Gene Houchin is one of three finalists for the 2021 Owner-Operator of the Year award, produced by the Truckload Carriers Association and Overdrive. The winner, who will receive a $25,000 cash prize, will be announced in March at TCA’s annual convention in Las Vegas. The sponsors of the Driver of the Year Contests are Love’s Travel Stops and Cummins. The other two finalists are Glen Horack and Allen and Sandy Smith.
Gene Houchin owns this 2015 Peterbilt 579, which he leases with Midwest Express. He stays closer to home these days hauling meat and other food products in the Midwest after driving over-the-road for much of his career.
Shenandoah, Iowa-based Gene Houchin has been driving over-the-road since 1973. He got his start working for a local grain elevator and, after proving his skill backing trucks onto the elevator, got his chance to drive a truck hauling grain.
He’s pulled a little bit of everything over the course of his nearly 50-year career, including grain, livestock, dry van, flat bed and reefer, hauling throughout the Lower 48 and Canada.
He spent the first 40 years of his career as a company driver with various outfits, then in 2013 bought a 2008 Peterbilt 388. He leased to a company hauling slot machines, then started moving various products, from pharmaceuticals to jumbotron signs.
Owner-Operator of the Year finalist Gene Houchin has been driving trucks for nearly 50 years and became an owner-operator in 2013.
[Related: Teamwork key to Owner-Operator of the Year finalist Glen Horack’s success]
