TMC Taps Ryder’s Christopher Barnett as Grand Champion of SuperTech 2012
This story appears in the Sept. 17 print edition of Transport Topics.
PITTSBURGH — Christopher Barnett Sr. of Ryder System Inc., who did not place first in any individual event at SuperTech 2012, was named trucking’s top technician after a strong performance on the written test and at the 17 skill stations that are part of the premier contest.
“I’m usually pretty nervous going into a competition, but once I get started, it’s just like another day at work,” said Barnett, who works at Ryder’s shop in Hebron, Ky., and was named grand champion on Sept. 12.
Barnett accumulated the highest overall score among the 114 finalists in the eighth annual competition held by the Technology & Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations.
The contest ran Sept. 10-11 and culminated with an awards presentation on Sept. 12 during TMC’s fall meeting here.
As grand champion, Barnett’s winnings include a trip for two to the 2013 Daytona 500 and a Snap-on rolling tool cabinet emblazoned with the SuperTech 2012 logo.
The 30-year-old resident of Crittenden, Ky., said he specializes in electronic diagnostics, but dabbles in a broad range of truck maintenance areas.
“You need to have an extreme amount of knowledge, especially with all the new technology that’s coming out,” he said.
Barnett has competed in four previous SuperTech competitions, finishing as high as third in 2009.
John Ragland of FedEx Express in Kansas City, Mo., finished in second place. He also finished second in last year’s competition and was third in 2010.
Third place went to former champion Christopher Tate, a Thermo King technician at Mohawk Truck Inc. in West Seneca, N.Y.
“Year after year, the technicians are getting better,” said George Arrants, who has served as chief judge since the inception of the contest.
SuperTech “is getting better and better every year,” TMC Chairman Lee Long said. “We’re going to continue to grow.”
Long, who is director of maintenance at Southeastern Freight Lines, Lexington, S.C., said this year’s SuperTech was the largest ever, with a field of 128 contestants that was trimmed to 114 through pre-qualifiers and the written test.
In addition to the 17 work stations, competitors also earned extra points by attending training sessions throughout TMC’s fall meeting.
TMC said SuperTech was created to honor existing technicians and improve the profession’s overall perception. There is an industrywide shortage of qualified technicians, much like the one trucking fleets also face with drivers.
The technician shortage was among the key topics discussed at TMC’s fall meeting (see next week’s issue for additional coverage).
Barnett, the grand champion, said that, when he was in high school, some teachers and other students didn’t see technical school as a “real college.”
But he now has the chance to tell students how important it is to know a trade or to have a specialty in order to succeed in the workforce.
“The vocational field, especially heavy-duty mechanics, is a great industry to be in,” Barnett said. “There are going to be lots of opportunities in the future.”
For Barnett, his family connections made the profession a natural fit. His uncle owned an auto repair shop, and his father was a truck driver and mechanic at a small shop.
The new grand champion said he began working on cars at 15 and won a scholarship through the Ford/AAA Quality Care Challenge to attend the University of Northwestern Ohio, where he entered the diesel program.
From there, Barnett went to a Freightliner dealership in Cincinnati before joining Ryder, where he has worked for the past nine years.
Barnett was among four Ryder technicians to finish in the top 10 at this year’s SuperTech.
Michael John Vallery, an Oak Harbor Freight Lines Inc. technician in Newberg, Ore., took fourth place overall. He also finished first in the competition’s service information work station.
Ryder System technician Robert Gonzalez, Plant City, Fla., placed fifth overall and won the steering and suspension station.
FedEx Freight technician Eric Vos, Boise, Idaho, placed sixth overall and won the repair order station.
Michael Bogard, a Ryder System technician in Appleton, Wis., finished seventh and took first in the starting and charging station.
Rounding out the top 10 were: Timothy Peters, Ryder System, Conover, N.C.; Mark McLean Jr., FedEx Freight, Montgomery, N.Y.; and Joseph Calaway, Wal-Mart Transportation, Jonesville, Mich.
FedEx Express technician Alan Davenport, Brentwood, Tenn., took first place in both the written test and the engine electronics work station.
Ryder System technician David Berdovich, Valparaiso, Ind., won two work stations: engine hardware, and tire and wheel.
Two-time SuperTech champion Bryan David Lewis of Wal-Mart Transportation won the wheel end station.
Other station winners were: Randy Qualls, Wal-Mart Transportation, Waterloo, S.C., in the electrical station; Timothy Sloan, FedEx Freight, Indianapolis, in brakes; Donald Warman, TravelCenters
of America, Garland, Texas, in HVAC; Troy Hiatt, FedEx Freight, Des Moines, Iowa, in trailer alignment; Jason Kleman, Navistar Inc., Plover, Wis., in drivetrain; Rudy Laguna, H-E-B Grocery Co., San Antonio, in fifth wheel; Mitchell Buelow, FedEx Freight, Fremont, Ind., in PMI; Darrell Duggan, Wal-Mart Transportation, Grantsville, Utah, in fasteners; and Glenroy Schad, Con-way Freight, Phoenix,
in safety and environmental.
This year’s SuperTech also featured the first female finalist — Christina Haug, a technician with Swift Transportation Co., Phoenix.
