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Minn. Hosting Nat'l Truck Driving Championships

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- This weekend, the Minneapolis Convention Center hosts the 2012 National Truck Driving Championships, otherwise known as the Superbowl of Safety.

About 450 drivers from all over the country, including eight women, will test their skills in a written test and a series of challenges on a course.

"It's all about being patient," Alphonso Lewis, the Grand Champion of 2007.  "You got to be confident in what you're doing. There's a lot of safety training that goes on."

Drivers hop into the driver seat of big rigs and then hit the course searching for points and bragging rights.

They're scored zero to 50 per challenge, and are tested on things such as right hand turns, backing up, and parallel parking. All this is done on 74-foot trucks weighing 80,000 pounds.

As for the safety aspect, the Minnesota trucking industry's fatal accident rate is at a 10-year low.

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