Schlecht Named Grand Champ at TMC’s SuperTech Contest

This story appears in the Sept. 27 print edition of Transport Topics.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Jeffrey Schlecht, a 27-year-old rookie from Nebraska, staked his claim here as the grand champion of truck maintenance, pushing aside 102 other competitors, including three former SuperTech winners.

A technician for the Norfolk, Neb., branch of Freightliner dealership Omaha Truck Center, Schlecht is the son of a recently retired truck technician and has worked in the industry for eight years. He won top honors at the sixth annual SuperTech.

“It wasn’t bad — I just followed procedures,” Schlecht said after the award presentation. As champion, he takes home a premium Snap-On tool chest, an all-expense-paid trip for two to the 2011 Daytona 500, a Reliance Supply Dream Shop cabinet stocked with supplies and fasteners, a Midtronics diagnostic tool set and a subscription to Repair-Connect.net from Mitchell 1.

SuperTech ran Sept. 20-21 and the results were announced the following day. The competition is sponsored by the Technology & Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations.

George Arrants, chairman of TMC’s competition task force, said only 90 points out of a maximum of 1,700 separated the first- and 10th-place winners.

“It was a very tight competition. The scores are both an indicator of how tough the test is and how highly skilled the technicians are,” said Arrants, who works for Cengage Learning.

The competition has 17 components and starts with a 100-question written test that must be completed in three hours, and preliminary challenges in wiring diagrams and demonstrating knowledge of TMC’s two volumes of recommended practices for maintenance and engineering.

The results from those challenges on the first day allowed judges to pare the field from 103 contestants to 96, who then advanced through the 14 skills stations over eight hours on the second day. Last year, 82 contestants participated in SuperTech.

Schlecht won top honors, in part, by claiming first place at the drivetrain and repair order skills stations. He lives in Clearwater, Neb., with his wife Amanda and their son Jacob. The champion said he did his first maintenance work on motorcycles, his preferred form of transportation.

The second- and third-place finishers were part of the 11-member FedEx Corp. team that won six of the 17 stages. No other company team won more than two stations. FedEx was one of three companies to send more than 10 technicians to the competition.

Eric Vos, who works with the less-than-truckload FedEx Freight division, claimed second place and also finished first at the engine hardware station.

John Ragland of FedEx’s Express unit finished third overall and won two stations, trailer alignment, and steering and suspensions.

The three other FedEx winners were Freight’s Mike McGuire in engine electronics, Express’ Alan Davenport in starting and charging, and Freight’s Jeffrey Ostby in wiring diagrams.

Christopher Tate, grand champion last year, came back and took first at the tires and wheels station and posted the highest score in the written test. He works for Thermo King dealer Mohawk Truck in West Seneca, N.Y.

Tyson Sontag, the 2006 champ and a technician for the private fleet of McKee Foods, was tops at the recommended practices preliminary challenge.

Technician Jason Kleman captured first place at two skills stations, fifth wheels and service information.

Two technicians for the transportation division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. each won a station: Tyler Donnelly at electrical and Randy Qualls at preventive maintenance inspections. Wal-Mart sent 15 contestants to SuperTech, the most of any of the 36 companies that participated.

The Wal-Mart team included David Bryan Lewis, who won in 2007 and 2008, and is the competition’s only two-time winner.

Jeremy Lipps of Batesville (Ind.) Logistics won the fasteners station and Jerry Bodkins of the Salem, Ohio, TravelCenters of America took first at the wheel ends station. TravelCenters sent 12 contestants to the competition.

Each skill station winner received diagnostic software valued at more than $3,000 from Noregon Systems. Several station winners received additional prizes valued at more than $1,000 each.

Another rookie competitor, Tommy Wilson of Epes Transport System, Greensboro, N.C., said that although the written test was “pretty tough,” he was glad to be able to compete.

“It lets you take pride in what you do and puts the spotlight on people that make things go and are often belittled.”