COLUMBUS, Ohio — The best-in-show at the 86th annual “Super Bowl of Safety” is UPS professional driver Gragg Wilson from Nevada.
Operating the tanker truck, Wilson surpassed a field of 421 drivers Aug. 19 to earn the Bendix Grand Champion trophy at American Trucking Associations’ National Truck Driving Championships and National Step Van Driving Championships.
“I don’t know how I feel. I’m overwhelmed,” he told Transport Topics.
Wilson said his key to success was “just doing what I do every day, just going out there and doing what I do.”
En route to his blue ribbon performance, Wilson excelled in the event’s driving course, pre-trip vehicle inspection and written exam of industry rules and regulations. In the final round of competition, he edged out a field that included two former national grand champions, multiple state grand champions and a fierce challenge in his tanker division from Walmart’s Jason Imhoff from Ohio.
2023 National Truck Driving Championships
Competition Gallery | Awards Gallery | Qualifiers | Map of State Champions
Who: Winners from nine categories at the state level who have advanced to the national competition, where a Grand Champion will be crowned
What: Contestants are judged on a written exam, pre-trip inspection and driving skills
When: Aug. 16-19
Where: Columbus, Ohio
Wilson, a commercial driver from Reno, has won multiple statewide titles. Colleagues know him to be a quiet competitor who often prefers to let his actions to speak for themselves.
He arrived on the national stage in 2000, when he competed in 5-axle class. That year, he was recognized with the vehicle condition award for best pre-trip vehicle inspection. In 2018, he was a member of the Nevada team that won the state category at nationals. He also was the grand champion from the Silver State that year.
“I try to be pretty humble about it,” Wilson told Transport Topics at the time. “I’ll be with the other drivers and a lot of times they don’t want to be in my class or whatever. I just try to encourage them to do the best they can.”
Bolduc
Other notable winners included FedEx Express’ Roland Bolduc, last year’s grand champion. Bolduc, representing Connecticut, took home the national title in the sleeper berth division. Specific to the course during the four-day tournament’s final round, Bolduc said, “It wasn’t a bad course. I think it should’ve been the first course. That’s what I think.” The 2022 grand champion, who also won the top prize in 2017, said this year’s experience was simply “awesome.”
Bolduc’s Connecticut team won the state category. Fellow drivers from the Constitution State included 5-axle national title winner John Greene with FedEx Freight and team captain Anthony “Tony” Spero with ABF Freight. Spero competed in the tanker truck class.
Members of the Connecticut team display their first-place awards at the NTDC banquet last night in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Trucking Association CEO Thomas Balzer is at the far left, and NTDC Chairman Rodney Myers is at the far right. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)
Alaska’s Jerome De La Cruz with FedEx Express won best-in-show in the step van class. Arizona’s Ina Daly with XPO was awarded the Neill Darmstadter Professional Excellence Award.
Daly
A consistent finalist at NTDC over the years, Daly is the only woman to have won a national title. In 2013, she earned the blue ribbon in the tanker truck division. Earlier this year, Daly was grand champion at the Arizona Truck Driving Championships. She told TT precision-driving tournaments are ”about making you a better truck driver and making you proud of what you do for a living.”
“It’s very important that we share what we have learned over the years and try to get younger drivers involved,” she remarked. “Because, like I said, ultimately it’s about improving safety, making truck drivers better, making people want to stay in the industry.”
Winning rookie of the year was Wyoming’s Myron Means with Old Dominion Freight Line in the flatbed class. The vehicle condition award for the tournament’s best pre-trip inspection performance went to Tennessee’s Timothy Blair with FedEx Freight, who competed in the 5-axle class.
NTDC 2023 Vehicle Class Winners
3-Axle: Barry Kraemer, XPO, Wisconsin
4-Axle: Martin McMahon, RIST Transport, New York
5-Axle: John Greene, FedEx Freight, Connecticut
Flatbed: Daryl Miller, The Cope Co. Salt, Pennsylvania
Sleeper Berth: Roland Bolduc, FedEx Express
Step Van: Jerome De La Cruz, FedEx Express, Alaska
Straight Truck: David Coffel, FedEx Express, Arizona
Tank Truck: Gragg Wilson, UPS, Nevada
Twins: Robert Fair, FedEx Freight, New Hampshire
NTDC 2023 Awards
Bendix Grand Champion: Gragg Wilson, UPS, Nevada
Neill Darmstadter Professional Excellence Award: Ina Daly, XPO, Arizona
Team: Connecticut
Meanwhile, at the North American Inspectors Championship held concurrently with NTDC, the Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion Award went to Tomasz Krolak with Minnesota State Patrol. The event is held by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.
Congratulations to this year’s North American Inspectors Championship Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion winner Tomasz Krolak with Minnesota State Patrol. @MnDPS_MSP#2023NAICpic.twitter.com/8Z7gNdEEgC
— CVSA (@CVSA) August 20, 2023
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