You can often tell a great athlete by the number of awards and accolades they’ve earned during their careers. The same can be said of professional truck drivers — in particular, Tim Chelette of Big G Express. Chelette is one of five drivers honored as a 2024 Professional Driver of the Year by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA).
The drivers were presented with their awards during the closing banquet of TCA’s 2024 annual convention, held in March at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville. The winners each received a prize of $20,000 along with a standing ovation from banquet attendees.
Chelette has been driving for a total of 22 years, and he’s been with Big G Express for the past 18.
During his years behind the wheel, he’s earned awards from Big G Express, as well as the Tennessee Trucking Association, Pilot Flying J Travel Centers and DMC Insurance. He was also a Captain of the American Trucking Association’s America’s Road Team in 2019-2020.
Chelette’s career in the trucking industry did not begin behind the wheel, he told Truckload Authority.
“I used to work in a distribution center, over the inventory department and unloading department, and drivers kept telling me how much they really love driving,” he said.
“I never thought that I would ever become a trucker,” he said, adding that he loves his job as a driver. “I tell people all the time that when I get tired of being ‘on vacation,’ I’ll quit my job.”
After making the decision to try his hand at driving, Chelette enrolled in a CDL school in Lebanon, Tennessee. He says he was surprised at how much professional drivers need to know.
“I never had so much stuff crammed into my mind in that many days,” he said. “It was unbelievable!”
At some point in the training, embarking on a trucking career became a reality for him.
“It was a great experience, from the minute I walked up to that truck in the school,” he said. “I’m thinking, “My goodness, you see these things on the highway!’”
While he had seen countless rigs traveling on the road, he’d never stopped to think about everything involved in transporting freight across the country, he said, adding that he believes the general public is mostly uneducated about trucks and the trucking industry.
“That’s the beauty of getting to be being part of trucking associations — we get to educate the American people about following distance, stopping distance, how to pass a semi-truck,” he said. “They just don’t know about it.”
Chelette has covered nearly 2 million miles in his driving career and has managed to see every state except Hawaii, either from behind the wheel of his truck or while vacationing.
“I just came back from Alaska, so now I got 49 states,” he said.
He appreciates the accolades he gets from trucking awards, but his passion goes beyond winning awards.
“People see the passion and the love that I have for trucking. I really love it,” he said. “I love mentoring other drivers.”
Chelette says he used to have as much fun on two wheels as he does driving an 18-wheeler.
“I’ve ridden motorcycles all my life,” he said, but says those days have ended. “I just gave up motorcycles, and I’m getting back to my roots again.”
In addition to riding for fun, he parlayed his love for motorcycles into fundraising, leading motorcycle events to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.
“I did it for six years, and the last year I did it, I had 187 motorcycles. It was growing about 50 motorcycles every year. It was getting to the point where we would have had to split it into two rides” he said. “Since the goal was that 100% of the money raised would go to St. Jude’s, we didn’t want to take anything out of that.”
Larger rides would have meant more administrative costs, more sponsors and more time away from work, so Chelette decided to move on, pursuing other interests.
“I grew up doing a lot of hunting and fishing. I wanted to get back into fishing again, so I’ve been doing that a lot,” he said. “I have a two-car garage on my house, but I built me a nice two car garage in my backyard — and I just bought me a brand-new boat that goes in that garage.”
Chelette has also embarked on another endeavor, one that he’s eager to share with world: He’s lost 130 pounds simply by changing his eating habits. He’s healthier and happier at his lower weight.
Over the years, he’s been interviewed numerous times for stories about the various awards he has won, but his message remains constant.
“When I get behind the wheel, I feel like it’s my job not just to make sure I get home safely to my family; it’s my job to make sure you get home to your family,” he said.
Driving safety — and helping mentor others to do the same — just might be more important to Chelette than any of the awards and accolades he’s earned.
Tim Chelette has no plans to stop helping others get home safely.
Cliff Abbott is an experienced commercial vehicle driver and owner-operator who still holds a CDL in his home state of Alabama. In nearly 40 years in trucking, he’s been an instructor and trainer and has managed safety and recruiting operations for several carriers. Having never lost his love of the road, Cliff has written a book and hundreds of songs and has been writing for The Trucker for more than a decade.
