'Six Days on the Road' songwriter Dave Dudley dies

Associated Press

Published December 23, 2003

DANBURY, Wis. -- Dave Dudley, a Wisconsin native who had a hit record in the 1960s with the truck-driving song ``Six Days on the Road,'' has died. He was 75.

Dudley, who was born in Spencer as Darwin David Pudraska, died Monday night of an apparent heart attack, said his wife, Marie. Dudley, who grew up in Stevens Point, recorded more than 70 albums during his career.
Playground chums dubbed him ``Duddy,'' a nickname that came in handy years later when he picked Dave Dudley as his stage name. He formed the Dave Dudley Trio in the early 1950s, and the band stayed together for seven years.
Dudley moved to Minnesota in 1960 and formed the Country Gentlemen.
He got his big break in 1963 when he introduced ``Six Days on the Road.'' It became a hit and solidified his image as a friend of the working class. One of the first stations to play the song was WOKY-AM, a Milwaukee rock station.
His wife co-wrote songs with him for much of his career. ``I miss the heck out of him already,'' she said Tuesday.
In 2002, following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., Dudley returned to the studio to record ``Dave Dudley, American Trucker,'' a hard-edged tribute to truckers that included two songs talking to terrorists who might want to tangle with the folks who drive the big rigs. Dudley's life included stints as a minor league baseball pitcher, a railroad hand in the yards at Stevens Point and a radio performer and disc jockey who worked in several Midwest states.
Funeral arrangements are pending with Swedberg-Taylor Funeral Home in Webster.