During the Transportation Trust Forum and dinner on opening night of the annual “best three days in trucking” conference of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, Overdrive Editor Todd Dills joined the last truckers standing in two competitive divisions of the magazine’s Small Fleet Championship.
With four finalists on-hand in Nashville, Tennessee, for the awards — South Dakota-based Hell Bent Xpress and Paul Rissler Transportation (Missouri) in the 3-10 trucks division, Brian Brewer Trucking (Ohio) and Indiana-headquartered C.W. Express in the 11-30 trucks category — Rissler and C.W. Express emerged victorious.
Speaking from the stage, Paul Rissler (joined there by his wife and business partner, Michelle), pitched all the glory for the win to his family. His sons operate the associated Risslerbilt shop in California, Missouri — servicing the fleet’s six trucks and also doing plenty of custom work. Extended family account for many among Rissler’s operators in what’s been a six-truck fleet for well more than two decades, with Rissler long behind the wheel himself.
“This is a real honor for small trucking companies,” Paul said in accepting the 2024 Small Fleet Champ title belt. “I want to thank my God, my family, my sons, and most of all my drivers.”
Michelle, too, he said from the stage. “Without my wife, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” He shared this moment with Michelle, who’s run the back office at Paul Rissler Transportation for its near-30 years in business.
Paul Rissler was among NASTC’s team of America’s Best Drivers honorees a couple of years ago, which Rissler invoked from the stage, too. “That was a real honor to me,” he said.
But this one was for the entire team, he added. “This is a real honor to our trucking company.”
Paul and Michelle pose for photos after the big win.
Hoisting the title belt in the 11-30-trucks Small Fleet Champ division, Sellersberg, Indiana-based Steve Wilson, owner of 17-truck C.W. Express, invoked his personal struggle bouncing back from COVID complications that foregrounded the strength of the team he’d built around him at the company in 2022. That year, he spent much of it in the hospital and ultimately lost part of one leg.
“This is totally amazing,” Wilson said from the stage, considering “where I was a year and a half ago.”
From the hospital in 2022, in the throes of recovery after the illness, Wilson noted, “I told my wife [Tina] to sell everything” at the worst part of it. “Then I woke up, figured it out, bought a place” in a new, expansive headquarters in Sellersburg, “brought my son in. My daddy would be proud. I love you guys.”
Steve Wilson (right) and his son, Steve II, on the NASTC stage after the big win.
Wilson’s fleet continued measured growth with dedicated freight in the automotive supply chain in part managed by a central broker — who stepped up big to help when Wilson was down in 2022.
NASTC, the primary sponsor of Overdrive‘s Small Fleet Championship, and the association’s President David Owen have committed to their sponsorship of the program now for four years. Owen, speaking from the stage at the conference immediately after the presentation, noted “one thing that was said up here, and that you’ll hear over and over from us” is that, for small trucking companies, as Rissler had emphasized, “it’s all about the drivers,” Owen said. “It’s all about how good a person you can find and get him consistent miles and get him home to his family.”
Other fleets recognized:
Hell Bent Xpress owners Jamie and Hillary Hagen, here pictured from the stage, were also honored as finalists in the 3-10 trucks division. Read the Hell Bent Xpress story via this link.
Brian Brewer Trucking owners Brian Brewer and life and business partner Jennifer Leasure (pictured) got the finalist nod in the 11-30-trucks division of the Small Fleet Championship. Read about BBT’s recent history (and continuing) growth in the region around De Graff, Ohio, headquarters via this link.
In the Spring of each year, Overdrive opens the Small Fleet Championship entry period for fleets running between 3 and 30 total trucks. Fleets who complete the initial entry form, if they meet the program’s size and other qualifications, are then asked to fill in more detailed financials, client references and other information on a secondary form.
In late summer, Overdrive editors and contributors, and other panelists, narrow down the field of entries to five semi-finalists each in two categories — fleets with 3-10 trucks and larger companies between 11 and 30. All fleets are scored to determine the winners based on profitability, growth, general business practice and plenty intangibles.
Of all those who truly stood out among finalists and semi-finalists in this year’s program, Dills noted from stage Thursday night, judges saw “stability, that sort of sense you get from a business evaluation that the trucking company is truly set up for the long haul, no matter the challenges that come.”
Read about all of this year’s semi-finalists via this link.