By Eugene Mulero

PodWheels Chief Correspondent

MINNEAPOLIS — In the minutes immediately after FedEx’s David Commings was declared the National Truck Driving Championships’ 2025 grand champion, a large crowd of colleagues, friends and family were quick to congratulate him.

Understandably so — Comings’ blue ribbon performance had just earned him access to NTDC’s most exclusive club. And as the PodWheels team has repeatedly affirmed, Comings’ grand champion honorific was well-deserved.

But Comings was not the only big winner at this year’s NTDC. Myriad storylines blanketed the most recent tournament of precision driving champions. From FedEx’s dynastic dominance and the record 15 women competitors to GOAT (greatest of all time) Richard Gillespie’s lifetime achievement award. And, most notably, there was Jeff Langenhahn’s national title.

In an event marked by outsized personalities, Langenhahn is more the quiet and modest type. Hopefully, you didn’t miss him at NTDC in August. 

To recap: Langenhahn, a Wisconsin-based driver, was the one wearing the XPO uniform next to Gillespie and fellow grand champions on the awards stage for the GOAT’s ovation. At the NTDC 2025 orientation before the start of competition, he was the XPO guy who stood up when the six grand champions competing this year were asked to stand up. 

NTDC’s 2014 grand champion punctuated his visit to the tournament with a master class in the tanker division. Competing in his 12th nationals alongside, not one, but two fellow grand champions, the XPO virtuoso clocked in 519 points for his final score (anchored by 309 points in the first round). He surpassed fellow XPO’er Ernie Budlowski from Connecticut and Indiana’s Glen “Captain” Kirk with Old Dominion Freight Line. 

Throughout the week, Langenhahn insisted the driving course and the backroom were challenging yet doable. 

After his first drive, he observed: “You had to think your way through. You have some choices whether you go left or right on the first problem with going around the duck …  And I thought this would set me up good for going this way.”

Reflecting on his dozen appearances, he said, “It just means that I’ve been here quite a few years, so I’ve seen a lot of changes throughout the years. And I think it’s going in a good direction. And it’s good to see young talent coming in and a lot of rookies. But yet, there’s still a lot of old guys like me that are still going on.”

To maintain that level of consistency in the field of competition after a dozen NTDCs elevates Langenhahn as one of the tournament’s Iron Men. 

(Warning: self promotion) For NTDC’s updated history book, available on the tournament’s website, Langenhahn offered a brilliant synopsis specific to the contest’s sincere family culture.

As he put it, “I look forward to it every year, from the state level all the way to the national level. There are so many friends you gain along the way. And you just look forward to seeing them every year. And you may not necessarily have nationals every year, depending on how you do at the state level, but you get to know their families and everything. You just look forward to just seeing everybody.”

“… and I just hope I can keep on competing year after year.”