ON THE GIVE Jerry and Kay Wessel just can’t stop volunteering.


By eRic FRaNcis Contributing Writer


PhotogRaPhy By RogeR holsiNgeR Start talking about all the ways Jerry and


Kay Wessel devote time and effort to the Nebraska Trucking Association and you’ll need to set aside the afternoon. Trow in their volunteer work for their church and you’d best cancel your plans for the evening, as well. It’s going to take just about that long. But it’ll be a conversation worth having,


because the couple have done a great deal to shape the success of many association activities geared toward drivers and technicians. Pretty impressive under any circumstances, and more so when you consider Kay has never worked in the industry. “Most of it is about the friendships we


formed over the years,” said Jerry, who is the equipment manager for Vantage Point Homes, a manufacturer of custom houses. “It takes a lot of people to put on truck driving championships, a lot of volunteers, and a few of us on the committee to direct them.” A graduate of Southeast Community


College’s diesel program, Wessel started out working on heavy equipment in the construction industry – his father had been involved in commercial construction. After a stint in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, his old job had gone away so he found work as a mechanic at an International


Harvester operation. He eventually moved up to lead man and then service manager before switching to the fleet side, where he stayed until a few years ago. “Te thing about truck fleet maintenance is


it’s a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week occupation,” he said. “At some point I decided I’d like to back off that a little bit, and I went to work for the company I work for currently.” Now he works more regular hours, but


has to contend with things like figuring out how to move a house that’s 30 feet wide and 70 feet long. One of his primary responsibilities is to design and build equipment to improve productivity. “I take care of the equipment side, and


there’s a lot of equipment required when you build a house in a factory,” said Jerry. “[But] the phone doesn’t ring at midnight like it used to, or two or three times a night. Tat makes it quite a bit easier.” Still, his time in the trucking industry


introduced Wessel to the NTA, and his impact – as well as that of Kay – is still being felt. In fact, the NTA named its Wessel Award after him, given each year to recognize the driver who shows the highest level of professional skill and sportsmanship in the spirit of healthy competition. “I was pretty shocked they would do that,”


Jerry said of the NTA naming an award in his honor. “You know, most of the drivers that


receive that award are worthy of some kind of recognition, whether it’s in my name or not. Tey’re the drivers that are going out of their way to be friendly and help other drivers.” If you really want to see Jerry’s impact on


the NTA, though, you should look at two programs: Skills USA and Super Tech. “Skills USA is a hands-on skills contest,


in our case for diesel students,” he explained. “We’ll challenge them with solving a technical problem and they’ll have a limited amount of time to solve the problem.” Winners get to go to a national competition


and test their mojo against the top techs from other states. Super Tech, in turn, is a relatively


new program of the American Trucking Associations Maintenance Council. Nebraska has been taking part for about five years, said Jerry, and has turned out a couple of national winners during that time. “It’s for experienced technicians who are


working in the field,” he said. “Te stations can vary from electrical diagnosis to tire failure analysis to identifying OSHA-type defects in a shop environment. Since I’m involved in both the Truck Driving Championships and Super Tech, I kind of compare Super Tech to being the Truck Driving Championship for diesel technicians.”


Continues


NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 1, 2014 — www.nebtrucking.com


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