Just a little more than 25 years ago, the American Trucking Associations and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance began holding Trucking’s National Championships concurrently with the North American Inspector’s Challenge. NAIC is law enforcement’s equivalent to the NTDCs. On Friday of NTDC Week, ATA and CVSA will present their championship awards at a banquet that features officials from each organization. Championship Friday will actually begin with the law enforcement officials competing in NAIC 2026 joining the 429 NTDC State Champions for the Parade of Champions inside PIttsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The NAIC participants will each have their names announced as they shake hands with the NTDC Committee Members and other dignitaries on stage, which will include FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs.

PodWheels Executive Producer Greg Thompson paid a visit to the site of this year’s NAIC event in Pittsburgh. As you will hear in this edition of the podcast, Greg went inside all things NAIC with Alex Bugeya, who currently serves as the secretary for the NAIC Program. A former commercial motor vehicle inspector, Alex, in advancing to the finals as a rookie, talks to us about becoming the 2009 NAIC Grand Champion.

In addition to sharing his personal experience with the program, Alex walks us through the history of NAIC, a program created over 30 years ago designed to recognize and honor frontline roadside inspectors as well as promote the importance of their work while testing and refining their skills through competition and advanced training.

OUR FRIEND OF THE PODCAST SPONSOR: Founded in 2007, the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund is the only nationwide nonprofit that provides short-term relief to Class A OTR drivers suffering from an illness or injury that took them out of work within the last 365 days. The St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund also provides several free prevention health and wellness programs for OTR drivers in an effort to keep them on the road, including nicotine and smoking cessation, diabetes prevention, chronic disease management, at-home cancer screenings, and vaccine vouchers. To learn more about the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund and all of the offerings available from SCF, including how you can support their important work to help professional drivers and their families, visit TruckersFund.org.

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