A two-time State Grand Champion with multiple vehicle division titles, Old Dominion veteran driver Chad Williams had been counting the days until the 2026 Michigan TDC. Chad missed time with a medical issue that kept him on the sidelines during the 2025 Michigan competition. As Chad shares with our podcast, he found an opportunity to serve as a volunteer at last year’s TDC, and he also took advantage of the opportunity to learn through observing the competitors on the course and in the pre-trip phase.

In early June, Chad returned to the competition in Lansing and he immediately made his presence felt with a good written test performance and earning the top score on the pre-trip portion of the competition. On Day 2, Chad was the first person in the Twins Class to hit the course and his overall work in the three phases of the competition would ultimately send him back to the Nationals as a State title holder. Earning the third State Grand Championship of his career put an exclamation mark on his return to the TDCs.

As you will hear, Chad is following in the footsteps of his father, who was not only an accomplished professional driver, but he also competed at the State TDC during his career. These days, Chad and his father share time on the water in their home state fishing for Walleye.

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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