Four Inducted into NPTC/Lytx Driver Hall of Fame

ARLINGTON, VA– Four drivers, who collectively had driven for more than 169 years while racking up more than 16 million miles of service, were inducted into the NPTC/Lytx^®Driver Hall of Fame during the NPTC Annual Education Management Conference and Exhibition held April 14-16, 2019 in Cincinnati, OH.

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:

Dana Alitz, John Deere assigned by CPC Logistics, Inc.
Kenneth George, Hy-Vee, Inc.
Joe Choplin, Unifi Manufacturing, Inc.
Larry Johnson, Messer, LLC.

Dana Alitz
John Deere Shared Services – Assigned by CPC Logistics, Inc.

Dana has been driving for more than 42 years and has racked up more than 4 million miles without an accident. He joined CPC in 1990 after working for a number of carriers in Wisconsin and Iowa. In his 29 years with CPC, he has driven 3.2 million accident- and violation-free miles. Dana learned to drive hauling produce, fruit and vegetables along with restaurant supplies in LaCrosse, WI.

He was twice elected to the drivers’ committee as a driver representative to work with management and the drivers on policies and discipline. He has also served as a driver trainer and is active in his community helping to raise money for public parks and recreational facilities.

Joe Choplin
Unifi Manufacturing, Inc.

Joe has achieved more than 4.2 million miles without an accident or a moving violation that has spanned 44 years. The last 31 years and 3.1 million miles have been with Unifi. He began his driving career at the age of 16 hauling tobacco to Dillon, SC. A year later, he joined H&J Poultry. When he turned 18, he earned his Class A license and starting driving a tractor-trailer for H&J. When Joe turned 21 he went to work for Johnson Construction Company, driving a tandem dump truck working the coal fields of West Virginia. A year later he went to work for National Health Labs. He worked there until he went to work as an owner-operator for Virginia Appalachian Trucking Company hauling furniture to the West Coast and hauling produce back, a job he held until he joined Unifi.

Joe is a member of the company’s accident review committee and participated in Unifi’s truck driving championships. His community service surrounds his church where he has been active in disaster relief, singing in the choir and serving as a Sunday school teacher.

Kenny George
Hy-Vee, Inc.

Kenny has been driving for 42 years and, in that time, he has racked up 3.5 million miles without an accident or a moving violation. He joined Hy-Vee in 1990 and has driven more than 2.4 million accident and violation free miles.

Kenny learned how to drive by working on the farm back in high school, driving a tractor before graduating to a 14 wheel flat bottom livestock trailer. His first job was with Swanger Farms which he left after three years to drive for Loucks Trucking. In 1983 he joined Cloverleaf Cold Storage and returned to Loucks in 1985 for five years before joining Hy-.

Larry Johnson
Messer LLC

In 41 years behind the wheel, Larry has driven 4.1 million miles. Larry began his driving career while still in high school with Stilesville Implement Company. In 1986, he joined BOC Gases (now Linde) as a transport driver hauling cryogenic liquids in 42-ft. tankers, a job he is still performing today. He has racked up 3.1 million safe driving miles while with Linde.

Larry is a dedicated trainer, and a member of the company’s Safety, Healthy, Environmental and Quality committee. He also works with high school students on how to share the road with a truck. In his spare time, he is active in the community, participating in food pantries, the County Pregnancy Care Center, and animal rescue.

Gary Petty, President and CEO of the National Private Truck Council (left), and Del Lisk, CTP, Vice President of Safety Services, Lytx (right), recognize the NPTC/Lytx Driver Hall of Fame inductees (from left) Dana Alitz, John Deere Shared Services, assigned by CPC Logistics, Inc.; Kenneth George, Hy-Vee, Inc.; Joe Choplin, Unifi Manufacturing, Inc.; and Larry Johnson, Messer, LLC.

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 Conference and Trade Show, the Private Fleet Management Institute, and the National Safety Conference. For more information about the Council’s activities and programs, visit our website at nptc.org.

About Lytx
Lytx® is a leading provider of video telematics, analytics, safety and productivity solutions for commercial and public sector 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 one million drivers worldwide. For more information, visit www.lytx.com, @lytx on Twitter, LinkedIn, our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.