Pilot Flying J Honors Largest Group of Road Warriors Yet
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pilot Flying J named the winners of its 2022 Road Warrior contest on Oct. 4. The annual contest recognizes the hard work, dedication, commitment and sacrifice of professional truck drivers who go above and beyond to keep America moving.
This year's $15,000 grand prize winner is David Sweetman of Wilmington, Del., who stood out among thousands of nominations. Sweetman is an army veteran with more than 50 years and 5 million miles behind the wheel. He leases out his truck to Bennett Truck Transport as a power-only hauler for concerts, stage events and equipment moves, and has been a contributing writer and editor for various trucking publications for more than 20 years.
During COVID-19 lockdown, Sweetman helped set up food banks, hauled generators for emergency hospitals and helped move generators, showers and water treatment units for the Federal Emergency Management Agency after several natural disasters across the southern United States.
"David is a great person with a tremendous set of core values while always being safety conscious. It is rare to find drivers with not only his qualities but who have driven over a million miles safely while out on the road. We are very blessed at Bennett to have David," said Tom Woodall, president of Bennett DriveAway.
Sweetman is also one of the original Trucker Buddy professional trucker volunteers who work with classrooms to help educate young students across America.
In recognition of his contributions, Pilot Co. surprised Sweetman with a $15,000 donation on his behalf to Trucker Buddy.
"It is an honor to be able to give back to professional drivers and hear their incredible stories through our annual Road Warrior contest," said Jason Nordin, chief operator for Pilot Flying J. "We appreciate all the professional drivers out there who, like our winners, represent the heart, determination and resiliency of trucking.
The Road Warriors $10,000 second place winner is Jeffrey Thomas of Belews Creek, N.C., an independent owner operator of Joly American Enterprises LLC, Marine veteran and driver trainer with more than 35 years of experience.
Additionally, for the first time in contest history, Pilot Flying J determined it was a tie for two third place winners. The company selected Greg Hepner of Fayetteville, N.C., and Ron Rigdon of Tignal, Ga., to receive $5,000 each.
Hepner has spent 30 years and more than 3 million incident free miles behind the wheel covering 38 states, 17 foreign countries and three war zones and currently drives for Tidewater Transit Co. Rigdon is an Army veteran, father and grandfather who currently operates a 53-foot racecar hauler across the country for Parella Motorsports Holdings. He also started and operates Santa's Toy Run, a toy drive and fundraiser dedicated to providing toys and funds to children in need.
"Congratulations, David, Jeffrey, Greg, and Ron on being this year's winners — we thank you for the millions of safe miles, for being incredible stewards of our industry, and for your dedication to serving our country in many ways," Nordin added.
Additional Celebrations
As part of its continuous efforts to honor truck drivers, Pilot Co., the parent company of Pilot Flying J, extended its annual celebration of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week through Oct. 31.
The celebration further recognizes and thank the drivers with two months of exclusive offers, extra rewards points and events for professional drivers.
"Professional drivers go further every day to deliver more than 70 percent of the goods this country depends on, and we want to show how much we appreciate all they do," said Pilot Co. CEO Shameek Konar. "Thank you to our very own Pilot drivers and all the professional drivers out there for trucking through even the toughest times. We are honored to serve you, and we're going even further this Driver Appreciation to celebrate your immense contributions."
Headquartered in Knoxville, Pilot Co. supplies more than 11 billion gallons of fuel per year and its network consists of more than 1,000 retail and fueling locations. The Pilot Flying J travel center network includes locations in 44 states and six Canadian provinces with more than 790 restaurants, 75,000 truck parking spaces, 5,300 deluxe showers and 6,200 diesel lanes.