The National Association of Small Trucking Companies last week recognized a 20-driver-strong group as "America's Best Drivers" -- with a combined 52,509,908 accident-free miles and more than six centuries' worth of experience. Nominated by NASTC member small fleets to celebrate extraordinary careers, the honorees were on hand for the association's "best three days in trucking" annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee, and celebrated at a special event the night of Friday, November 8.
NASTC president David Owen, early on in his career spent supporting small trucking, recognized a difference between small carriers and large -- what set the full-truckload long-haul small fleet apart was the ability to attract and retain the million-mile driver, truly the safest driver on the road and the lifeblood of any great trucking company.
"NASTC's membership," he said during a breakout session during this year's conference, "represents a group that is a force in the industry." He urged carriers in attendance to follow their stellar drivers' lead and support them with all that they can, with all the compensation that they deserve, what a "good OTR driver with a million miles behind him is worth," he said. "In my opinion, it’s a six-digit job."
The honors joined Overdrive's Small Fleet Championship winners Paul Rissler Transportation and C.W. Express, presented during a November 7 ceremony with finalists Hell Bent Xpress and Brian Brewer Trucking. Read more about all of the finalists in the competition, long sponsored by NASTC, via this link.
Jesse Lehman, 35 years with Barry Bashore, Inc. -- 39 years' experience, 3 million-plus miles.
Keith Stearns, 6 years with Borchers Brothers Trucking, LLC -- 35 years' experience, 3 million miles.
David Weeks, 6 years with Capital Transport -- 38 years' experience, 4.3 million miles.
Doyle Archer, 20 years with Coomes, Inc. -- 60 years' experience, 1.3 million miles.
Jeff Bischel, 2 years with D&D Transport Solutions, LLC -- 19 years' experience, 1.8 million miles.
Mark Landon, 20 years with Dick Lavy Trucking -- 40 years' experience, 5 million miles.
Randy Wheeler, 12 years with Dudley Sparkman, Inc. -- 21 years' experience, 2.5 million miles.
Lori Zegelnieks, 7 years with Edward Axline Trucking, Inc. -- 24 years' experience, 2.5 million miles.
Gary Craft, 2.5 years with Gold Standard Transportation -- 50 years' experience, 3 million miles.
Ralph Clark, 10 years with Groen Enterprises, Inc. -- 16 years' experience, 1.2 million miles.
Ernie Plett, 19 years with Hiway Express, LLC -- 24 years' experience, 2.2 million miles.
Corey Havel, 5 years with International Express Trucking, Inc. -- 25 years' experience, 3 million miles.
Jeremy Edgeworth, 10 years with JT Motorsports, Inc. -- 12 years' experience, 1.3 million miles.
Alfonso Ruiz, 8 years with KGT Transport, Inc. -- 30 years' experience, 1.2 million miles.
Larry Bischoff, owner-operator of Larry Bischoff Trucking for 38 years -- 51 years' experience, 3.3 million miles.
Leo Reynolds, 3 years with Maple Lane Transport -- 17 years' experience, 1.1 million miles.
Tom Billups, 33 years experience, all with Morris Trucking Corp. -- 3.5 million miles.
LeRoy Boully, 10 years with QLF Transportation, Inc. -- 44 years' experience, 3 million miles.
Ron Marcum, 2 years with Red Baron Transportation -- 35 years' experience, 3 million miles.
Dale Wiederholt, 29 years with Strawboss Trucking, Inc. -- 40 years' experience, 3.2 million miles.
[Related: Small Fleet Champs Paul Rissler Transportation, C.W. Express emerge victorious]
NASTC 'Best Broker' for 2024 is Roar Logistics
NASTC President Owen told the origin story of its NASTC's Best Brokers group ahead of announcing the annual "Best Broker" honoree for 2024, Roar Logistics, awarded for the second time in the designation's history. The group of more than 200 brokers extends back to Owen's early days visiting small fleets around the nation in his attempt to build a coalition and marshal the group's buying power to deliver savings on fuel and so much more.
He always made a point of asking how often any small fleet owner he spoke to used brokers.
A variation on a common answer that invariably came: "What are you stupid, boy? We don't use any brokers."
Owen would continue the conversation about the carrier's lanes, customers. And say he was visiting a small fleet in Ohio, who mentioned destinations in Wisconsin. "What do you do when you’re in Wisconsin" and don't have a load back? Owen might ask.
Answer: "Oh, well I call Phil. He’s been helping me for 30 years," as Owen paraphrased. More than one carrier he encountered "had a Phil or a Larry in every state" where they ran. All those Phils and Larrys were brokers, of course. As small carriers, he added, "we have a symbiotic relationship with brokers."
Owen's early work in the late 1980s and 1990s building NASTC with the late Buster Anderson led him to a variety of broker recommendations from carriers. "We ended up with a list of really, really good brokers," he said, that would ultimately become the "network of 200 NASTC’s Best Brokers."
To this day, he added, "I don’t know of any NASTC member who’s ever lost a dime from one of them."
Calling Roar Logistics' Bob Rich III to the stage, then, Owen noted the broker was this year's Best Broker honoree simply "because they get it. We're in a situation with small trucking where our new guys are being turned down because they’re not rated -- or they’re told they're too new, too small," yet Roar's relationship with NASTC members continues to yield dividends for members.
Rich noted that reps at the NASTC conference were handing out Roar cards with the company number -- a "dedicated number for NASTC members," he said, who "are not getting charged for a quick pay," who have the opportunity to "see our loads first if you call in," among other benefits.
The honor, Rich added, "means so much to us," then also invoking the memory of NASTC cofounder Buster Anderson, who tragically passed early this summer. "Thank you, Buster, too."
Roar Logistics last earned the NASTC Best Broker honor in 2018.
[Related: NASTC cofounder Buster Anderson passes]
