Columbus, Ohio plays host to this year’s National Truck Driving Championships. For UPS and UPS Freight, our team of competitors includes former National Champion and 14-time West Virginia State champion Clarence Jenkins.

Thirteen company drivers, all state champions, will go head-to-head with 400 of the nation’s best drivers competing in nine classifications in what is billed as the “Super Bowl of Safety” for professional drivers.

“These drivers represent the best our industry has to offer. Their commitment to safety and their driving skills are unmatched. To say the best professional drivers in America will be in Ohio this week is not an exaggeration,” said David Quinn, UPS Freight – Safety Director.

The competition includes an on-course test to grade drivers maneuvering skills, testing for equipment inspections and written exams covering safety policies and regulations.    

Leading our team this year is Clarence Jenkins, a UPS Freight driver from Charleston, WV with 34 years of accident-free driving. Clarence’s accomplishments include a record 14-state championships and a National title in 1988. In 2006 he received the Neil Darmstradtler Professional Excellence Award, which is the American Trucking Association’s highest individual honor. The award is for lifetime commitment to safety and promoting the tucking industry.

This year’s veteran team also includes UPS small package driver David Sharp, who captured his third straight Nevada championship this year and was named the state’s Grand Champion after registering the highest score for all competitors in the competition. Also, UPS Freight’s Steve Newsome, who won his fourth South Carolina championship in the past six years, and sixth overall, UPS small package’s Jeff Kalinowski, who successfully defended his Illinois Step Van title he won for the first time last year; UPS Freight’s Paul Savill, from Cincinnati, making his second straight appearance in the Nationals; and West Virginian UPS Freight driver John Hodges, who brings 30 years of accident-free driving into his second appearance into the National competition.

Other members of the team include small package driver Randall Stromlund from NV, and UPS Freight drivers Shaun Flageolle, CO, Jerry Guenon, UT, Bobby Johnson, NC, Roger Nicolson, GA, Scott Raper, MO, and Vernon Smith, NV.