ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110025
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
RALPH SPANGLER, a three-time winner of the American Bus Association's International Driving Championship, could be headed for win No. 4.
Ralph Spangler was an instructor at the Greyhound Bus Lines driving school in Harrisburg, Pa., for 10 years.
His students, some from New York City who had never driven a car - much less a bus - before, couldn't have had a better teacher.
Spangler, now 58 and living in Roanoke, is a three-time winner of the American Bus Association's International Driving Championship. He won the title in 1989 as a driver for Greyhound and again in 1990 and 1994 with Abbott Bus Lines Inc. of Roanoke. He was a second-place finisher in 1991 and 1995.
Last month, he placed first in regional competition in Raleigh, N.C., meaning he will compete for another international title June 21-22 in Nashville, Tenn.
Having Spangler on the payroll is a big plus for his company, said Fred Abbott, president of Abbott Bus Lines. Spangler serves as role model for other drivers, he said.
He's a professional driver and it shows, Abbott said. Most of the trips Spangler takes are for groups that have asked for him, knowing he will do a good job, Abbott said.
Spangler has been driving a bus since May 1960, when he went to work for Safety Motor Transit, a subsidiary of the former Trailways national line, which operated the city bus service in Roanoke. He came to Roanoke after his discharge from the Air Force, having decided there was more of a future in the city than on the family farm in his native Floyd County.
For five years, he operated a city bus, occasionally driving for Trailways on weekends to Lynchburg and Charlottesville. He then tried working as a clerk-stenographer with Norfolk and Western Railway but couldn't cope with the confining nature of the job and left after 18 months.
He went to work for Greyhound in 1967. At various times, he worked out of terminals in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Atlanta; Charleston, W.Va.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Richmond.
He rented a room in those cities but maintained a residence in Roanoke. His wife, Essie, is a supervisor with Shenandoah Life Insurance Co.
Spangler's first driving competition was in 1988 when Greyhound picked a driver for a bus that would haul pro-football television commentator John Madden around the country from game to game. He was a runner-up in that contest and became Madden's relief driver, going along on trips of more than 500 miles.
People always thought that Madden was afraid to fly, but his real problem is that he's claustrophobic, Spangler recalled.
Spangler's career with Greyhound essentially ended March 1, 1990, when the company's drivers began a long and bitter strike against the company. He returned to work for a week in 1992, just long enough to take early retirement at age 55.
At Abbott, he drives charters and tours. Most of the time, he's at the wheel of the same kind of bus he drove for Greyhound, a 40-foot, 47-passenger vehicle, manufactured by Motor Coach Industries at a plant in New Mexico. He dresses like a preacher for work and handles himself with the grace of a maitre d' in a fine restaurant.
Spangler said he will keep driving a bus as long as he enjoys it. "I have lots and lots of friends around the country," he said.
The toughest part of driving a bus is taking sight-seeing tours into big Northeastern cities such as New York or Boston, Spangler said. For those trips, he does a lot of planning with maps, he said.
In unfamiliar cities at night when it's raining, it's very hard to see street signs, he said. "A lot of cities and states," he said, "don't mark their highways and streets as well as Virginia."
Driving a bus is a big responsibility, Spangler said. "You've got [your passengers] all right there in the palm of your hand," he said.
The driver, whose seat is forward of the bus's front wheels, is always "the first one on the scene of an accident," he said. "When you look out for yourself, you're also taking care of your passengers."
Motorists don't drive as safely as they used to, he said. They ignore stop and yield signs. "Following too close is one of the biggest problems on the road," he said. His advice to other drivers, he said, is to have patience.
To win another international driving championship, which pits winners and runners-up from 12 regions in Canada and the United States, Spangler must excel on both written and driving tests. The driving competition is much tougher than everyday work, and requires a driver to put a bus within 4 inches of various obstacles.
For the first time last year, competitors weren't allowed to drive their own buses in the competition. Spangler was in an unfamiliar bus with a push-button transmission and that cost him extra time and first place, he said.
He lost by two seconds to Clay Smith, a driver for a Jeffersonville, Ind., bus company who is a five-time winner of the 11-year-old competition. But Spangler will be ready this year, he said.
This year's winner will take home cash prizes and get an expense-paid trip to the ABA's annual meeting in Hawaii in October. Fred Abbott said he's already made reservations to see Spangler accept the award.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Ralph Spangler is a professionalby CNBdriver and it shows, his boss Fred Abbott says. Most of Spangler's
charter trips, driving for Abbott Bus Lines, are for groups that
have asked for him, knowing of his reputation
for safety and courtesy. color.