[March 26, 2006]

The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa., Dan Shope column: Mack Trucks once again focus of legendary feats

(Morning Call, The (Allentown, PA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 26--In his last jump before the famous "do-or-die" Snake River Canyon attempt in 1974, Evel Knievel soared 135 feet over 13 Mack trucks at the Canadian National Exposition.

Seven years later, Mel Gibson, playing Mad Max, rammed a virtually indestructible Mack through the Australian desert in the movie "The Road Warrior."

Now Mack Trucks, a subsidiary of A.B. Volvo of Sweden, is again on stage, setting a world record for the longest road train pulled in Australia with a single tractor. The train was 113 trailers, measuring 4,837 feet.

The Mack driver, John Atkinson, 70, climbed behind the Titan model for the historic drive along the east coast of Australia under a hot late-February sun.

About 8,000 people, including some from Guinness World Records, witnessed the event in Clifton, near Toowoomba. Atkinson, who held a previous record for the event in Mungindi in 2003, broke the record by passing 100 meters (328 feet) with the load.

"Battling the midday heat with temperatures soaring up to 38 degrees C [100 degrees F], the crowd was determined to be part of the world record attempt and cheered on the mighty Titan," said Mack Australia's news release of the event.

"Nerves of steel and clever clutch work helped the Titan pull all 113 trailers across the line in winning form."

Proceeds went to the Vanessa Memorial Cancer Care Fund.

"Mack has been in the news with Evel Knievel and Mad Max," said Heather Brodie, communications manager at Mack Australia. "In Australia, road trains are popular, and so is Mack.

"There are some hugely remote areas of Australia. There's nothing in the middle of Australia, so road trains are popular. They usually carry 53 meters [174 feet] of trailers behind them."

Intermodal, a system of freight transport in the United States in which trailers are moved by train and then unloaded onto trucks, doesn't exist Down Under because there are few rail lines.

Mack Australia's 572 employees assembled 1,152 trucks in 2005, about 3 percent of Macks made worldwide, the company said. By comparison, Mack employs 3,900 people in Maryland and the Lehigh Valley.

"They'll often pull 20 to 30 trailers at a time," said Bob Martin, manager of public relations at Mack headquarters in Allentown. "The tractors are built and used in Australia."

Jim Winsor, executive editor of Heavy Duty Trucking magazine, said the Mack Titan tractor bears little resemblance to American Macks.

"It would need special gearing to get the train started," he said. "It's like riding a 10-speed bicycle up a steep hill in low gear. Even the steering wheel in Australia is on the wrong side."

According to Gary Bone, senior vice president of Mack Australia, the Titan was built for the task at its plant near Brisbane. Although it hauled more than 100 times its own weight, it did so as a stock model free of modification.

A Cummins, which has an engine distributorship in Australia, powered the rig.

In the train were 2,020 wheels, 506 axles and 1,012 sets of brakes, besides the 113 trailers.

"No true test is without problems and we had our fair share on the day, but in the end the Titan showed Australia and the world just what it is capable of," Bone said.

dan.shope@mcall.com

610-820-6530

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