FedEx’s McLean Named Champ at 2013 SuperTech Competition
This story appears in the Sept. 16 print edition of Transport Topics.
PITTSBURGH — Mark McLean Jr. of FedEx Freight beat out 128 competitors to earn the title of Grand Champion at the 2013 SuperTech event.
McLean earned the highest score in the written test and 24 hands-on skills stations that were part of the two-day competition held by American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council.
“This is unbelievable,” the 24-year-old said here Sept. 11 after the awards ceremony.
McLean, who lives in Montgomery, N.Y., is a technician at FedEx Freight’s shop in Newburgh, N.Y.
In addition to the overall title, McLean also took first place in the preventive-maintenance-inspection and wheel-end skills stations.
McLean’s winnings included a tool cabinet from Reliance Supply valued at $10,000 and a trip to the Daytona 500.
“While a tremendous amount of attention is paid to our industry’s drivers, and our industry’s driver shortage, we must not forget those technicians and mechanics who truly keep our industry rolling. Our industry needs more skilled people like Mark and the 128 other competitors at TMC SuperTech,” ATA President Bill Graves said.
The SuperTech champion led the way for FedEx Freight’s contingent of eight technicians, who dominated this year’s event by sweeping the top four positions and placing five contestants in the top 10.
Eric Vos, Jeffrey Ostby and Derek Southerland took second, third and fourth, respectively. Vos also won the tire-and-wheel skills station. Ostby took first place in the wiring-diagram station.
McLean works on many aspects of maintenance in his day-to-day job but said he especially enjoys diagnostics and tackling “the hard stuff that makes you think.”
He said it is “very rewarding” to get to the bottom of a problem that stumps him or a fellow technician.
One person who depends on McLean’s work is his father, Mark McLean Sr., who drives for FedEx Freight.
McLean Sr. said that just a few days earlier, he went through a Department of Transportation maintenance inspection and passed with no problems.
“I knew everything was solid because I know my kid works on my truck,” he said.
McLean Sr. is a regular competitor in the National Truck Driving Championships. The elder McLean won the twin trailer national championship in 2009.
This year’s SuperTech marked the younger McLean’s third appearance. He finished ninth last year and 17th in his first outing.
While the technicians at Super-Tech are highly competitive, many have formed friendships with people from other companies and even help each other out with maintenance problems, said George Arrants, the competition’s chairman.
“One of the things I’ve heard consistently is when they’re having a problem, they call someone they’ve met here. They really become a neat network, and they actually rely on each other,” he said. “That’s really what SuperTech is all about. It’s about professionalism, both technically and personally. “
Two-time SuperTech champion Jeffrey Schlecht of Omaha Truck Center Inc. finished fifth, while defending champion Christopher Barnett of Ryder System Inc. placed sixth.
Another former champion, Christopher Tate of Mohawk Truck Inc., finished seventh. Tate also took top honors in the written test and in four work stations: steering and suspension, engine electronics, CSA, and sealants and adhesives.
Tate, who won SuperTech in 2009 and has competed at the event each year since its inception, said he keeps coming back because it’s “a great learning experience” and because of the camaraderie.
“They build on the competition every year and make it better every year,” he said.
Rounding out the Super-Tech top 10 were Joseph Calaway of Wal-Mart Transportation in eighth, Jonathan Berg of FedEx Freight in ninth and another two-time past champion, David Bryan Lewis of Wal-Mart Transportation, in 10th.
