They say to save the best for last, and Dennis Underwood adhered to that saying by applying his bus driving experience on routes 75 and 118 to the obstacle course.
“He’ll go so fast, he’ll go back to the future,” an announcer said as the “Back to the Future” theme song blared over the speakers.
Underwood, 57, was one of 12 drivers who competed for a chance to be titled Gainesville’s best bus driver during Saturday’s 14th Annual RTS Bus Roadeo at the Gainesville Regional Airport Driving Pad.
“This is an opportunity for our great drivers to highlight their safety and their precision skills driving the bus,” said Theresa Harrison, RTS marketing and communications specialist. “It’s really interesting to see the difficulty that it takes to maneuver a bus, especially in a tight place.”
About 75 people watched as drivers traversed a series of tight turns, passenger stops and reversing tests.
Gary Sauls, 47, has won the competition three times before, and he said he wanted to give his daughter Alexis, 10, another trophy to add to her bookshelf.
After inspecting his mirrors, clearing the aisle and making sure every nut and bolt on his bus were where they needed to be, Sauls sat in the driver seat and surveyed the sea of orange cones littering the course.
On-board judges John Brammer, Stephanie Everett and Dave Smith judged Sauls’s ride.
Calm and collected, Sauls gave the outside judges his two-honk salute and roared off the starting line.
Taking the first left turn with ease, Sauls weaved the bus through the cones, swerving with every turn and jerking back and forth with every stop.
He hung a final right turn, then gunned the engines and took the bus through a V-shaped barrier as the on-board judges braced themselves. Everett turned and shut her eyes.
From outside, Gainesville Police Officer Brian Fundenburg clutched his radar gun as Sauls’s bus flew past him at 19 mph, one mile per hour short of the maximum speed in the competition.
Sauls gently pushed his foot against the brakes and brought the bus to a smooth stop within 11 inches of the last cone.
The crowd outside exploded with applause as Smith jotted down Sauls’s time, 5:05 – 28 seconds faster than the run that earned him the title last year.
“That’s the fastest time so far,” Smith said to Sauls as he parked the bus.
Alexis met him with a hug.
At the end of the competition, the judges tallied up the scores and announced the winners.
Sauls came out on top for the second year in a row. Second place went to Jove Malcolm and Eddie Bishop took third.
Sauls will represent Gainesville next month in the Florida State Bus Roadeo in Orlando, with a chance to compete nationally.
Sauls said this would be his fourth time competing at the state competition. He placed fifth, eighth and last in previous years.
When asked about his run, Sauls smiled as he hugged his daughter.
“I like the challenge,” he said. “But she’s the main reason I do this. She looks forward to this every year.”
