YRC Worldwide Inc. announced that four of its YRC Freight professional drivers rose to the top five final runoff at the 2019 National Truck Driving Championships (NTDC), the “Superbowl of Safety,” at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this past weekend.
Those four YRC Freight professional drivers were: Randy Ebinger, 4-Axle, Virginia; Alphonso Lewis, 5-Axle, Alabama; Neil Nogues, Straight Truck, New Hampshire; and Jeff Slaten, 3-Axle, Florida.
After the final runoff, Jeff Slaten earned second-place at NTDC in 3-Axle class.
Final results shared that Alphonso Lewis earned third-place nationwide in 5-Axle at NTDC. Lewis, based in Montgomery, Alabama, was named National Truck Driving Championships Grand Champion in 2007. He has placed first in the Alabama Truck Driving Championships five times and earned the title of State Grand Champion in 2005. He is also an America’s Road Team Captain.
YRC Freight professional driver Jimmie Wisley had a perfect score in the Highest Written Exam Award.
“We are very proud of our twenty-one professional drivers who competed at the 2019 National Truck Driving Championships,” said Darren Hawkins, YRC Worldwide Chief Executive Officer. “They are outstanding leaders and professionals, committed to safety and dedicated to serving our customers. It takes a lot of hard work and focus to emerge as a state safety champion and compete at this elite nationwide level. YRCW drivers competed with the best of the very best professional drivers in the United States. We congratulate you! We are all winners when our roads are traveled by drivers with such a strong safety focus. Thank you to all of the Team YRC Worldwide drivers traveling the nation’s highways today for your safety focus and dedication.”
The 2019 NTDC YRC Worldwide team included sixteen drivers from YRC Freight, two drivers from Holland and three from Reddaway. Simply qualifying for NTDC means drivers must first take top honors in class at their respective state competitions, maintain continuous employment with a motor carrier fleet for a period of at least one year, and remain accident-free, regardless of fault, for one year prior to NTDC.
The National Truck Driving Championships is sponsored by the American Trucking Association. It brings the nation’s drivers, the “best of the best,” dedicated safety professionals and their families together for a special week of safety superiority, enhanced knowledge, pride and comradery. Most drivers who attend say that it is one of the greatest, proudest highlights of their careers.
