The top two winners of Rush Enterprises' 2011 technicians competition together copped $26,500 in cash, engraved silver belt buckles and possession of traveling champion's cups. The pair were honored in front of 360 cheering colleagues, spouses and sponsor representatives in San Antonio on Tuesday night.


Long after the celebrations, they and other winners are very likely to continue working for their respective Rush Truck Center dealerships -- one of the welcome consequences of the competition that began in 2006.

Grand Champions Erick Lincoln, a tech at Rush Truck Center in Albuquerque who scored the most points in the Heavy Duty category, and Medium Duty counterpart Michael Willoughby, of Rush Truck Center in Oklahoma City, also received permanent dollar-an-hour raises, which alone are worth several thousand dollars a year.

The two technicians were among 71 competing at the company's annual Skills Rodeo in San Antonio, the culmination of a program initially joined several months ago by about 1,000 techs at Rush dealerships across the U.S., said Mike Besson, vice president, service operations.

Sixteen more technicians won cash and merchandise prizes, and traditional and electronic shop tools.

Some winners got tickets to a NASCAR race, and top driver Tony Stewart flew in to address the awards night crowd and pose for pictures. Rush sold transport tractors to the Hass-Stewart Racing team and is a minor sponsor.

The morale-building competition is among the things responsible for significantly cutting annual turnover among Rush's technicians, Besson said.

"How can you measure it?" he said when asked about the competition's practical value. Then he did: "Turnover was 60% before this. Now it's down to 18%." He spoke to a reporter amid handshakes and blaring country music after announcing the winners Tuesday night.

Other things responsible for retention are intensive specialized training and a general company policy of treating employees well, he added.

Besson said he hit on the idea of a skills competition after a management meeting in 2005 where turnover was identified as a major company problem. He got backing for the program from senior executives and support from component makers whose products Rush's mechanics work on.

This year, key suppliers including Caterpillar, Cummins and Eaton, plus Hino, Isuzu, Peterbilt and International - among the truck brands sold at Rush Truck Centers - together provided $275,000 in cash, plus room tabs and air fare for many competitors. Rush's budget for this year's Rodeo was about $350,000, spokesperson Karen Konecny said.

As in past years, the 2011 Rodeo was held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, adjacent to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown San Antonio. Rush and the suppliers hosted competitors and their wives, and pride was the mood of the evening among them and their superiors.

"Be proud that you work for a company that believes that the employee is the most important product," Besson told the technicians.

"It is so nice to give back to you for what you've done, day after day," said W.M. "Rusty" Rush, the publicly held company's president and CEO. "We sell a lot of trucks but it's the service business that lets people know what we are."

The competition involved written and hands-on tests of knowledge about medium- and heavy duty trucks, their engines and other components. A specialized category was refuse trucks, a division within the company.

The Refuse winner was Mark Jones of Denver, who was awarded $5,000, with Nathan Buffington of Phoenix placing second and grabbing $4,000.

For Caterpillar engines the winner was Randy Hughes of Texarkana, with a $6,000 prize. Erick Lincoln of Albuquerque, one of the Grand Champions, placed second in the Cat division, with a $5,000 award. Matt Chilson of Houston finished third and won $4,000.

The Cummins engine division had three winners, led by Sherman Brack of Austin ($6,000), Sigfredo Gandaria of Pharr, Tex. ($5,000) in second and Clinton Pfeiff of Pueblo, Colo. ($4,000), third.

The Eaton division also had three winners: Glenn Booth, Nashville, Tenn. ($6,000), Jason Swann, Dallas ($5,000) and Brian Noska, Sealy, Tex. ($4,000).

Five All Around winners in Medium and Heavy Duty categories were Randy Hughes, Texarkana; Matthew Pogue, San Antonio; Matt Chilson, Houston; Matthew Bonenfant, Smyrna, Ga.; and Gabriel Benavides, Fontana, Calif. All got cash prizes plus the $1 per hour raise.

Planning will soon begin for the 2012 Technician Skills Rodeo, with finals also to be held in San Antonio, Besson said.