UPS driver from Nevada wins driving contest grand champion title -

A trucker with 37 years of experience and 2.5 million miles to his credit won the top award at national competitioon for professional drivers that concluded over the weekend.

The American Trucking Associations announced that James “Gragg” Wilson of Nevada, who drives for United Parcel Service, was named the Bendix Grand Champion of the 2023 National Truck Driving Championships. The competition took place Aug. 16-19 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

“Gragg delivered a flawless performance to take home our industry’s top prize and earn the title of Grand Champion,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “This accomplishment epitomizes his entire career, with 37 years and more than 2.5 million miles of accident-free driving.”

To clinch the title of 2023 Bendix Grand Champion, Wilson’s driving accuracy and knowledge of truck safety was scored the highest of 418 state champion professional truck drivers from 49 states competing in all vehicle classes this week.

Wilson, who competed in the tank truck division, has previously won the Nevada State Championship 13 times in six different classes, and he has also won Grand Champion five times in the State of Nevada. Wilson was the 2019 Nevada Driver of the Year.

ATA also recognized Myron Means of Wyoming, a professional driver for Old Dominion Freight Line, as the 2023 Rookie of the Year. Additionally, the team of drivers from Connecticut produced the best collective score and were honored as the top state delegation.

Ina Dalyof Arizona, a professional driver for XPO Logistics, was honored during the awards banquet with the Neill Darmstadter Professional Excellence Award. Bill Graham was chosen as the Lifetime Volunteer Award recipient.

Known as the “Super Bowl of Safety,” this annual event dates back to 1937. This year’s competitors accumulated more than 643 million accident-free miles in

Since 2011, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems has been the sole sponsor of the Bendix National Truck Driving Championships Grand Champion.

Champions from each of the nine vehicle classes were also announced. The full list of champions and top finishers includes:

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