Pictures available upon request

For additional information contact:

Dale Bennett or Patrick Laurence

Virginia Trucking Association

E-mail: dbennett@vatrucking.org or plaurence@vatrucking.org



NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

VIRGINIA TRUCK DRIVING CHAMPIONS CROWNED

Richmond, VA - Nine professional Virginia truck drivers were crowned “Champions of the Highway” at the 72nd Virginia Truck Driving Championships held on May 16th and 17th at Richard Bland College in Petersburg, Virginia.

First place champions, their hometown, company, and home terminal location are:

A total of 92 professional truck drivers from across the Commonwealth representing 12 different companies entered the competition. There were 24 “rookie” drivers who competed in the Championships for their first time.

Sponsored by the Virginia Trucking Association and its Safety and Human Resources Council, the VTA TDC is patterned after the American Trucking Associations’ National Truck Driving Championships. The first-place champions listed above will represent Virginia in the National Championships to be held August 20th-23rd in Minneapolis, MN.

The winner of this year's Neill Darmstadter Memorial Grand Champion Award was Robert Lilly of Chesterfield, Va. and a driver for FedEx Freight, out of their South Chesterfield, Va. terminal. The Grand Champion Award is presented each year to the driver with the highest score of all the competitors. Lilly has been a professional truck driver for 31 years and has accumulated over 3.000,000 safe driving miles.

Charles "Chuck" Bird of Swoope, Va. and a driver for FedEx Freight out of their Fishersville, Va. terminal received the Willie Taylor Memorial Course Champion Award. This award is given to the driver who achieves the highest score on the driving skills course portion of the competition.

The Captain Roy Terry Memorial Pre-Trip Inspection Award was presented to David Price of Fishersville, Va. and a driver for FedEx Freight out of their Fishersville, Va terminal. The Pre-Trip Inspection award is given to the driver with the highest score in the equipment inspection portion of the competition.

The winner of the 2025 Rookie of the Year Award was Andrew Ross of Chesapeake, Va. and a driver for FedEx Freight out of their Chesapeake, Va. terminal as the highest scoring, first-time competitor. Mr. Ross has been a professional truck driver for 10 years and has accumulated over 135,000 safe driving miles.

The Team Trophy was won by FedEx Freight, headquartered in Harrison, Arkansas. This award is presented to the company with the highest average score of all its drivers competing in the Championships.

Other winners in the competition by class, with their hometown, company, and home terminal are:

Thank you all of the volunteers and companies that donated their time and efforts to help us in putting on this amazing event. Special thanks as well to the companies that provided the door prizes for our Annual BBQ that we hosted for the contestants, the volunteers and their families. Good luck to all of the winners at Nationals!