HARLINGEN — As Walls of Fame go, Zeke Carmona is in some pretty elite company.
The 64-year-old Carmona, a resident of Rio Hondo, was recently honored by his induction onto the Penske Logistics Driver Wall of Fame.
He becomes just the 72nd Penske driver — they have more than 11,000 — to go up on the wall.
His achievement? Twenty years of accident-free driving in South Texas, which is some kind of feat, as most of us would likely attest.
So how does he do it?
“I have to go babysitting the other drivers,” he said with a laugh. “And I have my five keys: Aim behind the steering wheel, get the big picture, leave yourself an out, keep your eyes moving and make sure they see you.”
And that has worked perfectly for the 24 years he’s been driving for Penske Logistics.
Carmona really puts in the miles, between Harlingen and San Antonio and back.
“I have a dedicated route, a main route,” he said. “I go to San Antonio, I go to Lackland air base, Kelly air base and I go to Brooke Army Medical Center. I deliver medical supplies.”
Carmona said he’s seen changes in the behavior of other drivers out on the roads in his more than two decades of professional driving for Penske, and they’re not for the better.
“Especially in San Antonio. The people over there drive like crazy, changing lanes, moving from lane to lane, for what? Just to pass me to exit on the next ramp when he could have stayed behind me and just exited,” he said.
“Then they’re on their phones,” Carmona added. “A lot of people use their phones driving. And they pass me and there they go, viewing the phone.”
The Penske Logistics Driver Wall of Fame is a component of the Penske Premier Driver Recognition Program for its professional truck drivers in the United States and Canada. The program has four levels to honor consecutive safe driving without any preventable injuries or incidents: Diamond (20 years), Platinum (15 years), Gold (10 years) and Silver (5 years).
“I am very proud of our Premier Driver Recognition Program recipients,” said Penske Logistics President Marc Althen. “It is my honor to lead the best of the best. I appreciate all of their efforts during the most challenging of times that we have experienced during the pandemic.”
For his part, Carmona says he likes his job and is proud of his safe-driving achievement.
But after fighting his way through the traffic in San Antonio, it’s always good to come back home to Rio Hondo.
“It’s nice,” he said. “Nice and quiet.”
