Jason Swann wins top Rush Tech award

Cannon Mug Headshot
Updated Dec 18, 2013
Jason Swann (left) was named Rush Rodeo Overall Grand Champion. He is pictured with NASCAR driver Tony Stewart and Rush CEO Rusty Rush.Jason Swann (left) was named Rush Rodeo Overall Grand Champion. He is pictured with NASCAR driver Tony Stewart and Rush CEO Rusty Rush.

Jason Swann, of Rush Truck Center (RTC) – Dallas, was named Overall Grand Champion at the 2013 Rush Tech Rodeo Tuesday night. Swann also took top honors in the heavy-duty Eaton category and was also named Heavy-Duty Grand Champion.

Swann took home $15,500 in cash and prizes Tuesday night along with bragging rights for the next 12 months – not to mention a dollar an hour pay raise – and a helmet and fire suit autographed by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.

Lance Kilburn, of RTC – Atlanta, was named Overall Medium-Duty Champion. Kilburn also finished second in the medium-duty International division.

Kilburn won $9,500 in cash and prizes along with a dollar an hour pay raise.

Steven Brain was named Medium-Duty Reserve Champion and Ron Crofutt was named Heavy-Duty Reserve Champion.

Other winners in this year’s competition were:

• Gonzalo Uribe, natural gas

• Louis Fontano, refuse

• Jayson McCarty, bus

• Humberto Elizondo, body repair

• Celestino Ramirez, body paint

• Steven Brain, medium-duty Hino

• Gavin Mathews, medium-duty Isuzu

• Gary Fassett, medium-duty International

• Mark Jones, medium-duty Peterbilt

• Sherman Brack, heavy-duty Cummins

• Travis Roark, heavy-duty, Paccar MX

• Dylan Moser, heavy-duty MaxxForce

• Robert Henry, heavy-duty Allison

Twelve Rush Truck Center technicians advanced to the Rush Tech Rodeo heavy-duty finals Tuesday morning.

Leopoldo Medrano, of Pico Rivera, and Robert Henry, of Dayton, went head-to-head on the Allison platform. Chris Zweifel, of El Paso, Jeffrey Bogatay, of Cleveland, and Sherman Brack, of Austin, squared off on a Cummins engine.

The Eaton platform featured Bryant Brandon, of Austin, Jason Swann, of Dallas, and Ronald Crofutt, of Denver. The MaxxForce competition pitted Hickory’s Dylan Moser against Charlotte’s Jake Gilliland. Working from the Paccar MX platform was Brian Smith, of Austin, and Travis Roark, of Oklahoma City.

Eight medium-duty techs also competed Tuesday. Doraville’s Mark Smith and Dallas’s Steven Brain worked from a Hino platform. Gary Fassett, of Twin Falls, and Lance Kilburn, of Atlanta, were on an International unit. Chris Williams, from Denver, and Gavin Mathews, of Atlanta, worked from an Isuzu platform and Mark Jones, of Denver, and Trinidad Garcia, of Escondido, worked from a Peterbilt.

Jason Cannon has written about trucking and transportation for more than a decade and serves as Chief Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. A Class A CDL holder, Jason is a graduate of the Porsche Sport Driving School, an honorary Duckmaster at The Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee, and a purple belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Reach him at [email protected]