SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Summit Holdings held their Third Annual Summit Truck Group Technician Rodeo on Aug. 15, 2015, in Springfield, Missouri. Service technician Thomas Pianalto from Summit’s Lowell, Arkansas, location received top honors in the skills competition.
In order to participate in the Tech Rodeo, technicians were required to complete all 12 required service certifications through Navistar, and then a written qualifying test. Top scorers on the qualifying test from each location were then eligible to participate in the rodeo. Larger Summit locations each sent two techs to compete, while smaller locations, as well as Summit Lease & Rental and Summit Bus locations, sent one person each.
In all, 41 Summit service technicians competed in this year’s event, representing each of the 27 markets in eight states within which Summit does business. For his first-place finish, Thomas received $6,003; Service technician Dan Myers, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, achieved second place overall and received $4,502; and third place overall was won by Derek Castle, Little Rock, Arkansas, who received a $2,501 prize. In addition, station prizes were awarded for each of the 13 challenge stations, with the first-place technician at each station receiving $500; second place earned the winning tech $300; and $150 was awarded for third place. In addition to their overall wins, Pianalto received six station awards, Myers won five station awards, and Castle won three station awards.
Duke Fancher, vice president of service operations for Summit, said, “This is the third year that Summit has held a Technician Rodeo, and this year’s was the best so far. The caliber of the technicians competing was high, the competition fierce and the support for this event by employees throughout Summit was incredible. Each of the 41 competitors is a winner just participating in this event.”
The rodeo took place in the Springfield Convention Center, and was organized by Jim Hinton and Jim Nichoalds, Summit’s regional service trainers.
