Travis Graham at left took home double honors at the 10th annual Rush Truck Centers RTC Technician Skills Rodeo W M quotRustyquot Rush on the right chairman president and CEO of Rush Enterprises RTC39s parent company handed out the awards Photo by Sean KilcarrFleet Owner

RTC announces 10th annual technician rodeo winners

Dec. 16, 2015
Double winner Travis Graham, named all-around and heavy-duty grand champion, takes home $21,900 in cash and prizes plus an hourly raise.

SAN ANTONIO. Travis Graham, a technician with the Rush Truck Centers (RTC) store in Orlando, FL, snagged both the heavy-duty and all-around grand championships at the company’s 10th annual Technician Skills Rodeo held here over the last two days.

Graham – who competed in the event’s Paccar MX engine category – pocketed $8,000 cash and $7,600 worth of prizes for winning the heavy-duty grand championship, along with a $1 per hour raise, plus a further $4,000 in cash and $2,300 in prizes as the event’s all-around grand champion – for a total purse of $21,900 in cash and prizes.

Dustin Ebert, a technician with the RTC Phoenix store and the event’s heavy-duty champion in 2007, won the medium-duty grand championship – pocketing $8,000 in cash, $4,900 in prizes, and a $1 per hour raise.

David Zainfeld with RTC Houston facility won grand champion honors in the parts division, taking home $7,500 in cash and $4,300 in prizes.

Mike Besson, RTC’s managing VP-service operations and customer solutions, noted that 165 out of the company’s 2,468 technicians were selected to compete in the company’s 10th annual skills rodeo; an event costing over $1.1 million to put together this year.

“What this has become is a pretty incredible thing,” Besson said. “Nobody does this like we do.”

About the Author

Sean Kilcarr | Editor in Chief

Sean Kilcarr is a former longtime FleetOwner senior editor who wrote for the publication from 2000 to 2018. He served as editor-in-chief from 2017 to 2018.

 

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