Wal-Mart Driver Tops Field at National Championships
ST. LOUIS — Were it not for a twist of fate, Wal-Mart Transportation truck driver Ronald Emenheiser would not have even been able to compete in the 2015 National Truck Driving Championships.
Nor would he have been named the competition’s Bendix Grand Champion.
Emenheiser, who placed second in the sleeper berth class in the Pennsylvania state competition, was out of the running for the nationals. Then he got the word just two weeks before the competition that he would be heading to the nationals after all.
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That happened because the first-place class champ, RH Crawford Inc. driver Gregory Warner, was declared ineligible at the last minute.
Kevin Stewart, safety director for the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, said he believed the first-place sleeper berth finisher in the state was disqualified due to an accident.
“The carrier notified me that the driver was not eligible to compete,” Stewart said. “So I went to the second-place finisher, which was Ron, to advise him he’d be competing in his place.” He called Emenheiser, “very dedicated.”
“I kept listening to the [test preparation] CDs but I had very little practice between then and now,” Emenheiser said, clutching his Grand Champion trophy after the Aug. 15 awards ceremony.
“I’m still on cloud nine,” Emenheiser said. “I thought it was an outside shot to even be in the top five, much less to win.” He also won first place in the sleeper berth class.
A volunteer firefighter in his hometown, he dedicated the award to his late father, a truck driver for 35 years.
“My dad actually tried to keep me out of trucking,” Emenheiser said, to do a “different profession that would keep me home more.”
A 25 year veteran driver, it was his fourth trip to the national competition. He had been to NTDC twice for winning in the tanker class and now twice for winning the sleeper berth at the state competitions. Before this year, his best finish in the nationals was ninth place, he said.
With a 6 a.m. flight the morning after the awards banquet, he said he’ll barely have time to celebrate.
He went back to work Aug. 17 and prepped to compete in a charity event Aug. 22 for Children’s Miracle Network. He works from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. for WalMart.
Emenheiser, 47, and his wife, Carol, have three children. They live in Yorkana, Pennsylvania.
Andrew Tuck of Xenia, Ohio, representing FedEx Ground, won the National Step Van Driving Championship.
Brook Figgins, a professional driver for FedEx Freight, was named the 2015 Rookie of the Year after competing in the sleeper berth division. The Wisconsin driving championship team won highest scoring state.
Two former grand champs, Don Logan of FedEx Freight (2012) and Jeffrey Langenhahn of Con-way Freight (2014), made it to the semifinals and took home trophies. Logan finished first in the 3-axle class, and Langenhahn third in the twins class.
This year’s NTDC featured 431 competitors from all 50 states, representing 85 companies. Only 46, those with the best combined scores on pre-trip, written testing and driving skills, made it to the finals Aug. 15.
This year marked the 78th annual NTDC and the seventh annual step van competition from Aug. 11-15. Both are run by American Trucking Associations with assistance from motor carriers, manufacturers and other corporate sponsors.
“All the competitors who took part in the National Truck Driving Championships are champions — they are champions for safety on our highways and for our industry’s image,” ATA President Bill Graves said. “And while I applaud all of them for their achievements and dedication to safety, I want to especially congratulate Ronald for winning the Bendix Grand Champion award with his superior driving skill and commitment to safety.”
“I love learning from other drivers and sharing information with other drivers,” Logan said. “It’s all about safety and making all of us safer.
But many of the 431 drivers — 39 of them “rookies” — said they spent long hours practicing in parking lots and studying hard for the competition’s written test.
More than 5,000 drivers competed at the state level. To reach the national competition, however, drivers had to win their class at the state and be accident-free for a year.
