What a drag
Competitors in National Hot Road Assn. (NHRA) events know speed. Their dragsters rocket from 0 to over 330 mph in less than 4.5 seconds down a quarter-mile track. Off the track, all that speed isn't worth a damn. They have to travel the speed limit like the rest of us. Fortunately, according to Kenworth, most of the top dragsters in the country — including the 2nd through 8th place teams in the current “Top Fuel” standings and several “Funny Car” teams — are transported safely in style by T2000 tractors, like the one shown here.
Pay it now
“An ounce of preventive maintenance now is worth a ton of money down the road. I would rather have one of my mechanics replace a $65 water pump now than have one of our package cars break down at the side of the road and cause a two-hour delay — losing us $4,000 worth of package service.”
— Phillip Aiello, district automotive manager,
Metro New York, United Parcel Service
On duty, sort of
This classic U.S. Army deuce-and-a-half — a 2½-ton 6×6 truck — was spotted by a sharp-eyed correspondent at the 2001 International Lawn, Garden & Power Equipment Expo. Built in 1968 by the then Chrysler Corp., the original G.I. machine now dresses up a display of lawn-equipment trailers. Proof old warhorses never die. They just fade into trade-show props.
The engineers of October…
“Dealing with engine emissions changes is like playing in the World Series. Playing in the World Series certainly raises your anxieties, but no player in it ever wishes he were sitting at home.”
— John C. Wall, vice president & chief technical officer of Cummins Inc., on how the firm's engineers view the ongoing emissions challenges
“Growing traffic congestion significantly increases the industry's ‘windshield time’ (time spent in the truck) and wreaks havoc with our household-goods transit guides and schedules, which can result in late pickups or deliveries.”
— Joseph M. Harrison, president, American Moving and Storage Assn.
Put a forklift in this
The lowly pallet, whether made of wood or plastic, is an essential, multi-purpose tool in the world of freight movement. But how many are there? According to the National Wood Pallet and Container Assn., there are an estimated 1.9-billion pallets in existence in the U.S. in any given year. Annually, some 1-billion pallets are in use. Meanwhile, 210 million are being repaired or recycled in some fashion, 190 million are being disposed of in landfills and 100 million are being tossed, exported, incinerated or recycled into something other than pallets. All told, about 400-million pallets are built every year.
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