WOODRIDGE, Ill. — Technicians from Florida, West Virginia, and Arizona took home first place in three categories in Navistar’s 2018 Technician Rodeo, which tests the skills and speed of service professionals from the company’s dealer networks.

Michael Irvin of Sun State International in Florida took home the “Top Service Technician” award for the truck category, and Ben Bird of Worldwide Equipment in West Virginia earned the same recognition for the bus category, at the 12th Annual Navistar Technician Rodeo, which features Navistar’s top American and Canadian commercial truck and bus technicians. The competition was held at the Woodridge, Illinois, facility of Navistar, the parent company of IC Bus.

New this year, the company also brought its Global Technician Competition into the same event, which brings regional winners worldwide together to compete for top bragging rights. In the third iteration of the global event, Nathan Reed of RWC Group in Arizona earned first place.

“Michael, Ben, and Nathan are all highly skilled technicians that reflect the best traditions of our company’s commitment to technical excellence and providing the best customer uptime in the industry,” said John Pfennig, director of global development for Navistar. “We’re very proud of this year’s winners, and frankly all of its competitors, who are among the very best truck technicians there are.”

This year’s competition showcased 20 top service technicians from International and IC Bus dealers across the world, the largest amount yet for the event.

The technicians competed head-to-head in a series of stations designed to simulate service areas truck components and engines. The technicians were scored on how quickly and effectively they navigated their way through the stations, diagnosing and fixing the simulated problems.

All of the participants are Diamond certified through Navistar’s official certification program for its service technicians. In addition, all the technicians from the U.S. and Canada are all either Automotive Service Excellence- or Canadian Provincial-certified.

Rodeo participants were selected from a group of the top 900 technicians at International and IC Bus dealers. From there, the group was narrowed to 16 participants through online testing, with the highest-scoring technicians in each region of the U.S. and Canada invited to compete in the event.

Technicians from the following dealerships competed in the Rodeo:

•          Sun State International  (Davenport, Florida).
•          Mid-State Truck Service Inc. (Plover, Wisconsin).
•          Summit Truck Group (Lowell, Arkansas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico).
•          Truck King International  (Bronx, New York).
•          Rush Truck Center (Springfield, Ohio).
•          Diamond International Trucks (Edmonton, Alberta).
•          Altruck International Truck Centers (Cambridge, Ontario).
•          Gibbs International Truck Centers (Fresno, California).
•          Worldwide Equipment (Cross Lanes, West Virginia).
•          IRL International Truck Centers (Penticton, British Columbia).
•          DATTCO Inc. (New Britain, Connecticut).
•          RWC Group (Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona).
•          Cadisa S.A. de C.V. (Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico ).
•          Lewis Motor Sales Inc. (Barrie, Ontario).
•          Navitrans S.A.S. ( Bogota, Colombia).
•          International de Guatemala (Guatemala City, Guatemala).
•          Camionera Catosa S.A. de C.V. (Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico).

“Participants in this competition have completed all the required and optional trainings and are at the top of their game,” Pfennig said. “They represent our 9,500 plus service technicians from International and IC Bus dealerships, the highest number of any medium/heavy commercial-truck and bus manufacturer.”