For the August 12 edition of TheTrucker.com’s coverage of NTDC 2026, PodWheels Executive Producer Greg Thompson developed a feature story around the annual Driver Meeting that took place on Tuesday, featuring the reveal of the semifinals driving course. While Greg also noted the speeches by FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs and NTDC 2025 Grand Champion David Comings, it was once again the unveiling of the driving course that drew a significant amount of attention and questions from the 429 State Champions who gathered for the Driver Meeting.

As you will see in this feature story, Greg also placed the spotlight Leo Flack, a two-time National Champion who works with the Driving Course Committee. Leo has the honor and the responsibility of being the person who gets to test out the course. One of the highlights of the Driver Meeting for the past couple of years is to watch the reaction of the State Champions who watch videos of Leo navigating the six problems on the preliminary course.

Leo tells Greg that NTDC 2026 will be his last on the committee. As a result, it will be his last year of doing the test runs with the video demos. Leo will be retiring from the NTDC Committee following NTDC 2026.