I I
No. 1 Truck Driver Believes Ir
Speed Limit On Highways; Kee
America's No. 1 truck driver
believes in the 55 mile an hour
speed limit. As Olen Lee Welk,
63. of Big Sandy. Texas,
explains in his soft Texas
drawl: "I never tried to fly."
One could say he had his
chances. For instance. "Oley"
Welk went to school with Clyde
Barrow who, with a girl named
Bonnie, took a "fast trip" of
crime and mayhem. In 1934, the
year they were gunned down.
Oley Welk took up commercial
trucking.
Welk. named "1977 Truck
Driver of the Year" by the
American Trucking Associa
tions (ATA), has never felt the
need to go fast in a
43-year-career of driving heavy
and oversized tractor trailers
for an estimated 3.5 million
accident-free miles. In fact, he
says: "I run between 55 and 58
— I'm never bothered."
"I usually beat the fast trucks
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from the east coast to the west
coast, or west to east," he
declares. "All you gotta do is
get used to it." he adds. "I
always believed if you want to
move, they have a place in
Indianapolis. You can go race
with A. J. (Foyt)."
Welk, who has seen his share
of gruesome accidents caused
by speeding, believes the worst
consequence of exceeding the
55 mph speed limit can result
when a front or rear tire blows.
"I love men. love my wife,
love everybody else." he says.
"I don't want to run over
anybody if I blow out a tire."
Welk, who visited Washington
recently for President
Carter's inauguration and to he
honored for his long safety
record, drives t he big rigs for C
& 11 Transportation Co.. Inc.. of
Dallas, the country's leading
heavy hauling carrier. He
marked his 25th year with C &
II on January 21. Welk is the
first heavy hauler to win the
ATA's highest honor. He loves
driving i'i'tn going on 'til I'm
HIS." he vowS.1
At the I S. Department of
Transportation, he got a trophy
and diamond pin from former
Federal Highwa\ Administrator
N'orbert Tiemann. He also
met Lt. Gen Benjamin 0.
Davis, Jr.. (t AF Ret J. special
assistant to the secretary for
the 55 mph speed limit, who
travels the nation seeking
support tor the speed limit.
The "Truck Driver of the
Year" said he favors installing
road speed governors in trucks
to restrict 'heir maximum
speed to about 55 mph -as do ('
& II ma,n\ other trucking
firms "It saves vour engine."
Welk points out "You don't
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The veteran driver said his
truck has a five-speed transmission
and a three-speed rear end
— "what I call an old folks'
transmission." He said the C &
H company trucks are "geared
perfect for 55 mph."
He said that C & H adopted
the 55 mph speed limit about
1959. Drivers are subject to
a lay-off if caught violating the
limit three times. 'The next
time," he said, "you're gone."
While he liked things better
before there were CB radios,
Olev Welk has used a CB
radio for about four years.
CBers know him bv the handle
of "Hawaiian Hitchhiker," al
though he has never been to the
Islands. But a son once brought
him a Hawaiian ashtray shaped
like a foot, with a "way big" big
toe, explaining that "hippies
use the big toe for hitchhiking."
Welk painted the big toe red,
and keeps the ashtray in his
truck as his symbol.
He doesn't like to see the CB
used to flaunt the 55 mph speed
limit, hut only to help people
who are in need or who are
involved in accidents. "I've
helped plenty of them. 1 don't
call them Smokey-Bear. I call
them the Highway Patrol."
Welk was also named 1977
Driver of the Year hv two
states. Texas and Missouri,
which nominated him for the
national title. He was named a
"knight of the road" in 1958
when he came upon an
overturned car. The dead
driver had thousands of dollars
in cash in his wallet.
Welk refused to give the
money to alleged "relatives"
who approached him. He
turned it over to the Texas
Highway Patrol. "And I owed a
payment on my truck at the
time." he said
His wife Hazel. 59. some
times rides with him ("sitting
there riding and bossing me."
he says. "She has about 20.000
miles."> They have four sons
and t wo daughters, as well as
15 grandchildren and two
great-grandsons. Two sons are
trucking for 0 & H, while a
third son used to. The fourth
bov, an ex-Marine, drives a city
bus.
He savs the worst accident
he ever saw involved a woman
who had lost both leps and had
her clothes stripped off. Welk
trave her his old Army blanket
to cover herself up. The
accident took place in a 25 mph
?one. he said. Her hushand had
been speeding.
His millions of miles of heavy
hauling iwith loads up to
120.000 pounds' have taken him
throughout the U. S. and
Canada, except for Alaska
("too cold for me"). Hawaii, and
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i 55 Miles Per Hour
ps It Slow And Safe
a few New England states.
His unusual cargoes have
included explosives and giant
missiles ("I hauled Apollo 7 out
of Washington down to California'").
Still, it's the trips he didn't
take that are the unusual part
of Olev Welk's story— i.e.. a
trip to baseball's big leagues.
He was a sandlot player in
Dallas in 1934 when Dizzy Dean
invited him to go to Florida for
a tryout with the St. Ijouis
Cardinals.
"I was a knuckloball pitcher."
he recalls. "I could make it do a
jig dance in a rainstorm. Rut I
couldn't afford the trip to
Florida — so I took up
trucking."
"All I know now is good old
dumb truck driving," Welk
says, "but I love it." He also
keeps it slow and safe.
On a hill in Ripley. Ohio,
stands the John Rankin house,
once a major stop on the
underground railway. A lantern
placed in its upper
window, visible across the Ohio
River in Kentucky, helped
some 2,000 escaping slaves find
their way to the safety of the
free state. National Geographic
says.
The size of an acre derived
from the amount of land two
oxen could plow in one day.
National Geographic World
says.
le Warren Record. Warrentoi
Fossilized Remains
Of Alligators Found
Fossilized remains of
alligators four feet long have
been found in the Arctic climate
of Ellesmere island, the
National Geographic Society
says. Scientists also have
recovered bone fragments of
turtles that weighed several
hundred pounds and a cowsized
animal that seemed to be
part rhinoceros and part
hippopotamus, all relics of some
48 million years ago when
North America and Europe
were believed connected across
the North Atlantic.
Americans, late in adopting
the fork, mostly used knives
until after the Civil War.
Then special fish and dessert
forks were fashionable, and
ice cream was eaten with
forks.
i, North Carolina, Thursday, March 10, 1877 — P»tff 9
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