Schlecht Repeats as SuperTech Champion, Besting 111 Competitors in TMC Contest

RALEIGH, N.C. — Jeffrey Schlecht, who won the Technology & Maintenance Council’s Super-Tech competition last year, repeated as grand champion last week.

Schlecht, 28, a foreman for the Norfolk, Neb., branch of Freightliner dealership Omaha Truck Center, did not post the top score in the written test or win any of the 16 work stations, but nailed down his victory here with consistent high performance throughout.

The seventh annual two-day competition started Sept. 19 with 112 entrants and ended with the awards presentation Sept. 21 during American Trucking Associations’ TMC fall meeting.

“It feels good. It’s amazing,” said Schlecht, the son of a truck technician. “Going to the Daytona 500 [as a prize for winning] last year was a blast, and I’m looking forward to going again.”

John Ragland, a senior technician for FedEx Express in Kansas City, Kan., took second place, after finishing third a year ago. He also won the trailer alignment work station.

Michael Bogard, a Ryder System technician in Neenah, Wis., finished third and scored highest on the 100-question written test.

Two former champions finished in the top 10: Thermo King technician Christopher Tate, the 2009 winner from Mohawk Truck, who took seventh place; and David Bryan Lewis, a master fleet technician for Wal-Mart Transportation, who won in 2007 and 2008. Lewis and Schlecht are the only two-time SuperTech champions.

TMC Chairman Roy Gambrell gave a tour of the work stations to ATA Chairman Barbara Windsor on Sept. 20. Windsor said the new federal Compliance, Safety, Accountability program has increased the importance of maintenance concerns.

“With CSA, technicians are more important. We’re all looking at our shops differently,” said Windsor, who also is CEO of Hahn Transportation, New Market, Md.

“Carriers used to focus on out-of-service violations, but now every violation carries CSA points, so shops are more valuable,” she said.

Gambrell, maintenance director of Truck It, Cottontown, Tenn., said he has gone through parts of the SuperTech competition and found it challenging.

“Some parts of it stumped me,” he said.

Gambrell agreed with Windsor on the significance of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s CSA program, saying that his carrier gives its drivers “CSA boxes” filled with extra light bulbs and windshield wiper blades so they can make on-the-road replacements as needed to avoid CSA violations.

SuperTech has been growing — from 82 contestants in 2009 to 103 last year and now 112. TMC Technical Director Robert Braswell said more than 1,000 technicians started the process to get here earlier this year in state and company competitions.

As part of his winnings, Schlecht will receive a $5,700 Reliance Supply Dream Shop tool cabinet, more than $2,000 in gift cards, another trip for two to Daytona and a $4,400 Snap-On rolling tool cabinet.

As a back-to-back champion he is barred from competing in next year’s competition in Pittsburgh, but he can participate in the 2013 version.

This year’s competition had two more work stations than last year, said competition chairman George Arrants, a manager with Cengage Learning in Lake Jackson, Texas.

“We added 12 more technicians and 12 more trucks,” said Arrants, adding that North Carolina Highway Patrol officers were brought in to serve as judges at the Repair Order work station.

“The work is based on repairs technicians would have to do after violations are found at a roadside inspection,” Arrants said.

Other work station winners included Michael Vallery, lead technician in Newberg, Ore., for Oak Harbor Freight Lines, who won the fifth wheel and service information stations. The only contestant to win multiple stations, Vallery finished ninth overall.

Each of three Swift Transportation Co. mechanics won a station: Bryan Barger, preventive maintenance inspections; Jose Flores, engine/mechanical; and Phillip Mellor, brakes.

Wal-Mart Transportation mechanics won a pair of stations: fifth-place overall finisher Randy Qualls took HVAC and Robert Pyeatt won for wheel ends.

Jessy Frisk, a Clackamas, Ore., mechanic for grocery chain the Kroger Co., won the electrical systems station.

Steve Willis, a Henderson, Colo., technician for FedEx Freight won for starting and charging.

Lead man Aaron Tucker of the Bridgeton, Mo., branch of NationaLease won for engine/electronics.

Technician Sean Chess of Hunter Truck Sales, an International and Peterbilt dealership in Smithfield, Pa., won for steering and suspensions.

Technician Steve Roen of Rush Peterbilt in Irving, Texas, won the drivetrain station.

Rudy Laguna, a technician for H-E-B Grocery Co. in San Antonio, Texas, won tires and wheels.

Technician Robert McNees of Daimler Trucks dealership Truck Centers Inc., St. Louis, won repair orders.

Charles Ralston, a master technician for TravelCenters of America in Valparaiso, Ind., won the fasteners station.

Three other technicians finished in the top 10 overall, but did not win any stations: Jonathan Timmons, Ryder, fourth place; Eric Vos, FedEx Freight, last year’s runner-up, slid to sixth; and David Bishop, Wal-Mart, was 10th.

There also was a demonstration station on tires that looked at the differences between originals and retreads.