your ability to get points at the next station. While there are 300 points available on the course, every competitor knows there’s a time limit to navigate the course.
An Inch Here, a Minute or Two There
In his run on Wednesday, Bolduc started out strong with a tire turn inside a scoring box that delivered a big payoff in points and positioned him well for the next station. It was shaping up to be another moment when Bolduc was “having a day.”
But as the minutes were ticking away and inches started to NOT fall in his favor at a couple of the scoring stations, Bolduc exited the truck considering this reality: Snagging one of the five positions in Friday’s championship round (while still possible) will be a challenging reach this year — even if his written test and pre-trip scores are among the best compared to the other drivers in his division.
When asked about his semifinal run, Bolduc said, “It was good … and then it wasn’t good. It’s a great course, and I thought I was doing well. I drove a 175 and I just missed a 50-point opportunity, which would have really helped.”
Bolduc has always been very cerebral and strategic about navigating driving courses at the Nationals and State TDCs. Sometimes he’ll push his time on the course close to the limit.
On Wednesday, time became an additional opponent on the course for one of the all-time greats in NTDC history.
“I got concerned about time. I thought I might be a little over — but I was shocked when I saw it was 13 minutes,” said Bolduc upon learning he had gone three minutes over the allotted 10 minutes on the course. “That is totally on me.”
Under NTDC rules, point penalties are assessed beginning at one second past the 10-minute limit. The penalties increase during the first minute, with anything over 60 seconds costing the driver 50 points. In addition, all opportunities for a driver to score points on the course end once the clock reaches 12 minutes.
The Strength of the ‘NTDC Family’
While Wednesday’s run was disappointing to the competitor’s spirit within Bolduc, he’s shown over the years that trucking’s Super Bowl of Safety is more than just seeking to win trophies. After making 21 trips to the NTDCs during his career, Bolduc is one of the “regulars,” and he’s always sought to be a welcoming presence for newcomers.
Over the years, as he became a sage veteran, Bolduc has consistently gone out of his way to help drivers who are new to the nationals as well as those working to advance within NTDC. Bolduc can often be heard saying, “Welcome to the family, the NTDC Family” to new arrivals at the National Championships.
The NTDC Family, as Bolduc knows quite well, celebrates the achievements each year of all the State Champions — with each competitor well aware that there are only 45 spots, five per vehicle class, who qualify to reach the final round.
In the End, There Can Be Only One National Grand Champion
Out of those 45 spots, there are just nine national champions. Lastly, out of those nine champions, there is only one National Grand Champion. This champion rises out of a competition that began with the state truck driving championships in March, with some 8,000 to 10,000 drivers staying safe for an entire year just to be eligible to compete at the state level.
“Obviously, I wish it would have gone differently. You have to have a day,” said Bolduc of Wednesday’s run. “I’m here this week, and that is an accomplishment. I’m with family here, and I’m going to enjoy the rest of the week. We’ll see what happens.”
When the names are called for the runoff in the morning on Championship Friday, Bolduc will be surrounded by his NTDC Family — a family that not only celebrates excellence, but it also supports each other when you don’t “have a day.”
The End of an Era
If Pittsburgh is the place where the book closes on what’s been a Hall of Fame-level NTDC competitive career, Bolduc, a New England native and avid Patriots fan, will leave the competition knowing that his five national titles and two NTDC Grand Championships in trucking’s Super Bowl of Safety count up to a total of seven.
The goalpost in the sidewalk down the street from the site of NTDC 2026 is a monument to six Super Bowl championships. Bolduc’s trip to the Steel City brought together two impressive winning records in the same neighborhood that once earned Pittsburgh the nickname the City of Champions.
Players Only: Bolduc’s conversation with retiring New York legend Jim Kohr
For the past two years, Roland Bolduc has served as a contributor to PodWheels’ coverage of NTDC. Periodically, he’s connected with a collection of stalwarts who are part of the NTDC Community.
A few weeks prior to NTDC 2026, Bolduc sat down with Jim Kohr, a FedEx teammate from New York and 2024 National Champion in the Straight Truck division.
Kohr, who’s won the New York State Grand Championship multiple times over his career, is planning to retire within the next year. As Kohr shares with Bolduc, NTDC 2026 will be his last chance to compete at the Nationals.
Click here to listen to Roland Bolduc’s conversation with Jim Kohr on PodWheels’ NTDC 2026 Podcast.
PodWheels held the episode, saving it to release Thursday, August 13. That’s today. Why did we hold it? This is the day Kohr will be taking his semifinal drive in the Tank Truck division.
It’s a fascinating conversation between two champions who are looking back and looking forward. Both Bolduc and Kohr take the time to note the importance of giving back to the NTDC community and helping competitors grow, encouraging everyone involved in the competition to become the best that they can be.
For anyone interested in entering the competition at the state level or looking for new ways to excel on the national stage, the insights shared by Bolduc and Kohr are as valuable as the trophies that they have collected over the years.
Greg Thompson is an award-winning writer and producer who has worked in the trucking industry in a variety of roles since 1998. With more than a decade’s worth of experience as a journalist prior entering trucking, Greg is the founder and executive producer of PodWheels.com, a podcast network dedicated to spotlighting the trucking industry.
Since 2019, PodWheels has provided specialized coverage of the National Truck Driving and National Step Van Driving Championships.
In 2025, PodWheels’ NTDC Series earned the honor of being named the official podcast of the National Championships by the American Trucking Associations, which hosts the annual nationwide competition.
During 2025 alone, PodWheels produced some 100 episodes and provided over 50 hours of podcast content highlighting the competitors, organizers and volunteers involved with the Truck Driving Championships at both the state and national levels. PodWheels’ coverage of the NTDC, including state competitions and other features, is available through RoadToNTDC.com.
