Since the initial entry period officially closed last month, we've continued gathering information relevant to the dozens of entries in Overdrive's Small Fleet Championship, sponsored again this year by the National Association of Small Trucking Companies. At NASTC's annual conference November 2-4 in Nashville, Tennessee, we'll recognize two finalists each in two separate competitive divisions -- companies with 3-10 trucks and those with 11-30 trucks at the end of 2022. Today, we're announcing five semi-finalists in each category.
Over the course of this month, we'll be featuring stories about all of them ahead of announcement of the final four who will be attending the awards ceremony in Nashville, so stay tuned for those features starting next week. And ...
Without further ado, competing in the 3-10-trucks category:
Til Friday Trucking was but a one-truck carrier in 2018, and after a couple of years began to focus on lean operation and expansion to where they are today, notes Michelle Hefner, with a variety of duties at the primarily dry-van-pulling company. This marks their second-straight semi-finalist recognition in Overdrive's Small Fleet Championship program, as they've held the line against rising costs and declining rates where possible, seeking out new opportunities with direct customers this past year even as they lost a couple.
Similarly, D. Weaver Trucking owner Dannel Weaver was a one-truck owner-operator in 2019, before he and his significant other, Lisa Turley, decided to invest not only in trucks and end dump trailers but other families in their region along I-77 in Ohio, toward what's been sixfold growth since 2021. The now six-truck carrier specializes in industrial steel byproducts run from plant to plant, working mostly with a specialized broker along lanes in the Midwest and upper South.
Larry Wallace is a third-generation trucker with a versatile skill set, a knack for working on old Detroit and Caterpillar engines, and a sweet little niche carved out hauling bulk bakery residuals with the three rigs in his fleet. The owner got his start pulling end dumps, then off the deep end into another one of Virginia's hot trucking niches: Land clearing and logging. Here Wallace had his trial by fire, hauling timber up and down mountain roads and becoming a master of his machine in the process. He traded a windshield and shifter for a desk and mouse a few years back with his Wallace & Sons Transport business, but keeps a close eye on operations from his Henrico, Virginia office.
