Four Inducted into NPTC/Lytx Driver Fall of Fame

ARLINGTON, VA – Four drivers, who collectively had driven for more than 152 years while racking up more than 16 million miles of service, have been inducted into the NPTC/Lytx^® Driver Hall of Fame, according to an announcement from Gary Petty, NPTC President and CEO.

The drivers are from NPTC member companies and have met the minimum qualifications of 20 years, 3 million miles or 50,000 hours of driving without a preventable accident. Many of the drivers have far exceeded these qualifications and are known for having made significant contributions to their industry and their communities. Since its inception, 112 drivers have been installed in the Driver Hall of Fame. This year’s Driver Hall of Fame inductees are:

Gerald Barth, John Deere assigned by CPC Logistics, Inc.
Nora Black, Orschlen Farm and Home, LLC
Lenny M. Gray, Messer, LLC
Ron Tourte, Hy-Vee, Inc.

Gerald Barth, who now drives for CPC Logistics, Inc. and is assigned to John Deere, started driving professionally in 1978 and has racked up more than four million miles without an accident or injury and without any moving violations. Gerry has pulled dry vans, reefers, flatbeds and grain trailers, hauling swinging meat, produce, steel coils, grain, agricultural products, dry goods, dog food, beer and military equipment. He began his professional driving career with Holiday Express and worked briefly for several other carriers before joining CPC Logistics in 1985. Since then, he has accumulated 3.3 million miles of safe driving, winning 33 consecutive safe driving awards. He is trained in CPR and administering First Aid and attends all safety meetings. He drives about 600 miles per day, averaging up to 3,000 miles per week throughout the Midwest.

Nora Black has been driving with Orscheln Farm and Home, LLC for more than 12 years and has maintained a perfect driving record over 1.6 million miles. All told, she has driven for more than 24 years and has achieved 3.2 million miles of accident-free, injury-free and violation-free driving since then. She works hard to maintain her commitment to safety and has been active in Highway Watch, Trucking for Troops, Missouri truck driving championships and Orscheln’s driver fatigue program. When she’s not behind the wheel, she is a Foster Parent and was certified in 2017 as an outstanding member of the Foster Care Family. She took part in distributing water, food and clothing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Before she joined Orscheln, she drove for Celadon Trucking, Schneider National, Hellig-Myers and Wil-Farms. She typically averages 2,700 miles per week running in a geographical 10-state midwestern area.

Lenny M. Gray began his driving career in 1973 and has driven 4.7 million miles without an accident or a moving violation in the 47 years since. He started his career with S&S Van Lines, a local United Van Lines agent, where he worked for 15 years before joining the predecessor company of what today is known as Messer LLC. In those 32 years, he has driven 3.2 million safe miles hauling cryogenic liquids. He has never had an injury or vehicle incident in the 47 years that he has been operating a commercial vehicle. Nor has he ever received a moving violation. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Linde Truck Roadeo Event Winner for Truck Inspection, and numerous driver-of-the month awards from both S&S and Messer. He attends all quarterly safety meetings and training sessions.

Ronald L. Tourte, who has driven for Hy-Vee’s Perishable Distributors of Iowa for more than 35 years, started driving a truck 39 years ago on his family farm. He has never had an accident, injury or moving violation. He works four days a week running up to 500 miles a day. He has won numerous safe driving awards, including winning the company’s “Top Driver” award every year, save one, for 23 years in a row. He also has been named employee of the month, transportation employee of the year and two years ago was nominated for the Iowa Motor Truck Association’s Driver of the Year. He and his family are involved in charitable activities through the American Heart Association, the ChildServe of Iowa and Autism Speaks and are devoted members of the First United Methodist Church in Ankeny, Iowa.

About NPTC

Founded in 1939, the National Private Truck Council is the only national trade association exclusively representing the interests of the private truck industry and corporate/business private truck fleet management. With an actively engaged leadership team of Board representatives, member volunteers and staff, NPTC in the past decade has grown significantly to serve a rising professional class of private fleet practitioners meeting the challenges of modern corporate transportation. NPTC is the leading learning resource center, government affairs advocate, and business networking culture for America’s top private fleet and supplier member companies. The Council produces benchmarking, best practices, and economic data reports on the private fleet market; administers the highly regarded Certified Transportation Professional (CTP) training program, and conducts some of the most successful events in the trucking industry including the Annual Education Management Conference and Exhibition, the Private Fleet Management Institute, and the National Safety Conference. For more information about the Council’s activities and programs, visit our website at www.nptc.org.

About Lytx

Lytx® is a leading provider of video telematics, analytics, safety, and productivity solutions for commercial, public sector, and field services fleets. Our unrivaled Driver Safety Program, powered by our best-in-class DriveCam® Event Recorder, is proven to help save lives and reduce risk. We harness the power of video to help clients see what happened in the past, manage their operations more efficiently in the present, and improve driver behavior to change the future. Our customizable services and programs span driver safety, risk detection, fleet tracking, compliance, and fuel management. Using the world’s largest driving database of its kind, along with proprietary machine vision and artificial intelligence technology, we help protect and connect thousands of fleets and more than 1.3 million drivers worldwide. For more information on Lytx telematics system, visit http://www.lytx.com, @lytx on Twitter, LinkedIn, our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.