Indianapolis, Indiana (Aug. 24, 2024) – The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is pleased to announce that Jared Koester, representing the Fort Worth Police Department as the competing local member, has earned this year’s North American Inspectors Championship (NAIC) Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion Award, the highest honor for a commercial motor vehicle roadside inspector.
CVSA President Col. Russ Christoferson, with the Montana Department of Transportation, announced Koester as this year’s NAIC Grand Champion at the joint awards ceremony of CVSA’s inspectors’ competition and the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) National Truck Driving Championships and National Step Van Driving Championships.
Forty-eight commercial motor vehicle inspectors came together Aug. 20-24 in Indianapolis, Indiana, to compete at this year’s NAIC, the only North American event dedicated to testing, recognizing and awarding commercial motor vehicle inspector excellence.
In addition to the NAIC Grand Champion Award, sponsored by PrePass Safety Alliance, other notable awards were earned by this year’s competing inspectors.
Each inspector who scores the most points from their country receives the High Points Award. The following High Points Awards, sponsored by Trimac, were presented:
- Sean McAlister High Points Canada Award – Thomas McKeon, Ontario Ministry of Transportation
- High Points U.S. Award – Jared Koester, Local Member
First, second and third place awards were given for the following inspection categories:
The North American Standard Hazardous Materials/Dangerous Goods and Cargo Tank/Bulk Packagings Inspection is an inspection of the requirements related to identifying hazardous materials/dangerous goods markings, labeling, placarding, packaging, identification, etc. This award was sponsored by National Tank Truck Carriers Inc.
- First Place – Caitlin Philbrick, British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
- Second Place – Dustin Henderson, Texas Department of Public Safety
- Third Place – Jared Koester, Local Member
The North American Standard Level V Passenger Carrier Vehicle Inspection is an inspection of motorcoaches and other passenger-carrying vehicles. This award was co-sponsored by the American Bus Association and the United Motorcoach Association.
- First Place – Jared Koester, Local Member
- Second Place – Joseph O’Brien, South Carolina Department of Public Safety
- Third Place – Dustin Henderson, Texas Department of Public Safety
The North American Standard Level I Inspection is the most commonly performed inspection. It is a 37-step procedure that includes an examination of the driver’s operating requirements and the vehicle’s mechanical fitness. This award was sponsored by J.B. Hunt Transport Inc.
- First Place – Jared Koester, Local Member
- Second Place – Dustin Henderson, Texas Department of Public Safety
- Third Place – Jeremy Feigley, Arizona Department of Public Safety
Sponsored by FedEx, the Team Award is given to the team with the highest combined score. This year the winner was the Yellow Team, led by team leader Jacob Raupp with the Indiana State Police. The Yellow Team had the following members:
- Andre McLamb, Georgia
- Danson Cappo, Hawaii
- Kimberly Hill, Indiana
- Adam Romkema, Montana
- Anthony Vasquez, New Jersey
- Joseph O’Brien, South Carolina
- Brian Stenbak, South Dakota
- Dustin Henderson, Texas
NAIC contestants voted to present the John Youngblood Award of Excellence to Dustin Henderson with the Texas Department of Public Safety for exemplifying the spirit of cooperation, leadership, a professional image, dedication to the profession, a positive attitude, organizational ability and congeniality. The John Youngblood Award of Excellence is an honor NAIC contestants bestow upon a fellow competitor who exemplifies high standards and unwavering dedication to the profession. It’s the only award whose winner is selected by their peers.
American and Canadian jurisdictions sent their top inspector to NAIC to represent their jurisdiction, receive valuable training and compete against other top inspectors for the ultimate title of NAIC Grand Champion.
Each NAIC competitor received hands-on training on the latest safety information, technology, standards and procedures. Inspectors received advanced training on the out-of-service criteria, inspection procedures, inspection bulletins, operational policies, hours-of-service compliance, violation documentation, hazardous materials/dangerous goods regulations compliance, hydraulic brakes, performance-based brake testers, passenger carrier vehicles, cargo tanks and more. Much of what the contestants learned at NAIC not only applies to the competition but may be taken back to their home jurisdiction and applied roadside.
For the competition, each contestant competed in six inspection categories over two days. The competition included contestants inspecting vehicles and identifying regulatory violations and critical vehicle inspection item out-of-service conditions, all while being timed. Contestants were tested on real-world vehicle and driver inspection scenarios and had to appropriately evaluate the situation and properly identify violations within the recreated roadside inspection scenario.
Each year, the individual with the highest score is awarded the NAIC Grand Champion trophy and title, along with bragging rights as the year’s top inspector, and they are invited to attend that year’s CVSA Annual Conference and Exhibition. This year, Koester will address the membership at the annual conference general session and awards ceremony on Sept. 9 in Big Sky, Montana.
Every year, since the start of NAIC in 1993, the inspectors’ competition has been co-located with ATA’s drivers’ competition. Co-locating the drivers’ and inspectors’ competitions provides the opportunity for certified inspectors and professional drivers to interact with, learn from and support each other throughout the week. This is an important aspect of co-locating the two events and is crucial to fostering a positive relationship between members of the two organizations.
NAIC was created to recognize roadside inspectors and enforcement personnel – the backbone of the commercial motor vehicle safety program in North America – and promote uniformity, consistency and reciprocity of inspections through training and education.
View a full listing of NAIC winners from past years.
Next year’s NAIC is scheduled for Aug. 19-23, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.