Christopher Barnett, a technician at Ryder System's shop in Hebron, Ky., who comes from a family of mechanics, bested scores of competitors in the annual SuperTech competition that ended Wednesday during a major industry meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa.
He and other finalists were honored at an awards lunch where they received accolades along with monetary and merchandise prizes. The competition was part of the ATA Technology & Maintenance Council's fall meeting, which traditionally hosts the SuperTech finals.
Barnett, 30, said focus and perseverance helped him become grand champion by posting the highest total points at 17 skill testing stations and a written exam on Tuesday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown.
This was Barnett's fifth year of involvement in the program, which for technicians begin with local competitions and moves on to state and then national levels.
Barnett said he gravitated to this line of work because "my uncle was an auto mechanic and I started working on cars when I was 14. All my uncles were mechanics, my father was a truck driver and then a heavy-duty mechanic, so I just grew up in it."
While in high school he won a scholarship to the University of Northwest Ohio, a vocational institution known for its diesel technician curriculum, and chose to study that. After graduation he worked at a Freightliner dealership in Cincinnati, then went to Ryder, where he's been for nine years.
"When I won the scholarship they announced it over the (high school) loudspeaker," he related. "People heard that it was a university scholarship and asked me where it was. When I told them it was a vocational course, they rolled their eyes and said, 'Why are you going there?'"
That attitude among teachers and counselors is one reason there's a shortage of technicians, Barnett said. "They try to push us away from vocational education" when they should be encouraging it to help young people get good jobs.
A session at the TMC meeting included a panel of vocational educators and an expert technician who lamented the lack of young people entering the field, and gave tips on how to attract them.
Panelists agreed that fleets, dealers and manufacturers needing mechanics and other technically skilled employees should work with local high schools to promote the profession, and argue for support for vocational training at their local school boards.
Barnett said he's an electronics specialist at his Ryder shop and tends to do diagnostic work on trucks. He's not new to winning, having come away from a recent Ryder competition where he was awarded a new Ram 2500 HD diesel pickup.
He said he could've used the pickup to haul home his SuperTech prizes: a well-equipped Snap-On Roll Cab tool chest, a Reliance Dream Shop stocked with expendable supplies, electronic testing tools, Noregon J-Pro software, and $1,500 in gift cards from International Trucks and Chicago Pneumatic, and other things that together are probably worth $20,000 or more.
Barnett also won a trip for two to the Daytona 500 NASCAR race next spring, which he could drive the Ram to.
But "I'll probably have it (the stack of prizes) shipped home because I called the hotel here to ask about the height of the parking garage and they said 6 feet, so I left the truck home and brought my car."
Barnett has a wife, Susan, and three sons, Christopher II, 7, Anthony, 5, and John 3.
