Otto Transfer, TruckWise pay tribute accepting Small Fleet Champ honors -- 'Truckers are survivors'

During the opening-night dinner program of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies' annual conference Oct. 29, 2026, small fleet owner Kevin Haderlie's TruckWise oversize equipment hauling fleet and 80-year Otto Transfer, owned by Kevin and Liz Otto of Delano, Minnesota, emerged as 2026 Overdrive Small Fleet Champs.

The pair of fleets were joined onstage at the NASTC event by fellow finalists and Small Fleet Champ competitors KST Logistics, out of Manteca, California, and McKinney & Sons Transfer of Lexington, Alabama. 

Liz and Kevin Otto addressing the small fleet owners at the Thursday, Oct. 29, dinner program at NASTC, with Overdrive Editor Todd Dills (right), who MC'd the final bout. 

TruckWise's Kevin Haderlie, in accepting the title belt in the 3-10-truck division, invoked the hour he spent with fellow finalists ahead of the event, and the similarities in all the difficulties experienced managing, operating, growing a small trucking business. The victories, too. 

Kevin Haderlie at the podium, flanked (right) by Dills and KST Logistics owner and fellow Champ finalist Shannon Sanders"Every single small fleet in here can relate to this," Haderlie said. "The victories in trucking almost never come on a stage with a microphone. They're small when they happen. They're a dispatcher taking a call in the middle of the night. Or a driver doing something good that no one ever hears about that protects our reputation, protects our customer and protects the company. Those little victories are what keep our company afloat, and probably most of yours. So as much fun as this is, and this is fun -- I'm really honored -- those little victories are what we look forward to every day, and every year." 

Kevin Haderlie onstage in Nashville. Among the initial dozens of competitors and several semi-finalists in this year's competition, Haderlie's business was one of few seeing real growth over the course of 2026 to 10 total power units as of our profile of his business in August. Additional planned trucks and drivers coming aboard to close out the year will ultimately take him into the larger size category of the Small Fleet Championship in future years. 

Sixteen-truck Otto Transfer, this year's Small Fleet Champ in the 11-30-truck division, by contrast, delivers on the legacy of its 1940s-founding owner Charlie Otto, Kevin Otto's father, at something of a size sweet spot after slight contraction nearly a decade ago down to where they are today. At once, the fleet's ordered four trucks this year and will also grow by a truck or two in the overall count.

"We're all driven by family, by purpose," said Kevin Otto to the owners assembled, calling back to an emotional testimony delivered by 11-30-truck competitor David McKinney when the McKinney & Sons Transfer family hit the stage. 

"My dad fouded [Otto Transfer] in '46," Kevin Otto added. "I'm really not sure how we're still here in 2026, 80 years later, but we're here, and truckers are survivors. I'll thank drivers, our drivers" for all that they do. 

Liz and Kevin Otto, Otto TransferDavid McKinney was joined onstage by his wife and back-office manager for the fleet, Connie, likewise his son Dill, who owns two trucks running under the company authority, still drives himself, and serves as principal operational liason between drivers and the owners. 

Liz Otto, in accepting the Champ award, invoked the hours spent with their fellow finalists prior to the main event, too. She spoke directly to Dill McKinney. 

"Dill, you're 27," she said. "My oldest son is 27. I found myself listening to everybody and all of your families' great stories, and thinking I hope that my 27-year-old gets in this business, too, because of you. Congratulations." 

All of the finalists net two years' worth of NASTC membership in addition to the bragging rights winners enjoy with the title belts featuring their fleets' name and repping the blood, sweat and tears put into the journey to where they are today. 

Finalist small fleets in Shannon Sanders' and team's KST Logistics (3-10 trucks) and David and Connie McKinney's McKinney & Sons Transfer (11-30) bring home no small dose of bragging rights as finalists themselves.

"This is a competition with two heavyweight championship title belts as the final prize," Overdrive Editor Todd Dills noted in introducing the finalists, yet "in past I've always regretted that we can only truly name one winner in each category, when in so many cases the judging is so dog-gone narrow between the final two."

That was certainly the case this year, though scoring over a panel of seven judges gave Haderlie and the Ottos the edge. 

The McKinneys (from right -- Dill, David, and Connie) and the Ottos. Connie's reacting to Overdrive editor Dills' reference to a certain trip out from Alabama to California David and Dill took some years ago when Dill was a newly-minted interstate driver. Keep tuned to the Overdrive Radio podcast in the coming weeks for more from the stage and our roundtable talk with all the finalists. Read the McKinneys' story, invoked during none other than Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Derek Barrs' keynote later in the evening, at this link. 

Shannon Sanders paid tribute to the legacy of KST's founding owner-operator, Ken Sanders, whose tragic passing in 2024 thrust her into a much larger role in the business. "Trying to run the company parallel to all of those emotions," the grief after Ken's passing, she said, "one day I just woke up and I said, you know, 'my bank account doesn't care about my feelings." Read her story at this link, and as noted keep tuned for more.  

TruckWise owner Kevin Haderlie perhaps summed up the night best from the stage. "We all face similar issues," he said, "and we're dealing with consistent and regular types of problems. When you're in it you feel like you're the only one, and then you get here and realize we are all dealing with these same things. And so being able to be here and learn from all of you, and find some work with each other, I'm very glad to be here." 

Read more about all the Small Fleet Champ finalists and semi-finalists at this link. Keep the page bookmarked for early entry in next year's competition come April/May 2027.