Up Front

The Best of the Best

Congratulations to Carl Krites, a professional truck driver who hauls for Con-way Freight, for earning the coveted Grand Champion title at the 2010 National Trucking Driving Championships. A 31-year industry veteran who lives in Wapakoneta, OH, Krites out-scored 415 of the nation’s best truck drivers at the 73rd annual competition conducted by the American Trucking Associations.
     According to Con-way, Krites has participated in state truck driving championships since 2002, but this year marked his first trip to the national competition, where he represented Ohio as the state champion in the Tankers class. At the Nationals he took first place in the Tankers class, and based on his composite score, captured the overall title of Grand Champion and industry recognition as the nation’s top truck driver.
     Krites has logged more than three million miles in his career, the last 12 of which were spent with Con-way. For more on the Championships, see the “Life on the Road” feature on page 22.
     Over-the-road professionals such as Carl Krites are literally the ones who make this country run. Every in-dustry has its “few bad apples” and trucking is no exception, but the vast majority of truck drivers, like those we’ve met at various truck shows, are true professionals in every sense of the word. You may not all be Grand Champions like Carl Krites, but you’re champions to all of us here at Over the Road magazine and the entire Ramp Media Group team.